4-Peat

by Andrew Smith on March 23rd, 2009 at 10:47 am

Last Saturday, Lance Stephenson led Lincoln to their fourth consecutive New York City PSAL championship by beating Kennedy (Bronx) 78-56. He ended up the game with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 steals.

Lincoln became the first school to ever win four consecutive titles, all of which Stephenson played a prominent role in. Over at ZAGSBLOG, Adam Zagoria has some interesting quotes from the post-game. 

NYC recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said, “With four city championships, the all-time New York State scoring championship and going for his third Federation championship, you can’t say the other guys were better. I’ve never seen a better player from Coney Island than him.”

Stephenson will decide in the coming weeks between Maryland, St. John’s, and the favorite Kansas. But, when asked by the New York Times about potentially playing on the floor he’s had so much success on, he said, “Maybe I’ll get drafted to the Knicks, who knows? If I keep playing hard and pick the right college and show my talent, I think I’ll be here again.”

These are certainly lofty goals and his talent level is unquestioned. But, I tend to believe that Davidson head coach Bob McKillop’s decision to cut Stephenson from last summer’s 18-and-under national team holds more water. On his controversial decision to cut Stephenson, McKillop said, “Lance is a tremendous basketball player, “The question is what was happening with those other four guys on the court, when Lance is on the court? Five percent of the game is played with the ball in your hands. The other 95% is played without the ball in your hands. Lance had to work on that. We try to implement the team concept of passing more than dribbling. That was something other players got better and better at.”

I know we have a lot of Brooklynites on the site here. I’ve only seen Stephenson play on TV, never seen him in person. Will he follow the path of fellow Lincoln grads Marbury and Telfair? Or can he make his teammates better? 
  • crysis

    I’ve watched Lance Stephenson since he was in 7th grade playing against 19 year olds. McKillop’s decision purely is political in my opinion because the kids that are on that team are not better than Lance.

    He absolutely can make his teammates better. He has great guard skills. His handle isn’t the best, but the kid is 6-5 and over 200 pounds and strong as a tank. He was stronger than players like Tyreke Evans who undoubtedly will be a lottery pick, when they played on a summer all star team.

    Lance has NBA skills, which means he has the ability to create his own shot. That is essential in the NBA game where there is a lot of isolation.

    I’ve seen Lance play in person probably at least 50 times in the last 4 years and one thing people have to remember is that he is a KID!

    Really. A true KID, who will only get better. He won’t have that luxury b/c of his pedigree, but all those who are ready to criticize just remember that he is a kid.