This Lance Stephenson Defensive Highlight Video Lacks Production Value

https://t.co/xCzHJGD3eC pic.twitter.com/xXRDxEsatW

— Amin Elhassan (@AminESPN) October 30, 2015

This should make me upset. I’m a fan that values hustle and players that outplay their actually skill level. Lance Stephenson is coming off a terrible year and he should be doing everything in his power to prove himself in this league and to his team. Yet, here we are, two games in, and he’s casually strutting back and forth on the defensive end like he’s in a mall food court and can’t decide where he wants to eat. That is unacceptable, and it’s not something the Clippers want to see out of of a player that is expected to contribute greatly this year.

Like I said, I should be mad, but I got to be honest with you, I’m really not. I’m treating Lance Stephenson like a new born puppy. I think his intentions are good, but he’s just enigmatic and brain dead sometimes, and I don’t even think he can help it. So when he is walking in circles on the defensive end like he doesn’t remember where he parked his car, I am prone to giving him the benefit of the doubt, especially in a game that is well in doubt. Whatever the fuck Lance was just doing there is easily forgivable. It’s like when you puppy takes a poop on the hardwood floor. Easy cleanup. No harm, no foul. Now, if Lance starts having bouts of amnesia in close games then my opinion will change drastically. That would be like your dog taking a shit on your white suede sofa. That’s when the newspaper gets rolled up. That’s when it stops being worthy of a laugh, and starts being worthy of discipline. However, until that moment arrives I can’t help but treat Lance Stephenson like I'm his old senile grandmother. Doesn’t matter how stupid the play, that boy can do no wrong. 

P.S. There has never been a player in NBA history that was just as capable of putting of 40 points as he was of completely running himself out of the league on any given night until Lance Stephenson came along. Every game with Lance Steohenson is like going skydiving, except there is like a 30% chance that the chute is not going to pull. It’ll be interesting to see how long he can avoid going splat.