Lance Stephenson ‘excited-nervous’ for free agency

The Indiana Pacers’ No. 1 priority during the 2014 offseason is undoubtedly to re-sign Lance Stephenson, who’s four-year rookie deal has expired. Doing so would allow the team to keep its starters intact, a priority of Pacers President Larry Bird.

That, in part, is why the Pacers didn’t draft anyone with their lone second-round pick and instead shipped it to New York for cash considerations. The Pacers are tight on money, with an estimated $48.6 million tied up on the other four starters — Roy Hibbert ($14.9M), Paul George ($13.7M), David West ($12M), and George Hill ($8M).

Now, it’s Stephenson’s turn to get paid.

“I got a certain amount I’m going to pay him and I’m not going over that,” Bird said to reporters after Thursday’s draft. “I do know that. But it’s going to be a very good contract. For whatever you hear or whatever you see, I know what I can do to make it work. And it’s a very, very fair contract.

“I know Lance wants to be here, he needs to be paid like everybody else has been paid, and we’re going to do what we can do to keep him.”

Ultimately, it’s about meeting in the middle and reaching terms that both sides like.

Teams can begin talking with free agents at 12:01 a.m. on July 1, the start of the free agency period. Bird plans to touch base with Stephenson’s agent, New York-based Al Ebanks, right away – which is standard.

“We know we’re in a really good situation right now in Indiana,” Ebanks told VigilantSports.com. “If a deal is there to be done, we’re going to do it.”

Stephenson, through Ebanks, will be listening to other offers but he’s made it clear that he wants to be back just as much as the team wants him.

Indiana is an ideal spot for Stephenson. It’s far enough away from Brooklyn, quiet and low key. His family — Lance (father), Bernadette (mother), and Lantz (brother) — actually followed him out here and they all live together on the southeast side of Indy.

He has a coaching staff with the patience and interest to work with him, a top-tier training staff and Bird, his mentor, who he respects a great deal.

When Lance first arrived, he was a headache. He tuned coaches out, ignored teammates and didn’t treat team employees well. Even the little things, like putting your dirty clothes bag into the hamper in the middle of the locker room, was difficult for him. Roy Hibbert admitted early last season, when Stephenson was piling up triple-doubles, that he didn’t care for him early in Stephenson’s career because of his immaturity.

But Stephenson has matured, and is light-years better. With the media he’s engaging and looks the person who posed the question in the eye. Sometimes, he’s pretty funny.

Yet he still has a ways to go. Remember, he’s just 23 – one year out of college for his age.

“One of the areas I’m so proud of him is for coming from what he was when I first got there to what I see him becoming now,” said Brian Shaw, the former Pacers associate coach who is now the lead man in Denver. “He is one of the leaders of that team. I think he realizes when he plays a certain way that makes them almost unbeatable.”

Stephenson, is coming off his season in the Association. He shot 49 percent from the field, averaged 13.8 points per game and led the team in both rebounds (7.2rpg) and assists (4.6). He led the league with five triple-doubles — and came up short a handful of times — last season, also an individual franchise record. He’s started and played a big role in every postseason game (38) over the past two years, where the Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals and fell both times to the Miami Heat.

“You could make the case that he should’ve been an All-Star,” Mark Jackson, the former Warriors coach and Pacer, said in March. “Happy for him. The fact that he loves the game and not afraid to express the fact that he loves the game. He’s having fun out there.

Stephenson has an edge to him. Most of it is great, but sometimes it was a setback and troublesome.

He received a team-high 14 technical fouls — nearly two times as many as the next Pacer — during the regular season, which cost him $41,000. (To his credit, he didn’t receive another one over the final 10 games, risking suspension.) Stephenson also was hit for flopping four times.

Too frequently, he irritated teammates by stealing rebounds as he looked to pile up statistics. The drive and energy is fantastic, but he has better things to do on the court than keeping tabs on his stats – even sometimes telling the stats crew they missed an assist or rebound.

And, of course, in the playoffs, Stephenson became a social media sensation for blowing in the ear of LeBron James. After Bird reportedly told him to cut it out, he popped James below the chin in Game 6. Stephenson, who grew up playing street ball in New York, does those things to get under the skin of his opponent and make no mistake, the trash talk fuels him.

Hall of Famer Reggie Miller on Lance: “I’ve always told people to win championships you’ve got to have a little bit of crazy on your team and Lance Stephenson is a little bit crazy. You don’t know what you’re going to get but sometimes you need that.”

Bird talked with Stephenson for the second time since the season concluded last Thursday. Part of that discussion was about cooling it with the antics. “If we do bring him back here, I made it pretty clear what I expect and that all was said,” Bird said.

“I have a good relationship with Lance,” he continued. “I like Lance. I like his talents. But some of the things he did at the end of the year concerned me. I just want to make sure we are on the same page going forward and he wants to be here. He made it pretty clear.”

As the roster currently looks, the Pacers have eight players with guaranteed contracts and two with non-guaranteed money, Luis Scola and Donald Sloan. Including the latter two, the Pacers already have just over $64.9 million on the books before Stephenson. The Pacers, surely, are hoping for a deal starting below double digits, perhaps just above Hill’s $8 million a year figure.

The salary cap and the tax level are projected to be $63.2 and $77 million, respectively. Final numbers won’t officially be known until the second week in July. Though Indiana will certainly be over the cap, owner Herb Simon has instructed Bird that he can spend up to the luxury tax threshold, but not exceed it.

Many fans and outsiders believe it’s time for a shakeup — and maybe it is. Yet some of the best teams in the league stuck with it and won championships. The Miami Heat didn’t give up on the Big Three experiment after losing to Dallas in the 2011 NBA Finals. San Antonio kept its core and made a few changes to its bench this year to get back to the finals and avenge last season’s heartbreaking defeat.

Bird, too, plans to stick with it.

“I believe in keeping the core of your team together,” he said. “Now you might make some moves and try to add to it, but I like our core. I think we got to be more consistent, and I think we got to have better ball movement, and I think players have got to be held accountable and they will be.

Should Stephenson come back, Bird plans to be more of an influence.

“I think one of the problems this year is I didn’t spend enough time with Lance,” he said. “I was gone a year. I came back. He had a good year. I just told him that I wasn’t going to bother him all year. I texted him a few times and we talked about the game but I left him alone, and I think that’s a mistake on my part.”

For the third straight summer, Stephenson has basically lived at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. He’s working out, both on the floor and in the weight room, looking to maintain and touch up a few things.

“Working on my jump shot and post moves,” he said of his offseason work. “I’m just trying to bring something new to the team next year. Just working on a lot of stuff that I need to work on to get better.”

“He’s working his tail off,” said coach Frank Vogel, “I can tell you that. He’s in every day like he is always is in the summer. Business as usual and we’re certainly hopeful that he ends up being a Pacer.”

Stephenson has also sat courtside for numerous Indiana Fever games, and he played in a charity softball game.

Later this summer, he plans to reconnect with shooting coach Hal Wissel to refine his shot before the season. The pair first hooked up last offseason on the advice of Bird.

Stephenson also plans to look into hiring a chef. Many of his teammates already have one, including Paul George, George Hill and Roy Hibbert. Players are on the go so much and it’s difficult to eat right when at home. A chef eases the burden and is keeps the player in check.

Individually, Stephenson is the banner guy for AND-1, a shoe and sportswear company. He’s the only NBA player with an endorsement from AND-1. Now one year into a three-year deal, Stephenson has his own signature shoe in the works. That is planned to drop in February at All-Star Weekend, which will be held in his hometown.

The face of the team, Paul George, who came into the league the same year as Stephenson, got his deal done before the season – back on September 25th. As he sat up on a platform with the Pacers’ president, Bird was sure to acknowledge Stephenson, who was looking on from the back of the Entry Pavilion at the Fieldhouse

“I see Lance standing back there,” he said into the microphone. “Next year, Lance, this will be your turn. You’ll be right up here by your daddy and everything will be fine.”

Stephenson is optimistic for that to come true. That’s what the Pacers want and that’s what he wants. But that doesn’t ease his nerves whatsoever.

“I’m very nervous,” Stephenson said. “I’m excited-nervous. I know I’m going to be alright, but I’m just nervous. I just want to know what’s going to happen. Definitely nervous, but I’m just preparing and getting ready for it.”

George Clarifies His Remark

“Do you want to see No. 1 by your side?” That was the question posed to George shortly after their Game 6 loss in Miami back on May 30th. Still emotional from their series being over, and likely not completely listening to the question, he stammered out, “I don’t know.”

Fans and many members of the media jumped on that. But, really, there wasn’t much to it. George clarified his comments for the first time.

“I think that was taken way out of context,” he said. “Obviously me and Lance has been here four years together. I would love to continue to keep playing with Lance. When I said, ‘I don’t know yet,’ I was speaking on what he’s going to do. I don’t what he’s going to do, I don’t know what our front office is going to do and at the end of the day that’s not my decision. I went through it, it was tough, but I would love to see number one back here in a Pacers uniform.”