Charlotte Hornets: Lance Stephenson Or Gary Neal?
Well by this point, everyone knows the Hornets are shopping the eccentric Lance Stephenson. Even my mom knows. Seriously. He’s at the forefront of Charlotte’s struggles, even though he’s not the only problem. That’s the price you pay if you want a superstar name in the NBA.
So far this season, Lance has shot under 40 percent from the field, including a ghastly 16 percent from behind the arc. He’s never been much of a three-point shooter, but my goodness. His inability to shoot from the outside has hurt the Hornets and led to all of this trade speculation.
Stephenson just doesn’t exactly fit the system here in Charlotte, and he really doesn’t fit well with Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson. They all need the ball to be effective, so until there’s a rule where we have multiple basketballs on the court, it’s just not going to work.
Considering Kemba and Al are “the guys” in the Queen City, that leaves Stephenson as the odd man out.
Unfortunately, trading Lance Stephenson now won’t be easy. There was already a gray cloud around the former Cincinnati Bearcat from his days as a Pacer, and that’s only been added to from this season.
While he hasn’t caused the distractions in the locker room that gave him a reputation in Indiana, he has caused a disruption of flow on the court in Charlotte.
Stephenson likes to play off the dribble, while the Hornets’ offense relies on ball movement and flourishes with spot-up jump shots. It’s not exactly a knock on his talent, so teams could view it as an inability to fit with teammates’ style of play.
Factor in that teams are trending back toward passing, team-oriented offenses, and Stephenson loses even more value.
There is no likely trade scenario in which the Charlotte Hornets don’t lose. It’s just not possible. The Indiana Pacers wanted Charlotte to add a first-round pick just to take Stephenson back. A first-round pick!
So what’s the struggling team to do? Why not look at your current roster?
The one thing just about everyone knows the Hornets need is a consistent outside shooter to space the floor. I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Gary Neal. Neal playing with the first unit and Lance Stephenson playing with the second unit almost makes too much sense. I’ll explain.
Kemba Walker and Lance Stephenson cannot effectively play beside each other. They just can’t. They both need the ball to score and neither one of them is a good enough spot-up shooter to be efficient.
Gary Neal, on the other hand, thrives as a spot-up shooter. That’s what Charlotte traded for him last season to do. He’s had an effective shot his whole career and has really improved this season offensively.
As you can see in the shot chart above (via Vorped), Gary Neal is most effective outside of the paint. That’s exactly what the Charlotte Hornets need. Neal’s presence alone would limit the defensive pressure teams could place on Al Jefferson.
Kemba would be free to handle the ball on every possession without limiting the offensive arsenal of other players on the court, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would be able to somewhat make up for Gary Neal’s lack of defensive prowess.
Basically what I’m getting at is this: everything the Charlotte Hornets need Lance Stephenson to be is Gary Neal.
Meanwhile, Stephenson would fit in perfectly with the second rotation. Brian Roberts isn’t nearly as ball-dependent as Walker is, so Stephenson would be able to handle the ball frequently. Roberts has displayed a pretty good outside shot, so he would be able to work off of Lance’s dribble-penetration.
Marvin Williams (you know, the guy that was supposed to be the Hornets’ new three-point specialist) has been relegated to backup duties and can stretch the floor as well. Gary Neal has handled the ball a lot with the second rotation, but they would be much better off with Stephenson doing so instead, and Neal taking shots with the first unit.
If you think about it, the Hornets have most of their inside scorers with the first team and most of their outside scorers with the second team, so why not mix it up more?
Neal has already replaced Stephenson for long stretches in some games, so why not just fully commit to the move?
With a record of 6-19, the Hornets need to change something … anything. They would have to take a big hit to trade Lance Stephenson, so they would be better suited to try something within the roster they already have.