The Lance Stephenson Show (21 pts, 5 ast, 2 to)

Our first summer league game of the ’10-’11 started as a regular game. 40 minutes later, it could be described as the Lance Stephenson show.

Our 19 year old, 6′ 5” second round pick was given the keys to run our offense in his first professional game. In highlight footage, it certainly looked like Lance had the ballhandling and passing skills to run point guard, but a lot that can happen between highlights. Plus, it was reported that this was his first game as a point guard. Lance played shooting guard during his lone season at Cincinnatti.

Lance dazzled us in several key areas, scoring 21 points to go along with 5 assists (he was credited with 3, but you’ll see all 5 in these highlights) and 2 turnovers. He also had multiple plays that weren’t converted by his teammates. Otherwise, Lance has a double double.

He also showed an array of picture perfect passes, and ability to control the tempo, a knack for getting his teammates involved, and an instinct for scoring using a number of crafty and heady moves in halfcourt and in transition. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he has a good attitude and stays out of trouble. He does several things well that will earn the praise and playing time from Jim O’Brien that a rookie needs. Let’s get to the highlights:

Q1
9:10

Lance is able to maintain balance in transition after being bumped. He makes a pass around half court to Magnum for a good shot (assist #1).

7:27

Lance shows his strong hands as he recovers a near steal, drives to the hoop, and pulls out the Rajon Rondo around the back fake for an open layup. This move freezes the defender and enables him to convert easily.

6:52

I’m showing this clip to highlight a small ballhandling fundamental. Lance does a couple of things well here. He uses his body to create space between the defender and the ball by backing into him. Then, he uses his off hand to create more space while protecting the ball. It’s important for a guy like Lance because ball protection allows him to see the floor and make the passes a taller point guard can make. This is perfect for post passing a la Mark Jackson. Hopefully we’ll run a few sets for Lance in the post this summer.

Lance sees nothing, dribbles to the middle of the floor, and makes a sharp one-handed pass to Paul George. Two things: one of my main concerns coming in was that Lance would be an overdribbler, a la TJ Ford/Travis Best. In this game Lance does a great job of initiating the offense and getting rid of the ball when necessary. It’s very impressive for a guy running his first game at point. Also, the ability to make crisp one-handed passes is important as it allows a player to execute a pass more quickly, increasing the number of playmaking opportunities. Even more impressive is Lance’s ability to deliver these passes exactly where they need to be, which is in the receiver’s pocket. You’ll see it throughout these clips and I’ll continuously point it out. It’s a very underrated skill, and it’s very important for spot up shooters like Brandon Rush and Paul George. I consider this one of Mike Dunleavy’s biggest strengths.

6:08

Lance finds the open man and makes a perfect cross-court pass to Paul George (assist #2). It hits Paul in the numbers.

5:40

Lance appears to go up for a shot and at the last minute notices a wide open Magnum Rolle for an alley-oop (assist #3). This is our “shoot first” point guard making the right play.

5:18

Lance in transition. He does two very important things on this play. #1-He heads towards the middle of the floor from the corner. A lot of point guards don’t understand the importance of spreading the floor in transition. Staying on one side eliminates some passing angles and allows the defense to set up more properly. Taking it to the middle allows for more spacing and allows a player to attack the rim. #2-he keeps his head up. A good point guard keeps his/her head up in transition, always looking for opportunities. In this case, Lance notices that the rim is unprotected and drives it straight to the hoop for an easy layup. This is not something a player with tunnel vision executes.

4:49

Lance once again doing a good job of keeping the ball away from the defender. This time, the defense pays too much attention to Lance as he penetrates, afraid of making the same mistake twice. Lance finds a wide open Josh McRoberts for three. Again, notice how the pass hits McRoberts right in the hands, where he’s already set up to shoot. This is a perfect pass….very, very impressive.

3:57

Again, Lance does a great job keeping the ball away from his defender. He does a good job of using his body as a shield. You can see him keeping the ball away on the camera close-up.

Lance has the defender’s hips parallel to the basket, facing right at the three point line. Lance stops and uses a behind the back dribble to clear space. He then sinks a wide open jumper. Lance has a knack for recognizing a defender’s inertia and using it against them. This is accentuated by his good ballhandling ability.

Keep in mind that these are NBA ready moves that he can make against anyone. He’s using awareness and recognition, not speed and power.

3:27

Lance finds the open man in Paul George and again delivers a perfect pass for a quality shot.

0:54

Lance finds the open man in McRoberts and again delivers it right into Josh’s hands. Josh misses the shot at the rim.

0:38

Lance commits a three second violation but shows something interesting. He uses his off shoulder in the post to create space and shoot over a much taller defender. By this point, he has shown a number of instinctive moves that allowed him to become the all-time leading scorer in New York City High School basketball history. Also, notice how he plays off the ball. He cuts to the rim when his defender leaves him. He needs to do a better job off the ball in general, but here he shows that he has the awareness.

Q2

4:50

Lance drives the length of the floor into three defenders, gets off a clean shot, misses, gathers the offensive rebound and puts it back in.

Check out the replay (play 3 in the replay) for a couple of key moments. Paul Davis prevents the easy pass to Hendrix, but Paul’s reaction is initially caused by Lance looking off at Hendrix as he’s driving up the floor. That creates the open lane, he squeezes between the two defenders, and is then in position to get an offensive rebound should he miss. This is another NBA ready move that he can pull off against many players using his instincts. This is one of many instances where I believe that it’s irrelevant that it’s summer league play. It will translate into regular season play (if he makes the team).

4:23

Lance penetrates to the middle of the floor in transition, which draws all of Orlando’s defenders into the paint. This leaves Paul George wide open at the three point line. Again, Lance delivers the ball right into Paul’s numbers. At this point the perfect passes have become a trend.

3:06

Lance has pushed the tempo quite a bit so far in this game while finding open shooters on the arc; both things that Jim O’Brien will love. Here though, he shows something that a good point guard shows (and something that Earl Watson did not show last year as he pushed the tempo even when there were no options). As he’s dribbling (with his head up), notice how he pulls back @3:01 when there are no opportunities at the basket. He makes the smart decision by not forcing the action. He even dribbles back a bit to get all 4 players in front of him to initiate the set. This is controlling the tempo, i.e. knowing when to push, when to pull back, when to shoot, and when to pass. Not that many point guards, even in the NBA, have  that innate feel for the game, but here Lance shows that he has that capability. In fact, this is one of the turning points for Chauncey Billups’ career, as it is highlighted in this ESPN article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=090511/billups

Lance then takes the ball to the right side of the floor and sets up Hendrix beautifully.

2:41

Lance shows a series of moves, in succession, that turn a 1-on-3 fast break into a smart decision and easy convert.

Now let’s watch it in slow motion.

He uses an in & out dribble (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qvEiYCUl2E) to break defender #1′s ankles. He uses what LeBron calls a “crab dribble” on defender #2 to prevent #2′s attempted steal. He uses the change of direction to get by defender #3 and the outward leap to prevent the shot from getting blocked. What a series of moves!

He has an incredible ability to get open shots at the rim when you think it’s impossible.

0:19

Lance pushes the ball and again pulls out for the final shot of the half. He sets up Paul George for a very nice look on the perimeter, again delivering the pass exactly where it needs to be.

Q3

9:49

Lance finally takes advantage of the size mismatch, putting a mouse in the house and posting up his defender for the easy score at the basket.

8:35

Lance tracks down an offensive rebound, dribbles to the right elbow, fakes a pass to the perimeter, and hits a cutting McRoberts with an over the shoulder pass. Notice how he puts the pass up high so McRoberts can avoid getting the shot blocked. This is another instinctive move where Lance uses the right situation to throw a higher pass.

7:20

Lance uses a nice cut to run his defender into McRoberts, freeing him up above the foul circle. He then uses a Marcus Williams screen and hits a step-back jumper. This is one of the rare bad shots that Lance takes in the game, but he shows the ability to make it. It’s a good ability to have when you need a shot with the clock running down. Both he and George appear to make these.

6:30

Lance in transition. He looks off at a cutting McRoberts, setting up the play he wanted all along: a wide open shot for Marcus Landry.

5:45

Lance in the pick and roll. Lance takes it to the hoop as Paul Davis fails to pick him up on the switch. Jim O’Brien will be happy about this, as he thought Lance was too unselfish at Cincinnatti. He wants him to score first, when he has the opportunity.

5:25

Lance in another pick and roll. Hendrix is late rolling (you can see Stephenson trying to direct Hendrix to roll with his left hand). Lance kicks it out to Marcus Williams for the three (assist #4). This is another key play because Lance shows you he can make a play, even when the original play has broken down.

Q4

2:30

Here you see Lance directing Magnum Rolle while coming up the floor. Obviously the circumstances are different, but it reminded me of Magic directing Kareem for the alley oop in the closing moments of game 7 of the ’87 Finals. This was the possession prior to his famous hook shot. Magic read the situation, knew that the opportunity would be there, and coached Kareem into the play.

Here, Stephenson sees the paint being left wide open as he’s dribbling up the floor (notice again how his head is up while he dribbles). Once he recognizes, he directs Magnum to cut to the basket and then hits him in stride with a one-handed no-look pass (assist #5). What a great play! Also, Magnum shows some really nice hands on this play.

2:05

Here, we see Lance draw a double team, which leaves Marcus Landry with a wide open three after Lance’s pass. Lance saw several double teams in this game. He made good plays on some and decent plays on other. I see this as an area for growth as he’ll likely see more double teams in the future. With his size and vision, he’ll be able to kill double teams, which is a huge asset in the NBA.

1:33

Lance draws a pseudo double team, backs it out to create space, and then crosses over his defender for the drive and dunk. What a great move!

1:10

Lance, who has handled the backcourt press very well for the entirety of the game, threads the needle off of a pick and roll to a cutting Huertel, with a bounce pass. The bounce pass is an artform, and Lance shows the ability to hit a cutter, in stride, with a bounce pass. This is an amazing pass.

By this point, we’ve seen Lance successfully execute about every type of pass in a halfcourt setting. He has controlled the tempo, kept his teammates involved, and shown an ability to penetrate/score/pass using crafty moves. This is why he has the potential to be a point guard in the NBA.

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