Charlotte Hornets: How is Lance Stephenson affecting team?

Are the Charlotte Hornets regretting Lance Stephenson’s contract?

So far, there has been one defining highlight from Lance Stephenson’s time in Charlotte, North Carolina, playing for the newly rebranded Charlotte Hornets. With the Hornets and Atlanta Hawks tied in double overtime, Charlotte had the ball needing only a point to win with only 2.7 seconds remaining on the clock. Lance Stephenson strode out of the huddle confidently, knowing that the ball would be in his hands for this last possession. What happened next already has 129,000 views on YouTube and was on Sportscenter the next morning.

In the video, Lance pulls up nearly from the stinger embedded in the “H” of the Hornet’s midcourt logo and banks in a three to win the game. That was Lance’s first three pointer made in the 2013-14 season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time or on a bigger stage. The shotmaking displayed here was one of the reasons why Charlotte shelled out 27 million dollars in the offseason to sign him.

But watch that video again. Lance does something interesting that not a lot of people pick up on casually watching the highlights. After making the shot, Lance runs straight for the scorers table, ignoring the ecstatic Gary Neal’s attempt at a hug. After leaping down, he lets his teammates shower him with hugs and headrubs, but he makes sure to find the camera and looks right into it with the perfect photobombing face, which was something that Stephenson had dusted off once already this season.

When they signed Stephenson, the Hornets knew they were getting both the basketball player and the character. And while the character has been in midseason form, his basketball play hasn’t. Stephenson is playing 35.8 minutes a night but only averaging 9.2 points a night. His field goal shooting percentage is a paltry 34%, and his shot chart reveals a lot of red.

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The Hornets didn’t sign Stephenson to play like this, but a lot of his early struggles have to do with adjusting to his new teammates. Al Jefferson (Professor Al Jefferson, Ph.D. as the great Zach Lowe likes to call him) is still the focal point of the Hornet offensive attack, and Kemba Walker is still option number two. That leaves Stephenson as the third banana, a role that he thought he was escaping by leaving Indiana this offseason.

He hasn’t adjusted to playing within the Hornets scheme either. In crunch time, the ball usually goes right to Professor Al on the left block, who goes to work schooling fools as usual. Gary Neal and Kemba Walker have found ways to work with Big Al to make the offensive scheme work. Neal sometimes drives right at the Big Al post up and pulls up for a jumper, and Kemba lurks nearby so that if a double team comes, he can pull up for an open three or reverse the ball to the other side of the floor.

The other side of the floor is usually where Lance is lurking, along with Marvin Williams (another new guy who is still figuring out how he fits when Big Al posts up). When the ball is reversed to Lance, the defense is scrambling to get back in position, but the ball sticks to Lance’s hands sometimes and the offensive play devolves into a Lance isolation or drive. In fact, according to NBA.com/stats, 24.7% of Stephenson’s shots come with 3-6 dribbles. This is both a strength of his game and a curse, because he shoots 45% from two point range on shots with that criteria, but the shot also interrupts the flow of the offense.

Along with ball movement, another ideal action stemming from a ball reversal after a Jefferson post up would be a Stephenson catch and shoot three. But through the first eight games of the season, Stephenson is shooting just 26.7% from shots NBA.com/stats classifies as “catch and shoot.” His catch and shoot three-point percentage is also well below where the Hornets would like it to be, at 23.1%.

Rebounding has been a point of strength for Stephenson so far in Charlotte, as he is averaging 10.6 per game so far this season. But that is a misleading stat, as Stephenson often prowls rebounds from teammates and feasts on uncontested rebounds, the easiest to gather. Stephenson actually leads the league in uncontested rebounds, per NBA.com/stats, with 8.6 per game. Stephenson’s continued feasting on uncontested rebounds gives a real asterisk to his impressive rebounding totals.

Remember, all these numbers are from Stephenson’s first nine games. As he grows more comfortable in Charlotte’s offense, he should expect his numbers to rise. But the catch and shoot numbers are concerning and have little to do with the team switch. The Hornets made a big investment in Lance Stephenson this offseason, hoping that he would put his antics aside and blossom into the excellent two-way player he showed flashes of in Indiana. So far, besides the one game winning shot against the Hawks, Stephenson hasn’t impressed. But Stephenson has a lot of time to work on his photobombing face and his pull-up jumper as he settles in as a member of the Hornets.

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