12. Lance Stephenson- SG/SF
As we begin our descent down the laundry list of relevant players on the team, we encounter who is by all accounts the team’s worst signing of this offseason, Lance Stephenson. As previously mentioned, the team was harshly criticized for their free agent signees this year. Most of the players brought in could be reasonably defended. Lance Stephenson cannot.
Stephenson signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract with the Lakers soon after it was announced that James would be joining the team. In an offseason that saw it’s free agent class have a bountiful amount of rotation level wings available, the idea of giving Stephenson anything more than the veteran minimum was immediately perplexing, to say the least.
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Stephenson, as well as other free agents, were brought in for their perceived playmaking ability and tough defense, according to Rob Pelinka. This is a defensible strategy on paper. The only problem is that Stephenson is not a particularly effective offensive player and certainly isn’t an effective defensive player, despite his reputation.
He is billed to be a gritty defensive pest with switchability but in reality, the days of quality defense from Stephenson ended when he left Indiana for the first time.
This is clear if you look at his on/off numbers from last season. When Stephenson was on the court opponents shot a 2.9 percent higher effective field goal percentage, putting Stephenson in the 12th percentile in the league for that statistic– meaning he was worse than 88 percent of all players at his position, according to Cleaning The Glass.
On top of this, his team allowed an extra 7.7 points per 100 possessions with him on the court (5th percentile.)
While these numbers do not tell the whole story, as there are many other factors that contribute to these stats other than his own play, they confirm what we see in the game. Whether it be because of poor effort or lack of ability, Stephenson is no longer a good defender. And without the defensive ability he once possessed, he is not a particularly useful player. It will be no surprise if Stephenson finds himself falling out of the rotation as the season goes on.