Stephenson is a bad shooter and needs the ball to be an effective player. Too early to say anything at this point for Clippers.
Doc had rondo, pierce, and garnett in boston and won a championship. He can handle it. We now know that Garnett is crazy. We know Rondo is an A-1 a-hole. We know that Pierce would throw his mama under that the guagua (bus), Doc can coach and handle Stephenson. Also, those guys tend to do fine when they are winning. Having Barns and Stephenson really is great for the Clips and Doc (if Barnes comes back). They only need need one or two guy(s) extra to have the bench they needed. Great trade for the Clips, not to mention that Stephenson is immature and nothing helps that better than time. Some just need more time than others to grow up (I'm looking at you Tim Duncan....ie you were 40 coming out of college).
Lance was ranked #91 of 101 SG's in Real Plus-Minus. #32 in DRPM (2 behind Harden) and #100 in ORPM. He had a NetRtg of -7.5 (4.1 worse than the team NetRtg of -3.4). He'd probably have to have a career year just to be worth the $9 mil cap space on a team that doesn't have a very deep bench.
The Clips just further reduced their bench, and Rivers is not good enough as a GM to find cheap players to fill out the rotation.
"Clippers traded another bad Doc mistake in Hawes..." while Charlotte traded another bad MJ mistake in Stephenson. Also, I don't think "an already thin team just got thinner". Lance Stephenson should be able to replace a lot of what Matt Barnes gave them (should) and maybe even do a lot better in other areas. Assuming, of course, that he is able to return to at least some of what he was in Indy instead of the Charlotte Lance. Meanwhile they were hardly even playing Hawes at all. They desperately need more big man depth, but trading away a Center that wasn't getting any playing time doesn't really hurt their depth.
Me too, its so frustrating... we all know how much harder it is to win a championship in a situation like this
"DO. YOUR. JOB." - Tom Thibodeau "PLAY HARD." - Kevin McHale "PLAY WITH ENERGY." - Steve Kerr "TIMEOUT! TIMEOUT!" - David Blatt
Exactly SamFisher Why do you keep referring to Rich Cho as MJ? I can't take you serious with making statements like this.
Good trade for the Clippers. If he works out, he fills their biggest hole at the wing, and makes their starting five very dangerous and complete. If he does not work out, they did not lose much. Barnes was a bum and Hawes was not going to be a difference maker for them. As for the Hornets....who cares?!
Yeah you're right. Even if he is a total cancer to the team, the Clippers didn't lose much if they can nab Pierce. Stephenson could turn out to be a huge plus for them too.
Your missing the obvious point - Lance isn't a SF and Barnes was 3-4 inches taller than Born Ready. No doubt Lance has far more potential and can likely do so much more than Barnes, but Lance would be the smallest SF in the league if they tried to play him there every night. He can play SFs on switches and in stretches but there is nothing about his play that suggests he can consistently guard guys stronger and taller than him every night.
You must have missed my post earlier when I said this: There are several things to be concerned about this trade from the Clippers' perspective. How will he fit with their current roster? How will he feel being, at the highest, the very clear cut third option behind Paul and Griffin? Will he be able to return at all to his Indiana form or was the Charlotte version closer to what he really is? What will the Clippers' do for their wing dpeth? And their big man depth? And their depth in general? All legitimate concerns. That said, it was still a good trade for them. They didn't give up much- Barnes was getting old and less productive and Hawes barely played at all- for a potential upgrade. Maybe Stephenson doesn't work out and continues playing the way he did in Charlotte? But for how little they gave up, that risk was definitely worth it for them.
Selling assets at their lowest value does not make it a good trade for them. Barnes is getting old, but far outplayed Stephenson last season at a position of need. Hawes is pretty garbage, but he's coming off literally the worst year of his career. Dumping him now is impatient. Surely, some team could be desperate for a center this summer. Stephenson is a huge question mark. Trading even one rotation guy for him is a huge gamble and maybe not worth the risk.
This is moronic. So is the "MJ being MJ" idiocy. At least do some damned basic research. Lance was table stakes, any GM (which is Cho, not Jordan) that doesn't take that at two years guaranteed, 9mm per, on a medium risk, high reward gamble is not a GM but a idiot poster playing video-game-GM with 20/20 hindsight. Lance was a risk though and it played out - that's not on the Hornets, that's on the gamble. He was horrific, historically horrific. And his issues weren't in the locker room, they were on the court. He was toxic only for his inability to do anything remotely right on the court far more than he was some toxic personality. If Doc can find the talent that Lance left in Indy, they made a good trade. And if Charlotte got a stretch 4/5 that can pull the defense out occasionally, they did it saving a couple mm in salary cap. If the Hornets traded a guy that could not see the floor in the majority of the year's 4th quarters, a guy brought in to be Born Ready, who shot less than 20% from distance and was clogging up a needed spot to stretch the floor for a ham sandwich, they were on top. That they might get a serviceable fifth big out of the deal on a cheap contract, it's a win. LAC take on a risk and - like the Hornets - if it pays off, they will be rewarded hugely. If it craps out, nothing lost. This was a win-win where noone was hurt and both stand to gain.
If you're getting other assets at their lowest value, then that's a wash. And Stephenson probably has more upside than any of the other two.
