The Indiana Pacers decided to let shooting guard Lance Stephenson move on to the Charlotte Hornets, and The Pacers moved quickly to replace him with former Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey. This may be a downgrade for The Pacers, but it is a cheaper route for them. The only downside to this move is Lance was still developing and Stuckey has hit his ceiling in his career, but this does bring a veteran presence to go alongside David West and George Hill who hopefully can get the locker room situation fixed after last seasons debacle. Stuckey averaged 13 PPG 2 AST and 2 REB a game last year and Stuckey has shown he’s a average scoring option on the inside. He’s also shown he isn’t the greatest outside shooter( 28% on his career from beyond the arc) which I think Indiana truly lacks on their team, but they obviously needed a slasher added and their isn’t too many good shooters that The Pacers can afford left on the market.
With Stuckey leaving Detroit it is a bit of a disappointment for any Detroit fan, because Stuckey leaves after being marked as the Billups replacement once he was traded away from Detroit back in 2008-2009. Stuckey certainly hasn’t had the worst career and has been one of Joe Dumar’s more successful draft picks (which isn’t saying much). Stuckey’s given The Pistons a consistent scoring option in his 7 year career, but still hasn’t developed into what they thought he would. With the new regime taking over in Detroit being fans of Guards that can shoot the ball well, it’s clear Stuckey just didn’t fit into the plan moving forward.
For The Pacers though this is a good move for them and you see in the NBA teams lose talent like a Lance Stephenson and don’t necessarily fill in the void he left, and I think it’s a bigger gap to fill in then everyone thinks. Stephenson developed every season he played and didn’t show signs of plateauing this past season. The Pacers though worked quickly to replace him which I give The Pacers front office credit for, but now the pressure is on for them to add more talent since they let a big piece of their success walk away.
