NBA Rumors: Buzz Surrounding Lance Stephenson Trade, Ray Allen and More
December is a time of reflection for many people as they look back on the calendar year. The same can be said for many NBAfranchises. By now, most teams have fallen into the patterns and rhythms that will likely carry them through the rest of the 2014-15 campaign.
It's a safe enough distance from the start of the season that the successful teams can feel comfortable with what they've accomplished thus far and make plans to stay the course or up the ante if the team's initial goals still feel a bit out of reach.
On the other hand, some NBA teams are feeling the blues as we head into winter, bright autumn hopes fading into faint glimmers. Nevertheless, the gears powering the NBA are in perpetual motion. As the temperatures dip, the rumors tend to heat up.
Whispers of trades carry with them the possibility of teams beginning anew or at least becoming secure in the knowledge they have a valuable piece for a later season, while a notable free agent might very well be ready to come in from the cold.
Here are the latest rumors from around the Association
Here are the latest rumors from around the Association
Lance Stephenson
The Charlotte Hornets' disastrous 6-17 start threatens to undermine the structure and integrity of a team desperate to put the horrid Bobcats era firmly in the past. Head coach Steve Clifford was able to steer this franchise to a 43-39 record last season, and while many of the players from that squad are still on the team, they've been unable to replicate the results.
As it stands, the Hornets could be prepared to excise the squad's biggest offseason acquisition, one Lance Stephenson, in a bid to restore the same chemistry that brought success last year.
RealGM.com's Shams Charania has the latest:
Certainly, Stephenson has acted as a destabilizing agent of some sort up to this point with numbers that are well off the pace of his successful 2013-14 campaign with the Indiana Pacers.
| Season | G | MPG | PPG | FG % | 3P % | RPG | APG | PER |
| 2013-14 | 78 | 35.3 | 13.8 | .491 | .352 | 7.2 | 4.6 | 14.7 |
| 2014-15 | 23 | 33.4 | 10.4 | .389 | .167 | 7.2 | 5.0 | 10.5 |
Basketball-Reference.com
Still, he's not all that is ailing the wayward Hornets. It's quite clear that the core of last year's team has degraded in 2014. Kemba Walker's shooting just 36.8 percent, and his scoring has dropped from 17.7 points per game in 2013-14 to 14.9 this season. Al Jefferson's scoring is also down and, perhaps more importantly, the left-block leviathan is averaging 2.8 fewer rebounds per game this year.
As a team, the Hornets have gone from being ranked sixth in defensive efficiency last season to 24th so far this year, per ESPN.com.
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Lockdown defender Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has only just recently come back from a foot injury and has missed 16 games in all this season, no doubt a significant blow to the team's defensive stability.
Unless the Hornets can convince a team to part ways with a proven veteran who can fit seamlessly into Clifford's squad or several assets to start what would be a painful rebuilding process, Stephenson should not be shown the door quite so soon.
Unless the Hornets can convince a team to part ways with a proven veteran who can fit seamlessly into Clifford's squad or several assets to start what would be a painful rebuilding process, Stephenson should not be shown the door quite so soon.
Clifford believes that Stephenson, who is shooting a robust 44.9 percent in December, is finally getting comfortable with the Hornets.
"I would say that it has been a lot of factors," he said after the Hornets' 114-87 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, via Fox Sports Carolinas' Brett Jensen. "One has been his (groin) injury in the preseason, where he missed a significant amount of time. That hurt his conditioning. I think now he is just not getting comfortable playing with his new teammates and he has started to play better and better."
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