When this trade was made public, everybody raised a collective eyebrow. I mean if Lance couldn’t play for Larry Bird or Michael Jordan, who can the guy play for?! I mean this is it for Lance, if he can’t get it done in LA, he might as well book a ticket to China.
Now Doc Rivers has clearly thought about this trade for some time, he isn’t even going to have Stephenson as an automatic starter according to ESPN.com.
“I like that [Stephenson] can play multiple positions — really 2, 3 and 1 — because he’s a terrific passer,” Rivers told The Beast 980. “I don’t know if I made the trade for him to be a starter, per se, I look at him really more to be a utility player that can come in and play literally three different positions for us. When you look at us, we needed toughness and more athleticism and we get that.”
Now let’s not throw Doc completely under the bus. He said it on a radio show so whether he 100% meant it remains to be seen.
And Doc did go on to compliment Lance Stephenson so it was not all about where he has him on the depth chart . I think the bench idea is interesting, I think Stephenson will have to work to be where he wants, can’t keep coasting. Soon teams will look at him knowing that he is never all in when he should be. Bird and Jordan couldn’t do it, can Rivers?
