The Charlotte Hornets beat the Detroit Pistons by 24 points on Wednesday to stay alive in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. It was a dominant performance in which the Hornets never trailed and six players scored in double-digits.
Lance Stephenson has been a complete disaster in Charlotte
Stephenson didn’t see the court for the second consecutive game, and head coach Steve Clifford believes he hurts the team’s chances of winning games. The worst part: Clifford is right.
Because the game was so lopsided, all but one of the Hornets' active players saw minutes. The only one who didn't play was Lance Stephenson.
Head coach Steve Clifford said he asked Stephenson to enter the game when it was already decided but Stephenson declined, a decision Clifford respected. When asked about why Stephenson isn’t playing meaningful minutes, however, Clifford didn’t mince words, telling the Charlotte Observer after the game, “Lance is here because of me. I’m the one who wanted Lance. It’s simply I can’t find a group where we play well with him out there.”
Stephenson was supposed to be the Hornets' consolation prize after they failed to pry Gordon Hayward away from Utah, but now he's completely out of the rotation. What happened?
The Hornets are better when Stephenson doesn’t play
Clifford was right when he said it's hard to find units featuring Stephenson that have done well. Stephenson has been part of three lineups that have been on the court for more than 100 minutes, and all three have a negative net rating. When Stephenson has shared the floor with Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson -- the two most important players on the team -- Charlotte has been outscored by almost 10 points per 100 possessions. Stephenson was supposed to be the team's starting shooting guard, but he's been unplayable next to the team's stars.
In the aggregate, the Hornets are more than nine points better per 100 possessions when Stephenson sits than when he plays. He hasn't hurt the team as much coming off the bench, posting a net rating close to -6 points/100 possessions, but his individual performance hasn't improved in the second unit. Removing Stephenson from the starting lineup in favor of Gerald Henderson was addition by subtraction, and given a player who doesn't hurt the team as much in P.J. Hairston, the backup role was all but a necessity. It's abundantly obvious that the Hornets are simply better off without Stephenson.
He’s not the player he was in Indiana
The reason the Hornets signed Stephenson was because he had been a revelation with the Pacers. He was never a great game manager or decision-maker, but he was well rounded. Only three other players averaged at least 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 2013-14: Kevin Durant, Kevin Love and Nicolas Batum. Stephenson managed that while shooting a good 49 percent from the field, being a league-average shooter from outside and playing above-average defense. He was exactly the do-it-all wing a team like the Hornets needed.
But since arriving in Charlotte, he has seen his rebounding slip and has been atrocious as a scorer. He’s one of only 12 players who have taken 500 total field goal attempts despite shooting below 40 percent, and the only to have launched at least 100 three-pointers while connecting on less than 20 percent of them.
Watching him play, the difference with his Pacers days is even starker. He used to be a decisive cutter and shooter in Indiana but has floated aimlessly on the perimeter in Charlotte, often receiving the ball and dribbling for a few seconds before making a move. He’s even been a disaster in transition, ranking fifth-lowest in the league in point per possession (min. 80 possessions), per Synergy Sports Technology. He’s just not the offensive player he used to be.
His defense has fallen off
The Hornets brought Stephenson in hoping he would juice up their offense, but they are a defensive team first and foremost. If he would have helped on that end, he would still have a place in the rotation despite his offensive woes.
Unfortunately, Stephenson has struggled making an impact on that end despite being considered an above-average defender for Indiana. He has been one of the worse isolation and pick-and-roll defenders in the league, according to Synergy Sports stats, ranking below the 20th percentile in both categories. ESPN’s Real Plus Minus ranks him as a negative on his own end.
As a team, the Hornets allow more than two fewer points per 100 possessions when he sits. For a squad with little margin of error, that’s a huge swing in the one area where it thrives. Stephenson hasn’t been able to contribute even some disruptive defense in the form of steals or blocks. While he hasn’t been the abject disaster on that end of the court as on the offensive side, he hasn’t done enough to offset the hit the Hornets take in the scoring department when he plays, unlike Hairston, who can at least space the floor.
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Few players have seen such a huge dip in production from one season to the next. Clifford and the Hornets took a chance with his signing, but it hasn’t worked and they are right to cut their losses now by benching him.
The good news for both parties is Stephenson is just 24 years old and next season he will be essentially on an expiring contract. He’s showed in his past three years in the league that he can be better than the version we’ve seen on the Hornets, so some team is bound to covet him as a reclamation project if his time in Charlotte is over.
It will be interesting to see if he can turn his career around, or if we’ve seen the best Lance Stephenson had to offer.
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