Pacers playing Lance Stephenson at point guard.

thats a tall team

Stephenson – 6’5
George – 6’9
Granger – 6’9
Murphy – 6’9
Hibbert 7’2

I’ve also heard Indiana has intrest in Jordan Farmar, if they can sign him I bet he starts over Lance. I think they’ll try to address their issues at pg through free agency first, Ray Felton has also gotten some buzz in Indiana. I don’t doubt that they try to play Lance at pg to see what happens, but I doubt he’s their starter opening day.

Neither Stephenson nor George will start for Indiana this year until they give up on the season.

I can’t see Felton coming at the MLE and given his questionable sporadic shooting ability, I’m not sure we need him. The same could be said of Farmar.

I’m doubting the Nets would do that deal still without having a replacement point guard waiting in the wings. After Harris, there really is no one else on that roster who can handle that.

I could see them picking up someone like a Luke Ridinour on a low year/low salary deal and having him spot fill while hoping for either Irving or Knight in the draft next year. With the guys out there in free agency, we’re not going to find a solid 1 that will put us back into the playoffs. That’s only going to happen if everyone outside of Granger takes their game to a higher level and in that case, there would be little need for getting one of the less that stellar points in this free agency class.

Being allowed to play PG where he is running the team might give Stephenson a chance to mature into a more complete player. Especially if he is given something of a free range. Also, wouldn’t Granger make more sense at the 2? He takes a lot of 3s these days…

George will have his hands full beating out Rush, Jones and even Dunleavy Jr.

Granger isn’t on the block. I don’t know why or how that’s getting spread around. Bird was quoted in the Indy Star saying that the trade to New Jersey was just a rumor and that Harris isn’t good enough for the Pacers to give up Granger.

During his pre-draft workout, Stephenson showed that he’s much more effective with the ball in his hands. It could be smart for the Pacers to play to his strengths and give him a chance at point guard. That doesn’t mean he’ll start though… George won’t even start. He’ll back up Granger and play a little with Granger when the Pacers move him to the four.

Just admit that you’re smiling and thanking the Knicks for passing over Stephenson…

I’ll preface this by saying that I think Stephenson is a good player who will likely have a long career. What good would it have done the Knicks to take Stephenson? He can’t shoot, which tends to be a problem in a D’Antoni system. He would not be able to operate at the point there, because that system needs a true point guard who can react to what is given to him. Not only that, but he would have the same leaches that tried to get rich off him in high school hanging on him again. It was better for the Knicks and better for Stephenson that didn’t come to be.

Pacers summer league roster

No. Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Birthday School/Country Last team
24 Paul George F 6-9 210 5/2/90 Fresno State Fresno State (NCAA)
11 Richard Hendrix F 6-8 265 11/15/86 Alabama CB Granada (Spain)
51 Thomas Heurtel G 6-2 180 4/10/89 France Strasbourg IG (France)
4 Adam Koch F 6-8 255 5/4/88 Northern Iowa Northern Iowa (NCAA)
7 Chris Kramer G 6-3 214 4/4/88 Purdue Purdue (NCAA)
21 Marcus Landry G-F 6-7 230 11/1/85 Wisconsin Boston (NBA)
20 James Mays F 6-9 230 3/3/86 Clemson Humacao (Puerto Rico)
32 Josh McRoberts F 6-10 240 2/2/87 Duke Indiana (NBA)
2 Russell Robinson G 6-1 205 1/24/86 Kansas Maine (NBADL)
15 Magnum Rolle C-F 6-11 225 2/23/86 Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech (NCAA)
6 Lance Stephenson G 6-5 210 9/5/90 Cincinnati Cincinnati (NCAA)
9 Bryce Taylor G-F 6-5 210 9/27/86 Oregon Telekom (Germany)
8 Darryl Watkins C 6-11 258 11/8/84 Syracuse TianJin Rongcheng (China)
12 Marcus Williams F 6-7 205 11/18/86 Arizona Austin (NBADL)

That team is going to be horrible defensively…

Again.

Yay! Adam Koch made a summer league roster.

And it doens’t matter if they can’t play defense, as long as they try hard.

EDIT: Now that I think about it they probably won’t….

The Pacers are doing what Cincinnati should’ve done this past season, instead of letting the chubby and confused combo guard Deonta Vaughn be their starter and almost vicariously ruining their season. If they would’ve put Stephenson in a Tyreke Evans type role, Stephenson would’ve been a lotto pick and Cincy would’ve been a legit tourny team.

I don’t think he’ll be a high level player next year because his responsibility will be given to him slowly but surely. He needs the ball to be effective and he’s too rough around the edges to be a high offensive option player right now, but he’ll be a very solid player next year. I’d say 8 or 9 ppg and 4 rpg while playing very solid on-ball D.

Hey Deonta Vaughn was a 1st team All-Big East performer as a Soph. So I guess it woulda been kinda tough to just take him off the ball and not have him running the show. Stephenson needs to learn how to play the position he’ll need to play his natural 2 guard position. Him being put at the 1 in college would’ve just masked his deficiencies. And he’s not as talented as Tyreke, Tyreke is just a better and more gifted player, who seemed to have things click. Stephenson’s strength advantage was completely negated in the Big East, and athletically, he wasn’t really a cut above anyone in that league, and he just looked like a real Freshman, in terms of poor shot selection and decision making. Of course, a guy of his talent showed flashes, but he just didn’t look all that impressive at times, i watched a lot of cincy games too, so i’m not just talkin. But he just seems unpolished, could’ve really used another yr. Hope he makes the best of situation though, i wanna see him succeed, and not become the next shoulda been from out here in brooklyn.

I feel like Josh McRoberts is gonna show out in summer league.

Athletic with range out to the 3.
Seriously, his offensive game is too good & too diverse to not kill in summer league.

Plenty of guys kill in Summer League, especially when they have a few years of experience under their belt. It usually doesn’t transfer to actual NBA games.

@sc0rebuckets11

McRoberts is my boy. Hopefully he doesn’t sprain his ankle this summer league lol. He’s been spraining the same ankle since he was a rookie in Portland.

He hasn’t done much thus far in his career, BUT… I think he’ll do something this upcoming season. He makes Troy Murphy expendable.

lance has a good handle… i dont think that they will ask him to create too many plays for other people… maybe just make the simple pass… like what tyreke did, cuz physically he can bully almost any PG in the league… he has a great body… no matter what happens they will try him at the point a little this season… even if it is with the bench guys, because they guy has talent

How is lance’s post game, because he can do what Billups does to smaller point guards and just post them up

forgot about that but lance can post up a bit too… very physical game… more of a old school player with they way that he plays tough… people also dont take it in that he is very competitive… as long as he has his on rite he will be very good… because that competitivness it makes the great players and he has that

kind of fun. especially on a video game haha. but idk if it would work but then again its the pacers……..theyll try anything and why not?

I’ve played against Marcus Williams and that boy has some skills. He didnt make the right decision coming out of Arizona after his Sophomore year but he is a guy who has killed the D League for 3 years and killed in China last year and now I feel like he’s ready to showcase his skills. The Spurs had him trying to convert to a Point guard, which he performed well in at times last year in the D League. He can play 3 positions like Lance and the wing positions in the summer league of him, Lance and George is gonna be nasty and exciting to watch. Hopefully all 3 of these guys can bring some youth and energy to Indiana