Stephenson Now A Full Time Risk For Bird, Pacers
by Tom Lewis on Aug 15, 2010 11:12 PM EDT
in Indiana Pacers News
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PrintAbout a month ago, Larry Bird spoke with Mark Montieth about a wide array of topics on 1070 The Fan, but one comment stuck in my mind last night when I heard the discouraging news about Lance Stephenson's arrest yesterday.
The conversation was pretty light as they rambled through all of the topics of the day concerning the Pacers and the NBA. Bird was quick to laugh and throw in his own quips. But at one point, his tone took a decidedly serious turn and that was when Montieth started treading into Lance Stephenson's past. In discussing the draft picks and great play of Stephenson in the summer league, Montieth wanted Bird's thoughts on the risk of taking Stephenson.
Montieth: You've talked about the due diligence you put in to checking into his (Stephenson's) background, because he had been in a couple of issues back home, not in college, but back home...(Bird interrupts)Bird: In one, Mark.
The transcript doesn't do the comment justice. Bird's tone made it clear he wasn't giving Montieth an inch of latitude on the topic. To Montieth's credit, he acknowledged it was just one incident but pressed on with the question, which Bird answered.
Montieth: In one, exactly, but my question is: Did you still hesitate to pull the trigger on him just because of all you've been through with the criticism the franchise has received with the off-court issues.Bird: Well, he 16 years old and even though he was wrong he was very young. Obviously, we went out and did everything we possibly could do to find out as much as we could about him and everything turned up pretty positive last couple of years. So, is it a chance? It's a chance on any of these young men. You don't know what they're going to do from day to day, but hopefully we can get him in the right environment along with the other draftees and hopefully he can improve and make good things happen.
From all accounts, while Stephenson was in town this summer in that positive environment there was nothing but good news to report. Assuming Stephenson can make his way through this latest incident AND the team stands by him, the team and those close to Stephenson who care about him maturing into a productive man, let alone a productive basketball player, are going to have to monitor the environment he's around until he proves he can handle his business.
But all of the help and guidance in the world won't change Stephenson for the better until he changes things for himself. Hopefully he can figure it out to prevent ruining a promising career before it starts.
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If it's true, cut him
Eat the salary if you can’t petition the league or something to have his deal voided. I will not support a man who beats defenseless women.
٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ The sky is falling!
quit acting all holier than thou
let’s say that danny was the one accused of the crime. would you be calling for him to be cut or have his deal voided? i highly doubt it. if yes, you’re either lying to yourself, and if you truly believe it (which i doubt) there’s a reason why you’re not a GM in the NBA. i think you’re saying this because lance is a 2nd round pick and still a relative unknown. honestly ask yourself if you would still be reacting in the same manner if it was our all-star franchise player instead of a 2nd round rookie.
Harper's on Miller, McKey, gets in to Miller for the win and...
Hail to the Orange.
Hail to the Blue.
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois, Varsity.
by wonillionaire on Aug 16, 2010 3:15 AM EDT up reply actions
I would.
I know a few people… family/friends… and I don’t know anyone one arrested for throwing someone down a flight of stairs.
I've never seen a supernova blow up, but if it's anything like my old Chevy Nova, it'll light up the night sky. - Fry
by Marked Hoosier on Aug 16, 2010 7:38 AM EDT up reply actions
Dude
If they story is true, and this 6’5", beast of a human threw his girlfriend down a flight of stairs, you think this is normal or acceptable? What else can we go by right now, other than the fact that we know Stephenson knocked his gf hard enough that she went careening down a flights of stairs so badly that she had to go to the hospital?
I don’t know what world you’re living in, but that shit doesn’t just happen. It takes a special person with an incredible lack of self control and decency to do something like that.
And you know what, Danny isn’t accused, and he never would be.. you’re argument is off-base and presumptuous. If this is story is true as reported, we have every right to not support someone of this character.
ummmmm
don’t think its holier than thou to want this d bag off the squad. If it were Danny would I say the same thing? I certainly hope so. I was ultra excited at the possibility of this guy actually being a player in the league but this type of violence is completely unacceptable. I’d rather have him shoot up a strip club…
So you’re saying that if you had the choice of the Pacers having a group of all bad-image players who were guaranteed to win an NBA title, and a group of all clean-image players who would never win a title, you would take the latter?
Harper's on Miller, McKey, gets in to Miller for the win and...
Hail to the Orange.
Hail to the Blue.
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois, Varsity.
by wonillionaire on Aug 17, 2010 2:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Sorry to me...
Shooting up any place is worse than this situation. She certainly got hurt, but she lived. A guy shooting a gun around could kill several people. Sure, maybe the people attending a strip club aren’t the greatest people in the world, but they don’t deserve to die. Guns shooting > pushing down stairs to me.
by infinityzero.systemerror on Aug 17, 2010 3:06 AM EDT up reply actions
Why dont you wait for all the facts to come out
Nobody knows what happened yet. You have one side to the story. You ever think someone might be after the newly acguired money he has. Plus you dont give up on somebody for a domestic promblem.. You remove him from the problem, get him some anger management and get him fixed up. He did not shoot up a club, get in a fight with a entire arena, he did not drive drunk. He is a kid. a 19 year old kid who prolly wants out of a relationship and it went badly. Just dont just on this kid without knowing the facts. Your Past is your Past. You cant judge this kid his entire life for something he did when he was sixteen. He did not beat a defenseless women. Dont start rumors without knowing the facts.
Did everyone miss
the “If it’s true” part?
٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ The sky is falling!
by IndyPacers on Aug 15, 2010 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Well said
while the story sounds like Stephenson made a moronic assault, we should all refrain from demands that he is cut until we get confirmation his girlfriend’s story is true. It is possible that she is after a cut of his signing bonus. I am pessimistic about that, but I will wait until further details emerge before damning him off the team.
pretty simple first step
you ask him if it’s true and if he admits that he pushed her, for whatever reason, you dump him. If he declines to talk to you, you dump him. If he tells you a story that based on other credible information you believe to be untrue, you dump him.
If you find his story, whatever it is, credible, you hang with him.
Also the supposition that it’s all he said/she said could very well be faulty: there are security cameras everywhere, particularly in high crime areas, like stairwells of public housing projects. In fact, he may very well have been charged based on a review of video.
This will be big news in the biggest media market in the country. That cannot help.
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty....
This could have been any number of things that happened. Regardless of the situation we need to help this young man get his shit together, not condemn him. Which was one of my biggest problems w how we handled Artest, instead of helping an obviously disturbed man, we just dumped him on the next team.
innocent til proven guilty
is a legal term. this isn’t about criminal law. it’s about his contract which has provisions involving “moral turpitude”, vague enough to permit the team to do what it wants…and giving the player a right to appeal.
Alright...
Everyone remain calm. All this talk of cutting him is ludicrous to me. Rather then leaving this young man blowing in the wind by cutting him or trading him the team should endeavor to get some return on the investment they made in him. That means doing what you can to help him so that he can one day help you. What he needs is some guidance, isn’t that what a guy like James Posey is on this team for (assuming he sticks around)?
I guess I just prefer they try to help him become a better man before giving up on a 19 year old. I don’t think they would have drafted him and been unaware of this possibility. One way to keep someone out of trouble is to give them something to do. Just get him in the gym until the season starts.
by SpaceCowboy1984 on Aug 16, 2010 1:00 AM EDT reply actions
Key point being he is 19.
Plus, does everyone remember that Duke Rape case? They were being crucified by people without any strong evidence and I felt that people were being too rash then. What happened? They were innocent. In more recent news, Ben Rothlisbergler clearly raped a woman and kept his job. Not only that he wasn’t tried and was only suspended for 8 games, likely to be 4 games because he’s playing the choir boy. Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling, while guys that take illegal drugs get a slap on the hand. Anyways, I got off topic… I guess my main point now is the world isn’t fair… where was I going with this? Rant? I suppose… He’s just a 19 year old and people do stupid shxt when their young… really, REALLY stupid shxt. If you read all this, you probably should have just ignored it. Your Welcome.
by infinityzero.systemerror on Aug 16, 2010 1:52 AM EDT up reply actions
Not good Lance.
…I won’t write the guy off though. I’m a 40 year old mellow father of four and I carry myself that way. I always think of the example I set for my 3 boys and 1 beautiful girl…BUT….I did sone stupid and reckless shit when I was his age. I got a second chance…everyone deserves opportunity to grow up. Lance just needs to understand that he could jeopardize his career as a professional athlete…for some lady he probably won’t even be with in 10 years. I’m not saying it’s her fault, just that if he’s in a volatile relationship and there is screaming, arguing, fighting, pushing each others emotional buttons; then it’s time for him to end it and move on. From this point forward remove his distractions from his personal life and focus on Bball…for starters, come to Indy and start working out with Hibbert…I’d hate to see him blow his chance in the NBA, and in life.
Confucious say "He who dives for loose balls need proper fitting athletic cup!"
what's with people suddenly turning on lance?
seriously.
a) this guy is still a teenager
b) you don’t even know for sure what actually happened
c) assuming lance is indeed guilty…not using this as an excuse, but tyreke evans was involved in a freaking driveby shooting for heavens sake, and also got arrested earlier this summer for driving 130mph. i don’t know about you, but i think assisting in murder is worse than what lance did. kings fans aren’t calling for tyreke to be cut. why? because they are rational, and understand that basketball is basketball, and a player’s personal life is his personal life. get over it. if how a player is as a person reflects how good of a basketball player a guy is, guys like karl malone wouldn’t be in the HOF. last i checked, this is a BASKETBALL TEAM. not a freakin contest to see which team has the cleanest image and the nicest guys. they don’t hand out championships for image. if lance is a great basketball player and could help this team win a championship, i could care less what he does off the court.
Harper's on Miller, McKey, gets in to Miller for the win and...
Hail to the Orange.
Hail to the Blue.
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois, Varsity.
Yeah shooting at ppl is a means for termination.
Amazing how talent can override the law. Can’t wait to see Stern crackdown on Lance while leaving Evans alone. He always loves to punish the Pacers. Yes… I am still bitter about 2004.
by infinityzero.systemerror on Aug 16, 2010 4:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Clark Kellogg to the rescue...
"We think he is a tremendous asset for our franchise. He has great respect and knowledge of the game, both on and off the court. He is someone our players, our franchise and our community can look to as a role model, and we couldn’t be happier to have him assume this important role with our players", said Pacers President of Basketball Larry Bird.
Time to start earning that paycheck, Clark!
things happen...
There are alot of players who had problems in there past. I think Allen Iverson was arrested for attempted murder while playing for Philly… if thats not worst than this situation then i don’t know what is. Also, after that was all cleared his attitude was still the same. Some of you are acting like your lives are just peaches n cream. If it is then you mind giving all of us a favor….STOP DAM LYING!!!!!!!!!
Watch the ESPN 30 for 30 on AIs arrest
You’ll see what an absolute sham it was. He was SENTENCED for attempted murder because of a racial brawl that happened at a bowling alley, and there was no evidence that he was in the actual fight.
Anyway, about Lance. Pushing a woman down stairs seems pretty cut and dry. The only way it will be defensible is if she was attacking him to the point that his life was endangered.
You guys are forgetting this ist he Indiana Pacers, not some other team.
We have been dealing with this shit for years and we just started to drag ourselves out of it and Stephenson brings it back up again.
This isn’t like this happened in say… San Antonio. People were turned off from the Pacers due to all the stupid, thuggish, unlawful, unproffesional things they were doing. And this brings it right back up to the spot light again.
IF IF IF IF IF…
this is 100% true and he pushed some girl down a flight of stairs (and I don’t care what the reason is, if you don’t have enough control over your emotions to just walk away then I don’t want you around anyway) I would applaud if Bird were to eat the salary and get rid of him. It isn’t worth the potential of dealing with this crap anymore… not for a 2nd round pick, not for a back-up.
And god Bird has some bad luck. He goes out and starts drafting talent >> all again and gets bit in the ass again. Expect more college seniors next year!
Trade Him.
I don’t know if he has any trade value at this point, but he clearly has talent. Maybe some other team is willing to take a chance on him. The problem is that the Pacers can not afford to even have the appearance of anything unlawful, TRUE OR NOT. The stupid and reckless acts perpetrated by the players over the last several years have been a PR disaster. The court of public opinion does not ascribe to “innocent until proven guilty” so in their mind Stephenson is already a bad seed. If you want to give a guy a second chance, I’m fine with that (if innocent)… but it has to be on a different team.
Sides to the story
It is wrong what he did obviously. But having the mother of your child come home at 5am with two friends kind of makes me mad too.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iLbkCCfHSn3POmKBhGzwOdUHWmNAD9HKO3GG1
a third link pointing out the repercussions:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/hoop_star_in_gal_pal_attack_ijXxJXdbIzBE5xrigKCtJP?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=#ixzz0wlmMn1y5
This gonna get me in trouble...
But he probably just wanted her to make him a sandwich.
by infinityzero.systemerror on Aug 16, 2010 5:04 PM EDT reply actions
You people are nuts
Don’t cut him or trade him. If we cut him, we owe him 2 years. We won’t get anything in trade because he’s tainted so we waste a draft pick.
Let the league suspend him for half the year or more. We get off the hook for his pay and still get he chance he ends up worth a shit next year.
If he his suspended by the league, the Pacers get off the hook for punishing him.
He won't be convicted and the league won't do anything
this isn’t the NFL where Goodell is Judge, jury, executioner. This isn’t hte first NBA player to beat up a girl and Stern didn’t do shit then.
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