Hornets Contending Depends Upon Stephenson

A lot of big time moves have been made during this NBA offseason thus far. However, one team has been moving quietly toward building a team capable of competing.

Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Hornets have made a couple of big acquisitions. First there is their big Summer League standout Noah Vonleh.

Vonleh was not astonishing but he played better than his 11.3 points and 9 rebounds per game he did in college.

The big man only shot for 28 percent form the field, but pulled down an average of 10 rebounds per game, showing he is ready to at the very least be a pro facilitator.

It is also important to note that Vonleh is only 18 years old with plenty of time to grow. Let Al Jefferson being to mold him and he could develop into a big time post scorer in no time.

With that piece of the puzzel in place, the Hornets knew they needed a big time star. However, Charlotte was not on the minds of the likes of ‘Melo and King James. So the Hornets grabbed the player who helped lead a team deep into the playoffs, Lance Stephenson.

It was a controversial move. The Indiana Pacers let him go due to his on court antics like blowing in LeBron James’ ear and publicly calling him “weak.”

If anyone can help reign in Stephenson, though it is Michael Jordan, who Stephenson told the media has already lectured him on needing to “calm down.”

On the court Stephenson is more dangerous than he ever was. He had a career-high season in nearly all his stats last year and proved he was a triple-double threat every time he stepped out onto the court. It is his off court antics and his crossing to line of trash talking into disrespecting that is the problem.

Stephenson has a long history of run-ins with the law, dating back to 2010 when he allegedly assaulted his then girlfriend. Those charges were eventually dropped.

Combine that with Stephenson’s antics during the Eastern Conference playoff game and you can clearly see the risk in taking a player like Stephenson in.

And that is the toss up for the Hornets. If Jordan and Jefferson can reign in Stephenson then they have struck gold.  If not then at least we will get some pretty funny internet memes.