[festar35Participant]

So Lance turned down $44mil over 5years and the Pacers have then thrown $18mil over 4years at CJ M immediately limiting the cap space for Stephenson to $7mil for first year.

Do you see the Pacers trading away Copeland or cutting Scola to create cap room? Or do they let Lance just leave and go after a guy like Stuckey for $5-6mil to fill that 2-guard spot?

[kngojcParticipant]

 I think he’ll do a sign and trade to go somewhere that he can be a more important piece to a team, not necessarily the first option on a team but to be the guy that the team is known for. He was playing for Paul George’s team and I think he just wants to make a bigger name for himself.

[kngojcParticipant]

 I think he’ll do a sign and trade to go somewhere that he can be a more important piece to a team, not necessarily the first option on a team but to be the guy that the team is known for. He was playing for Paul George’s team and I think he just wants to make a bigger name for himself.

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 I feel like Lance could end up on the Knicks as a way to lure Melo to resign. Also, although Lance is very talented I can’t help but feel there isn’t much of a market (at HIS desired cost) for him mainly citing his antics this past playoffs in the Heat series.

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 I feel like Lance could end up on the Knicks as a way to lure Melo to resign. Also, although Lance is very talented I can’t help but feel there isn’t much of a market (at HIS desired cost) for him mainly citing his antics this past playoffs in the Heat series.

[King CaluchaParticipant]

I’m not a big fan of CJ Miles. I do believe he might be a little overpaid for someone who doesn’t shoot the lights out. I wish they had commited that money on Meeks.

[King CaluchaParticipant]

I’m not a big fan of CJ Miles. I do believe he might be a little overpaid for someone who doesn’t shoot the lights out. I wish they had commited that money on Meeks.

[christebasParticipant]

Post NBA playoffs,  Lance Stephenson moved in my mind past JR Smith as the biggest and most immature idiot in the NBA.  Yes, Lance has ALL the talent in the world, perhaps even deserving an All-Star spot on last year’s Eastern Conference team.  Since Lance was drafted by Larry Bird 4 full seasons ago, he surrounded the troubled but talented young man with a strong group of players such as David West and Roy Hibbert to name a few, not to mention the leader of this ‘tough love’ group in Bird himself.  

Based on expectations coming out as a freshman from U of Cincinnati, over the last 4 years, Lance may have made more progress than any other player in the NBA.  He’s an incredible talent who can do everything on the court.  He’s instense, aggressive with his shot, a great passer, a great defender and good from long-range. Threre’s no question he has all the physcial tools to be a great player, but what he lacks in loyalty to Bird and the Pacers, he makes up in stupidity (on the court) and the antics he displays.

However, even with this strong knit group of "tough love" surrounding him, his maturity and behavior was still erratic, but after the second half began, the real Lance stepped up and put on display for the world to see that he’s a bad teammate.  Following the All-Star game (which Lance wasn’t selected for and pouted about), he quickly reverted to his old habbits like stealing "friendly-fire-rebounds," meaning he’d openly take a rebound away from one of his teamates to pad his stats, shoot more when he should of been passing and over-all displayed a selfish attitude.  This doesn’t even include his antics in the Eastern Conference finals with the world watching him. Blowing in Lebron’s ear, talking trash about Lebron, standing in a Miami huddle, Lance did everything he could to LESSEN his market value as an Unrestricted FA this summer and ruin the strides he made in his reputation as a trouble maker and bad team-mate.

Indy and Bird graciously offered Lance 5 years 44mil deal which would of paid him 8.5 per year.  However, we’re in a sellers market and we’ve hit a point in the NBA where enough teams have loads of cash to spend on few talented player. Look for teams like Chicago, Dallas, Charolette, the Lakers to take a risk on Lance Stephenson at at 10-11 per for 4 years. Taking on Lance at 4 years guaranted (outside of INdy) seems very risky but some GM is enamoured by his incredible talent, even they know he’s a knotch below JR Smith in his on-off the court maturity.

Further, as for other FA’s, in my opinion Gortat got way over-paid (5 years 60mil) – he probably deserved closer to 4/36, Avery Bradly was given 4 years 32 mil for a guy that put up 14 points a game and did nothing else? Jodie Meeks 3 years and 20 mil? That’s insane, but I suppose it’s all about what the market will bear so we have to respect it. Look for Gordon Hayward to get a max deal 4/60 from Celeveland and the Jazz to match it 1 minute after the deal is done. Hayward is the heart and soul of the young developming and exciting Jazz.  15 mil a year for 4 years isn’t going to hurt the franchaises long term plans coinsidering they have 22mil on your books going into next year (20-15) and Favors locked up.

  

 

 

 

[christebasParticipant]

Post NBA playoffs,  Lance Stephenson moved in my mind past JR Smith as the biggest and most immature idiot in the NBA.  Yes, Lance has ALL the talent in the world, perhaps even deserving an All-Star spot on last year’s Eastern Conference team.  Since Lance was drafted by Larry Bird 4 full seasons ago, he surrounded the troubled but talented young man with a strong group of players such as David West and Roy Hibbert to name a few, not to mention the leader of this ‘tough love’ group in Bird himself.  

Based on expectations coming out as a freshman from U of Cincinnati, over the last 4 years, Lance may have made more progress than any other player in the NBA.  He’s an incredible talent who can do everything on the court.  He’s instense, aggressive with his shot, a great passer, a great defender and good from long-range. Threre’s no question he has all the physcial tools to be a great player, but what he lacks in loyalty to Bird and the Pacers, he makes up in stupidity (on the court) and the antics he displays.

However, even with this strong knit group of "tough love" surrounding him, his maturity and behavior was still erratic, but after the second half began, the real Lance stepped up and put on display for the world to see that he’s a bad teammate.  Following the All-Star game (which Lance wasn’t selected for and pouted about), he quickly reverted to his old habbits like stealing "friendly-fire-rebounds," meaning he’d openly take a rebound away from one of his teamates to pad his stats, shoot more when he should of been passing and over-all displayed a selfish attitude.  This doesn’t even include his antics in the Eastern Conference finals with the world watching him. Blowing in Lebron’s ear, talking trash about Lebron, standing in a Miami huddle, Lance did everything he could to LESSEN his market value as an Unrestricted FA this summer and ruin the strides he made in his reputation as a trouble maker and bad team-mate.

Indy and Bird graciously offered Lance 5 years 44mil deal which would of paid him 8.5 per year.  However, we’re in a sellers market and we’ve hit a point in the NBA where enough teams have loads of cash to spend on few talented player. Look for teams like Chicago, Dallas, Charolette, the Lakers to take a risk on Lance Stephenson at at 10-11 per for 4 years. Taking on Lance at 4 years guaranted (outside of INdy) seems very risky but some GM is enamoured by his incredible talent, even they know he’s a knotch below JR Smith in his on-off the court maturity.

Further, as for other FA’s, in my opinion Gortat got way over-paid (5 years 60mil) – he probably deserved closer to 4/36, Avery Bradly was given 4 years 32 mil for a guy that put up 14 points a game and did nothing else? Jodie Meeks 3 years and 20 mil? That’s insane, but I suppose it’s all about what the market will bear so we have to respect it. Look for Gordon Hayward to get a max deal 4/60 from Celeveland and the Jazz to match it 1 minute after the deal is done. Hayward is the heart and soul of the young developming and exciting Jazz.  15 mil a year for 4 years isn’t going to hurt the franchaises long term plans coinsidering they have 22mil on your books going into next year (20-15) and Favors locked up.

  

 

 

 

[treytalkssports.comParticipant]

Let’s talk about these ‘antics.’

Friendly fire rebounds – honestly, this is only the second time I have heard about this, but I never once saw it in a game. It might be true. 

Selfishness – He has been their best ball-handler and play-maker all year long. George is a good player, but he becomes much more effective when Stephenson initiates the offense and gets the defense reacting. I think Stephenson could have, and sometimes should have, been a lot more selfish. 

Eastern Conference Finals – Those ‘antics’ are pure gamesmenship. I don’t think anything he did was over-the-line as a basketball player. Other players have stood near the opposing teams’ huddles without them noticing. Trash-talking takes place every game and they needed someone to go after Lebron. The blow-in-the-ear thing may have required that Stephenson turn in his man-card, but it was honestly not as big of a deal as people made it. People have vastly overreacted to these things.

Players like Stephenson win championships. They have an edge. Good teams need an edge. Think of Rondo for the Celtics, Rasheed for the Pistons, Kobe for the Lakers, Rodman for the Bulls, Lambier for the Pistons, Bird for the Celtics. These players are volatile, weird, and sometimes difficult to understand, but the goal is not to control them. The goal is to focus their edge on the court towards the other team. If a good coach can do that, teams with edgy players become dangerous. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[treytalkssports.comParticipant]

Let’s talk about these ‘antics.’

Friendly fire rebounds – honestly, this is only the second time I have heard about this, but I never once saw it in a game. It might be true. 

Selfishness – He has been their best ball-handler and play-maker all year long. George is a good player, but he becomes much more effective when Stephenson initiates the offense and gets the defense reacting. I think Stephenson could have, and sometimes should have, been a lot more selfish. 

Eastern Conference Finals – Those ‘antics’ are pure gamesmenship. I don’t think anything he did was over-the-line as a basketball player. Other players have stood near the opposing teams’ huddles without them noticing. Trash-talking takes place every game and they needed someone to go after Lebron. The blow-in-the-ear thing may have required that Stephenson turn in his man-card, but it was honestly not as big of a deal as people made it. People have vastly overreacted to these things.

Players like Stephenson win championships. They have an edge. Good teams need an edge. Think of Rondo for the Celtics, Rasheed for the Pistons, Kobe for the Lakers, Rodman for the Bulls, Lambier for the Pistons, Bird for the Celtics. These players are volatile, weird, and sometimes difficult to understand, but the goal is not to control them. The goal is to focus their edge on the court towards the other team. If a good coach can do that, teams with edgy players become dangerous. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hacker90Participant]

I think would be a great fit on the Hawks. Obviously I wouldn’t sign him if i’m the Hawks and I can get one of the bigger free agents somehow, but I don’t think the Hawks will get lucky. They should offer Stephenson 4year/45 mil.
A lineup of Teague, Stephenson, Korver, Milsap and Horford sounds pretty nice to me.

[Hacker90Participant]

I think would be a great fit on the Hawks. Obviously I wouldn’t sign him if i’m the Hawks and I can get one of the bigger free agents somehow, but I don’t think the Hawks will get lucky. They should offer Stephenson 4year/45 mil.
A lineup of Teague, Stephenson, Korver, Milsap and Horford sounds pretty nice to me.

[ConezdParticipant]

 This negative talk about Lance is ridiculously overblown. The guy has never been a trouble maker off the court in Indiana. And his so called ‘antics’ on the court aren’t even that crazy. The guy is ultra competitive and he does what it takes to win. None of these on court incidents have been harmful in nature or have bad intent. He’s a goofball out there sometimes but I never heard any stories of this guy being a bad teammate or causing issues in the locker room. In fact, when that whole story came out about PG and Hibbert getting into it right before the playoffs it was reported that Lance was the guy there to break it up. I can understand that he has a streetball players reputation, so the worry of him getting paid and taking a step backward or having no reason to improve is justified I suppose but I don’t think he’s that guy. I think he wants to win. When he was riding the bench his first couple years in Indy, he was still getting fired up and rooting for his team. With all that aside, his game on the court speaks for itself. He has a unique skill set. His big, strong and quick and literally does it all. I haven’t heard anything about where he might land but, I think NY and LA are bad spots for him. Bad teams and maybe those markets go to his head. I think a great place for him would be Phoenix is Bledsoe some how gets away. He could fill that role perfectly. 

[ConezdParticipant]

 This negative talk about Lance is ridiculously overblown. The guy has never been a trouble maker off the court in Indiana. And his so called ‘antics’ on the court aren’t even that crazy. The guy is ultra competitive and he does what it takes to win. None of these on court incidents have been harmful in nature or have bad intent. He’s a goofball out there sometimes but I never heard any stories of this guy being a bad teammate or causing issues in the locker room. In fact, when that whole story came out about PG and Hibbert getting into it right before the playoffs it was reported that Lance was the guy there to break it up. I can understand that he has a streetball players reputation, so the worry of him getting paid and taking a step backward or having no reason to improve is justified I suppose but I don’t think he’s that guy. I think he wants to win. When he was riding the bench his first couple years in Indy, he was still getting fired up and rooting for his team. With all that aside, his game on the court speaks for itself. He has a unique skill set. His big, strong and quick and literally does it all. I haven’t heard anything about where he might land but, I think NY and LA are bad spots for him. Bad teams and maybe those markets go to his head. I think a great place for him would be Phoenix is Bledsoe some how gets away. He could fill that role perfectly. 

[SmooveKRYPTParticipant]

The Pacers are very direct about not going into the luxury tax and they offered him pretty much the most they could without putting themselves right up there. I don’t think they’re going to go to a higher number for him. They could create a little more room to sign him by moving Cope or Scola but that’s never been how they do things letting a player tell them I want this much or else.

I could see him as a Bull if they can’t get Melo…he fits right in with the edge the Bulls have built around (Rose, Butler, Gibson, Noah) he’s aggressive, super confident and is a very capable defender. If they amnesty Boozer like it’s being reported they will, they would have about $11 mil in cap space.

Or the Hawks as mentioned above would be a great fit also…they need some guys with fire and another attacker besides Teague.

[SmooveKRYPTParticipant]

The Pacers are very direct about not going into the luxury tax and they offered him pretty much the most they could without putting themselves right up there. I don’t think they’re going to go to a higher number for him. They could create a little more room to sign him by moving Cope or Scola but that’s never been how they do things letting a player tell them I want this much or else.

I could see him as a Bull if they can’t get Melo…he fits right in with the edge the Bulls have built around (Rose, Butler, Gibson, Noah) he’s aggressive, super confident and is a very capable defender. If they amnesty Boozer like it’s being reported they will, they would have about $11 mil in cap space.

Or the Hawks as mentioned above would be a great fit also…they need some guys with fire and another attacker besides Teague.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

The Pacers have used up all of their non tax payer MLE on CJ Miles ($4.5M) and Damjan Rudez ($1.1M), so they’re basically hard capped for the next year. Right now their salary is around $72M. The luxury tax threshold will be around $77M. That means they have about $5M to re-sign Stephenson since Bird said they won’t go over the line. 

All of their moves now will have to be via trade. IF they want to sign Stephenson, they’ll have to waive Scola, which would save them about $3.9M. They could also trade Copeland for a 2nd round pick and save another $3.1M. 

So I won’t say it’s the end of Stephenson yet, but the Pacers will now have to dump salary to resign him. With Bird, Walsh and Pritchard, nothing is out of the question. 

 

 

 

 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

The Pacers have used up all of their non tax payer MLE on CJ Miles ($4.5M) and Damjan Rudez ($1.1M), so they’re basically hard capped for the next year. Right now their salary is around $72M. The luxury tax threshold will be around $77M. That means they have about $5M to re-sign Stephenson since Bird said they won’t go over the line. 

All of their moves now will have to be via trade. IF they want to sign Stephenson, they’ll have to waive Scola, which would save them about $3.9M. They could also trade Copeland for a 2nd round pick and save another $3.1M. 

So I won’t say it’s the end of Stephenson yet, but the Pacers will now have to dump salary to resign him. With Bird, Walsh and Pritchard, nothing is out of the question. 

 

 

 

 

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