Take a little of the salt that you didn’t use as a rub on your Thanksgiving Day turkey and use it here, because it sounds like someone has an axe to grind. That said…
This season Roy Hibbert is back to playing like an All-Star, like one of the game’s top centers. He was an All-Star last season but he and the Pacers dropped off a table the second half of the season. There were questions about what was going wrong, what the chemistry issues with the team were. This season he is scoring more points and doing so more efficiently (taking on more of the offense) plus he is playing strong defense in the paint. This season he’s playing like an All-Star again.
Meanwhile, Charlotte was a team a lot of us expected to take a step forward this season that hasn’t — their offense is not improved and their defense has slipped. They have been a real disappointment.
What changed in Indiana and Charlotte? Lance Stephenson went from the Pacers to the Hornets and some are pointing fingers, via Bill Reiter of Fox Sports.
Was told a few weeks ago Lance Stephenson, not Paul George or anyone else, impacted Hibbert so negatively last season. Looking accurate.
— Bill Reiter (@sportsreiter) November 27, 2014
Also told me that, from the start, folks in Charlotte started to realize in Lance they'd bitten off more than they'd planned on chewing.
— Bill Reiter (@sportsreiter) November 27, 2014
Again, this sounds like it’s coming from an anti-Stephenson camp somewhere. There are a lot more issues here going on with both teams.
That said, Hornets coach Steve Clifford has called out Stephenson recently saying he is not a star and has a lot of work to do on his game. Stephenson certainly is not getting to the rim as much, taking more long twos and is shooting 36.9 percent from the floor (and 20 percent from three).
As for whether he is a chemistry issue, I think to agree with the Daryl Morey line that “chemistry is a three-game winning streak.” If Stephenson strings together some good games and the Hornets start to win, everyone will forget this. But until then, tongues will wag.
