Rowan Kavner

LOS ANGELES - Getting Lance Stephenson back on the move could reap the benefits results the Clippers are looking for this year from the 24-year-old.

Stephenson was a hot commodity after his best NBA season in 2013-14 with the Pacers, averaging 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, helping Indiana get to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season. He parlayed that season into a three-year, $27 million deal with the Hornets, where things didn’t go as swimmingly, averaging 8.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

“It was a tough season,” Stephenson said in his introductory press conference with the Clippers, who traded for the versatile guard this offseason after he spent one season in Charlotte. “Coming from the Pacers to the Hornets, different organizations, it was very different. It was a struggle for me. I just want to put that behind me. Just looking forward to a great season now.”

In order to make that happen, the Clippers will want to get him in transition and get him some of the looks that made him successful to begin with. Here’s a look at what the Clippers could look to do more often for Stephenson.

Transition Game

The Hornets got in transition a league-low 9.6 percent of the time last season and averaged the second fewest fast-break points in the league (9.2).

Needless to say, that left Stephenson with fewer opportunities to get out on the break. During the 2014-15 season, Stephenson had 1.4 possessions per game in transition and 1.1 points per game in transition. The year prior in Indiana, he had 2.5 possessions per game in transition and 2.3 points per game in transition.

This past season in Charlotte, 11.2 percent of Stephenson’s points came in transition. Three years ago in Indiana, as the Pacers made their first of back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances, the number was at 27.4 percent for Stephenson.

The Clippers were in the middle of the pack last season when it came to their pace, but they were seventh in possessions per 48 minutes a year prior, and this past season they led the league in both points per possession in transition and effective field goal percentage in transition, which adjusts field goal percentage to account for the importance of 3-pointers.

The hope is getting Stephenson back on the move and on the run can get him better looks, which leads to the next point.

Shot Selection

Charlotte finished second to last in the league last season in field goal percentage and last in the league in 3-point percentage during the 2014-15 season. The Hornets didn’t have a bevy of shooters to space the floor, plus Stephenson dealt with an injury.

In the end, Stephenson ended up taking 47 more pull-ups and 221 fewer shots from inside 10 feet than he did in his breakout season a year prior. Two seasons ago, 50 percent of Stephenson’s shots came from inside 10 feet. Last season, only 38 percent of his shots came from that distance.

Delving further into his shooting distance, more than twice as many of his shots came from the restricted area as it did from mid-range two seasons ago. Last year, he had 22 more mid-range shots than attempts from the restricted area.

Stephenson went from averaging 2.4 pull-up jumpers per 36 minutes with Indiana to 5.6 with Charlotte. Despite playing 17 fewer games last season than he did two seasons ago, he still ended up shooting 37 more mid-range shots. He shot roughly 34 percent on such shots each of his last two seasons.

Considering he’s hit at least 50 percent of his shots from inside 10 feet each of the last two seasons, that’s an area of the floor he needs to find more often.

Getting on the run can should help him get more looks inside the paint, and so should the spacing created by the Clippers’ offensive stars.

From The Corner?

Stephenson only attempted nine corner 3-pointers last season after going 24-for-48 on corner threes during the 2013-14 season in Indiana. While the catch-and-shoot game hasn’t been his forte, he seems to do better with those looks than he does on 3-pointers from above the break.

It’s on Stephenson to get his 3-point percentage back up near the 35.2 percent career-high mark he had two years ago in Indiana, but the spacing and open looks typically generated for small forwards in the Clippers’ lineup should help.

Stephenson saw 125 wide open 3-point attempts his final season in Indiana and only 54 last year in in Charlotte. He also had 92 open attempts with the defender four to six feet away his last season in Indiana and only 34 such attempts last year. It’s no mystery the more open the shot, the better the success rate.

Few guarantees exist when a player goes from one team to another as he adjusts to a new system, but head coach Doc Rivers believes he can get the best out of Stephenson.

“You’ve got to look at the whole thing,” Rivers said when Stephenson was introduced. “Lance has proven what he can do. He’s also proven he can have a tough year like anyone can have. You lean on a lot of stuff when you’re trying to make a decision…We did a lot of research, and we like where we came out.”