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Stephenson Sees Right Pieces To Win A Ring

Rowan Kavner

LAS VEGAS – Decked out in a white, short-sleeved “LA Clippers basketball” shirt, black shorts and black shoes, Lance Stephenson begins his stretching on the side of the front court at Impact Basketball, where he’s trained all summer.

The middle of July is like Groundhog Day for Stephenson, who’s developed a daily ritual: Go to the gym at 10:30 a.m., stretch, get on the court, move around, shoot, play 1-on-1 against the players he’s working out with – which on July 20 happens to be Dahntay Jones and C.J. Watson – go upstairs, lift, return to the court, shoot more. Wake up and repeat, with minor tweaks each day.

Of course, the one main difference from the start of Stephenson’s workouts to now is the team he’s getting ready to play for when the 2015-16 season begins.

“I’m very excited,” Stephenson said. “I think we’ve got the pieces that can get us our ring. You’ve got coach (Doc) Rivers behind us. I think the sky’s the limit for us. We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the vets.”

Stephenson ditched his habit of staying home in New York for the summer. A month and a half ago, he went out West to Las Vegas, bringing his family with him and getting in a daily routine of stretching, shooting and working out with the supervision of the Impact staff.

He wanted to make an alteration. As it turned out, the switch to Las Vegas would only be a prequel for a much larger change. It was on the court at Impact a month ago in the middle of June when Stephenson found out he’d been traded from the Hornets to the Clippers.

Stephenson was ecstatic about the move.

He said he let out an overjoyed scream, and that was even before all the latest offseason additions, including Paul Pierce and Josh Smith, and the re-signings of DeAndre Jordan and Austin Rivers.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that can definitely help us out and get us to that level we can be contenders in the ‘ship,” Stephenson said.

Stephenson began to list all the pieces on the Clippers, both new and old. He said he “was about to cry” when he found out Jordan wasn’t planning on returning, because he said he knew if the Clippers had Jordan, they’d “be unstoppable.” Now, he has his wish. He can save the tears.

“We got the shot-blocker behind us,” Stephenson said. “When you have a good shot-blocker behind you, you know you can play that tight defense all the way up. You can play full-court defense when you’ve got a good shot-blocker and a good defender behind you. Now that we’ve got him, my confidence went up.”

One of the latest additions, Smith, was a player Stephenson described as “a great vet who can bring that energy to the game and that excitement.” Stephenson said if it was show time with the Clippers last year, this year can only be greater.

“I mean, we’ve got so many pieces,” Stephenson reiterated.

Stephenson takes a lot of pride in, as he continuously calls it, the grind. He’s put himself in what he feels is the best position possible to thrive this year while working out in Las Vegas. He’s let his fans know how much focus he’s put into getting himself in the best shape possible, posting clips of his workouts on his Instagram along with the caption, “Grind don’t stop.”

Las Vegas’ Impact Basketball gym has been a popular offseason destination for many NBA stars looking to develop their training and conditioning. Walk into the gym, and Stephenson’s name hangs on a banner in between the names of John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, who are among the many notable names to have gone through that gym.

If Stephenson can be mentioned among those names during the 2015-16 season, he knows it’ll be all worth it.

It’s a new start, both in the way he works out and the team he’ll be heading to when he’s done with those workouts. Stephenson talks about how much fun it is to play with the Clippers on NBA2K, and now he can add himself to that mix. He’s excited for that opportunity.

“I feel like this year I’m putting a lot of stuff behind. I’m grinding, and just a lot of positive stuff,” Stephenson said. “I’m just coming in the gym having fun, putting fun back into the game.”