Are the Pacers Missing Lance Stephenson? Or Is It the Other Way Around?

A season ago the Indiana Pacers were 31-7, sitting on top of the Eastern Conference standings and looking good in their meetings with the Miami Heat.  Lance Stephenson was looking like a possible All-Star as he shot over 50% from the field and averaged 13.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists a game as part of that successful Indiana squad.

A year later, things have changed. Drastically.

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Indiana slogged through a doomed playoff run with bad chemistry to blame and fingers pointed at Lance Stephenson. In the offseason Lance packed his bags, bet on himself and signed with the Charlotte Hornets, and soon after the Pacers lost Paul George to a horrific leg injury.

Once the season actually started, it didn’t get any better for either party. Indiana has struggled to win games as they have no one to turn to in the final minutes of games, leading to a 15-26 record. Stephenson is only shooting 38.6% and his name has been swirling in trade rumors for almost a solid month now. He made his return to the lineup after a groin injury sidelined him for 14 games, but many seem to think Charlotte is better off without him. Right now he’s coming off the bench, and that may not be because he’s coming back from injury, either.

At this point it is hard to say if any of the parties involved are happy with the decisions they made.

Would have it been better for Lance to stay in Indiana? It is hard to give a definitive answer. If he stayed in Indiana it seems unlikely his numbers would have slipped as much and he wouldn’t be fighting Paul George or anyone else for possessions like he is currently doing in Charlotte. Last season Frank Vogel took advantage of Stephenson’s aggressive nature by pulling him first when the starters came out and then sending him back in to manage the second unit. This allowed Stephenson to dominate the ball without causing too much of a fuss. Indiana’s bench wasn’t great, but it worked well enough. It kept the egos happy and with less than ten losses at almost the halfway point, why complain?

Then, something happened. Rumors are all we really have, and aside from making conjecture off of parts of quotes we don’t know much, but one way or another, chemistry became an issue. It seemed like Lance Stephenson’s name was at the middle of it all. Was he an easy scapegoat? Or was he really a locker room cancer? When the Pacers hung out with him in the preseason, it only made the situation more confusing. They weren’t quiet ready to go to bat for Stephenson, but they didn’t hate him either.

If he were in Indiana right now, would the situation be any better or worse? With Paul George out would Lance’s ego only grow as he’d be the main workhorse for Indiana’s offense, especially in crunch-time? Is Stephenson even the same player he appeared to be in Indiana or was the drop off in production unavoidable? Maybe the team rallies around Stephenson as their offensive weapon with both PG and George Hill out of the lineup, and he earns more trust from his teammates and sheds the role of little brother. It is hard to say.

In Indiana, players like Roy Hibbert got tired of Lance stealing rebounds to pad his stats and in general, making selfish plays from time to time. His usage numbers weren’t too high in Indiana or even in Charlotte, but now that he’s playing with Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson, but that’s because of how the Hornets’ offense is styled. Both Walker and Stephenson are they type of player that wants the ball in their hands, but Kemba is the point guard and isn’t deferring to Lance as often as George Hill was willing to last season. It isn’t working with him in Charlotte right now in his current role, but Lance isn’t helping himself by getting frustrated when he passes the ball and shrugs when his teammates don’t shoot quickly enough to give him an assist.

Stephenson was always a divisive force in Indiana, to both the fans and the team. The question of Lance Stephenson is always a strange one. Mr. 8 Points, 9 Seconds, Jared Wade, once tweeted, “If you’re 100% sure that you wanna ride [or] die with Lance on a $40M deal, you’re weird. If you don’t want his amazing talent, you’re weird.” If Stephenson stayed, I imagine the Pacers would be closer to .500 as he grew and thrived under Larry Bird and Frank Vogel, but the chemistry would unlikely be any better. Chemistry is hard to gauge though. Maybe they all go fishing with Paul George and work things out. But going off the end of last season, it is hard to think it would have gotten better.

It is all in the past now, and unless the Hornets and Pacers can find a way to make a trade happen, it will stay in the past.

The Betting Line

Indiana is a -1 road favorite, but in what is essentially a pick’em, I’d go with the home team. I’d really advise just staying away from it as Indiana might be poised to have an “eff-you” performance after having last night’s game against the Pistons slip away. I’d take the over on the 186 over/under though.

And for some actual news: George Hill is out tonight.