Can Kemba Walker and Lance Stephenson Become a Top Backcourt Pairing?
One was a college darling who authored the quintessential fairy-tale ending; the other was a misfit prospect whose career was more forgettable than famed.
One used doubts about his NBA potential as productive fuel; the other has yet to fully outrun the demons that dogged him on draft day.
One is beloved, a bona fide starter with all-star potential; the other is equally upside-laden, only more polarizing.
Yet for all their outward juxtapositions, Kemba Walker and Lance Stephenson have a chance to become one of the league’s best, most punishing backcourt duos.
That might sound like so much happy bluster, particularly considering neither of the two has authored so much as a single All-Star appearance in seven combined seasons.
What Walker and Stephenson have to their mutual credit, however, is a system both designed for and conducive to their respective skill sets.
Steve Clifford, poised to enter his second season as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, is the man tasked with turning these two disparate talents into a top-tier two-way force.
Walker is more the known quantity—a heart-on-sleeve skipper of the hardwood who emerged, at the tender age of 24, as Charlotte’s emotional leader.
And while Stephenson clearly comes with enough baggage to fill an Amtrak cargo hold, his talent and two-way upside were more than Clifford and the Hornets brass were willing to pass up. Here’s Clifford in a recent interview with CBS Sports’ James Herbert:
"One of the things that we were looking at was, as an organization, we knew it was important to try to add someone to play through offensively at the top of our roster. And there were a couple trade possibilities that we looked at that didn't work out, and then obviously we tried hard with Gordon [Hayward] and then Utah matched. As soon as that happened, then we were really aggressive about going after Lance.
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Say what you will about Stephenson’s on-court antics. When put to scale aside his abilities as a playmaker, the verdict is staunchly in the latter’s favor.
Aside from Walker, last year’s Hornets were noticeably lacking in creative conduits on offense. The result: an utterly anemic offense that finished the season ranked 24th in terms of offensive efficiency.
Indeed, it was Charlotte’s sixth-ranked defense that proved the team’s constant saving grace. Here, Stephenson’s impact will be even more pronounced, with the fiery guard’s strength and 6’5” frame allowing him to guard up to three positions.
Stephenson remains a decidedly risk-laden asset. But as Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley recently pointed out, the affordable price tag makes it one well worth taking for the Hornets:
"If he creates more headaches than buckets, Charlotte is out a relatively small amount of cap space for two seasons. Given his defensive versatility, though, you'd think the Hornets could find a trade partner if it derailed that badly.
And if Born Ready finally realizes his massive potential? Then, the Hornets just got away with larceny.
Team owner Michael Jordan talked a big game heading into this summer, and he delivered. Stephenson might be a notable name for the wrong reasons, but that could all be changing soon.
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Jordan has gotten a lot of flak over the years for his front-office decision making, and rightly so. After all, rolling the draft-day dice on the likes of Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison and D.J. Augustin—lottery busts all—is bound to balance the ledger in your disfavor.
That reputation made its biggest about face with the hiring of Richard Cho, a veteran of both the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder and widely respected as one of the most forward-thinking general managers in the business.
The effects have been equal parts immediate and impactful: a dynamic, youth-laden team with cap space to spend and, it seems, a coherent hardwood philosophy.
"Avery Bradley gets 4/$32M. Gordon Hayward gets 4/$63M, & the #Hornets just got Lance Stephenson for 3/$27M. Michael Jordan stays clutch.
— Ethan Norof (@Mr_Norof) July 16, 2014"
Stephenson might be the next logical piece in Cho’s personnel puzzle, but it’s Walker—plucky-underdog-turned-tenacious-winner wherever he’s been—who may be the Hornets’ most important basketball bellwether.
Coming out of the University of Connecticut, where he’d finished his stellar four-year career by capturing the program’s third national championship since 1999, Walker was seen by many as lacking both the size and playmaking skills to forge anything more than a fringe career at the next level.
And while Walker has certainly experienced his share of statistical up and downs, his performance down last season’s stretch was nothing if not encouraging.
To wit: After averaging fewer than five assists per game through November and December, Walker registered averages of 6.3, 7.3, 7.5 and 8.2 for January, February, March and April, respectively.
Not bad for a “score-first point guard.”
Paired with the dynamic Stephenson, Walker’s strengths—his mid-range game and an ever-developing three-point stroke to go along with it—will only be enhanced.
More importantly, Stephenson’s ability to get to the rim should free Walker from the burden of having to be his team’s primary creator, a trend Sports On Earth’s Michael Pina tackled in a column from April:
"Relative to other starting point men, Walker barely ever drives to the basket. His 6.1 drives per game rank 20th among starting point guards, and that doesn't include backups like Jeremy Lin, Will Bynum or Walker's own teammate, Ramon Sessions. But maybe this is a good thing? Walker shot a depressing 39 percent on those drives, second lowest among all 31 players in the league who drove as often. At just 6-foot-1, he hasn't yet learned how to consistently finish among trees at the rim. When layups are a coin flip, it's a problem.
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It remains to be seen how Walker and Stephenson will fare as a backcourt tandem on the offensive end; both the timetable and learning curve are, at this point, wholly up in the air.
What Clifford should be able to count on immediately, however, is the pair’s top-caliber perimeter defense wreaking havoc on rival backcourts. He almost certainly hopes the resulting turnovers will help improve the team’s 28th-place finish in points off turnovers last season (per NBA.com).
From the outside looking in, the Walker-Stephenson pairing would seem a classic 50-50 gambit—a duo as steadfast in their strengths as they are woeful in their weaknesses.
As such, Charlotte is the ideal basketball incubator for the two's tantalizing talents. This is a team built for the future, where a slightly higher playoff seed amounts to a pleasant surprise, and first-round upsets are found money.
With the NBA’s point-guard position undergoing a renaissance of sorts, it’s unclear whether Walker has it what it takes scale his way into the league’s upper echelon.
Stephenson, meanwhile, comes along at a time when the 2-spot is as barren as it’s ever been.
Which is what makes the two such a compelling basketball fit. Not because they’re the best backcourt in the NBA today, but because in becoming the best possible pairing for one another, it might not be long before they get there.
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