Affected by the epidemic, when the CBA will restart is nowhere in sight. In this dull offseason, the Liaoning men's basketball team has become one of the protagonists of fans' attention. They signed the 2008 NBA flower show OJ-Mayo as the team's third foreign aid. The operation of the Liaoning Men’s Basketball Team has caused some speculations. Is Stephenson not coming back? Can Mayo's ability still play CBA? Will Mayo be more suitable for the Liaoning men's basketball team than Stephenson? This operation of the Liaoning Men's Basketball Team may be passive, but it is likely to have a great impact on their subsequent performance.
Stevenson made Liaoning basketball love and hate
Last summer, in order to completely solve the problem of No. 3, the Liaoning Men’s Basketball signed Lance Stephenson with an annual salary of 4 million US dollars. Given that the 29-year-old Stephenson is in his prime, and the Los Angeles Lakers played a rotation last season. Therefore, the outside world is generally optimistic about this operation of the Liaoning Men's Basketball Team. In the extraordinary 12 game, Stephenson did show a strong dominance, leading the Liaoning men's basketball team to win the championship. For a while, Liaoning Men's Basketball and Liaoning fans had higher expectations for Stephenson. The Liaoning Men's Basketball Team regards Stephenson as an upgraded version of Hudson and hopes that he can improve the team's attacking ability while also solving the problem of defense at the 3rd position. However, due to problems with play style and attitude, Stephenson did not perform as expected. Instead, he became a double-edged sword that made Liaoning men's basketball team love and hate.
Stephenson is unable to truly integrate into the Liaoning men's basketball team, one of the most important reasons is that he is not compatible with Guo Ailun. Stephenson and Guo Ailun are both ball-holding styles, not good at playing off the ball, and their shooting is unstable. When they are present at the same time, the effect is actually 1+1<2.>
It is true that Stephenson can also cause a lot of trouble for opponents through empty cuts to the basket, but his enthusiasm is difficult to sustain. The most important thing is that Stephenson's impact with the ball is to the CBA, what James is to the NBA, and it is not a wise choice to let him play without the ball. The data shows that in the area from 0 meters to 1.5 meters from the basket, Stephenson's hit rate is as high as 72.5%, which is comparable to the finishing ability of the top insiders. In addition, 63.5% of Stephenson's sports goals came from 0 meters-1.5 meters from the basket, and his assist rate for two-pointers was only 37.4%. This shows that Stephenson is more inclined to use the ball to attack the basket to end the offense. Stephenson's breakthrough is like a bulldozer. He doesn't even need a pick-and-roll to get to the basket and force the ball into the basket against the defensive player. Facts have proved that when Stephenson gains a dominant position and has enough possession of the ball, he can also become an unstoppable scoring maniac. In the 9 games that Guo Ailun missed, Stephenson played 8 of them, averaging 31.5 points and shooting 53.0%, leading the team to a record of 6 wins and 2 losses. But his outside shooting still hasn't improved, and his three-point shooting percentage is only 30.6%.
Stevenson has been criticized the most for his defense. Stephenson is 1.96 meters tall, has a wingspan of 2.10 meters, and weighs 105 kilograms. He has excellent resistance and athletic ability. Stephenson in the NBA can be considered a defensive champion, once defending James in the Eastern Conference. Normally, when Stephenson comes to CBA, he should become an all-rounder, able to defend from position 1 to position 3, and even top position 4. The Liaoning Men's Basketball team not only needs Stephenson to take on the responsibility of defending the opponent's arrow in certain games, but also needs him to check for omissions and make the team's defensive system more perfect. But things backfired. Not only did Stephenson fail to show his defensive value, he became a defensive black hole because of his lazy attitude. Especially at the beginning of the season, Stephenson's anti-off-the-ball defense was extremely poor, and he often lost his defensive target inexplicably, allowing him to score easily. Stephenson's defensive ability is indeedVery strong, but he is a very emotional player, the offensive end is good, the defense will be more active. So we see that during Guo Ailun's absence, Stephenson has increased his ball rights and his defensive enthusiasm has also increased.
Overall, Stephenson's performance and the Liaoning men's basketball team's expectations of him are not small. The data shows that when Stephenson is on the court, the offensive efficiency of the Liaoning Men’s Basketball Team is 118.0 and the defensive efficiency is 113.7; when Stephenson is not on the court, the offensive efficiency of the Liaoning Men’s Basketball Team is 117.1 and the defensive efficiency is 112.2. From this set of data, it can be seen that Stephenson's influence on the offensive and defensive system of the Liaoning men's basketball team is very small. Although Stephenson's degree of integration is not high and he did not have a good chemical reaction with the team, his individual combat ability is really too strong, which is the most valued by the Liaoning men's basketball team. Especially in the playoffs, facing the Guangdong Men's Basketball and Xinjiang Men's Basketball Team with outstanding striker strength, the Liaoning Men's Basketball team needs Stephenson the blaster to hit the basket. In the 4 games against Guangdong and Xinjiang this season, Stephenson averaged 31.5 points per game and hit 51.7%. More importantly, with the deepening of the schedule, Stephenson's investment in both offensive and defensive ends has increased, and the Liaoning Men's Basketball team has increasingly trusted him. While everything is moving in a good direction, Stephenson wants to return to the NBA. It is reported that he has been invited by his former club, the Indiana Pacers. The Liaoning Men's Basketball team chose to sign Mayo as the third foreign aid, but also out of consideration that Stephenson may not return.
Mayo is eager to prove himself in the CBA
As far as fame is concerned, Mayo is definitely above Stephenson. After all, Mayo was the number one high school student in the United States. In the 2008 NBA Flower Show, he was once considered the "Kobe's successor." In his first season in the NBA career, Mayo averaged 18.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Unexpectedly, this is the best season of Mayo's NBA career. In the eight seasons of his NBA career, Mayo averaged 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Although Mayo's performance and expectations are not small, but he has been a qualified main player for most of his NBA career. On July 2, 2016, Mayo was disqualified from the NBA League for two years for violating the anti-drug agreement, which became a turning point in his career. On the eve of
's comeback, Mayo landed in the Puerto Rico League and joined the San Herman team, but after only playing for more than 2 months, he was waived, leaving an average of 13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. In the summer of 2018, Mayo lifted his ban and returned. He is eager to return to the NBA, but no one cares about it in the free market. Returning to the NBA is hopeless, Mayo can only continue to play overseas leagues, he turned his attention to the CBA. In order to knock on the door of CBA, Mayo has played in Taiwan SBL League and China NBL League to prove his status. During the 18-19 season for the Taipei Daxin Project, Mayo averaged 22.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, shooting 47.3% from the field and 36.8% from the three-point range, winning the lead in scoring. After the end of the SBL league, Mayo moved to the Chinese NBL and joined Hunan Yongsheng. In the NBL last season, Mayo averaged 29.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.6 steals, shooting 52.8% from the field and 41.5% from the three-point range, leading the team to the playoff semifinals. Last summer, Mayo, who was not invited by the CBA team, moved to the Southeast Asian ABL League to join the Fubon Warriors. In the ABL this season, Mayo averaged 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game, shooting 49% from the field and 44% from the three-point range.
Looking at Mayo in the low-level leagues can not play the best data, many people think that he does not have the ability to play in the CBA. Indeed, just looking at the data, as a foreign aid, Mayo's performance is lackluster. However, it needs to be pointed out that Mayo is not a foreign aid who is addicted to singles. He can truly integrate into the team to drive his teammates and retain his strength. This is the case in the NBL Hunan victory last season, and the same in the ABL Fubon Warriors this season. For the Liaoning men's basketball team, Mayo is not an ideal choice, but under the raging epidemic situation, they may not have a better choice. As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although Mayo does not have the ability to become a top foreign aid in the CBA, as the third foreign aid, he may be able to bring some surprises to the Liaoning men's basketball team.
Compared with Stephenson, Mayo's advantage lies in shooting and organization, and can play without the ball. After Hudson left the team, the outside firepower of the Liaoning men's basketball team dropped significantly. As of the 30th round of the regular season, the Liaoning men’s basketball team ranked 17th in the league in 8.8 three-pointers per game and 16th in the league in 34.0% of three-pointers. The offense of the Liaoning Men's Basketball Team was dragged down by the terrible space environment, and the offensive efficiency has changed from third in the previous season to seventh in this season. In the last two seasons, Mayo averaged 3.2 three-pointers and 3.4 three-pointers per game, and the three-pointers were 41.5% and 44%. Although there is a big gap between NBL and ABL's defense and confrontation with CBA, combined with production and shooting percentage, Mayo is still a good shooter. Mayo can be like Hudson in the Liaoning men's basketball team, while improving the space environment, it can also solve the problem of ball distribution. Mayo can both shoot and catch the ball. His style is very suitable for the Liaoning men's basketball team. When on the court with Guo Ailun at the same time, Mayo can play off the ball, can provide a stable outside scoring, and play a role in opening up space. When he is not on the court at the same time as Guo Ailun, Mayo can take on the heavy responsibility of passing and controlling. He has good organizing ability but does not stick the ball. Judging from his performance in the NBL last season, Mayo has a fast ball and a high willingness to share the ball. In addition, after years of precipitation and baptism, Mayo has completely lowered his stance, even if he plays in the low-level leagues, he will show a conscientious attitude. In terms of play style and attitude, Mayo should be able to integrate into the Liaoning men's basketball team better than Stephenson.
If Mayo's shooting and passing are adequate, then his breakthrough and defense will face severe tests in the CBA. As he ages, Mayo's explosiveness, mobility, physical fitness, and confrontation have declined to varying degrees; now he mainly scores through shooting, and breakthroughs rely more on rhythm and experience, and rely heavily on pick-and-rolls to find space. Obviously, Mayo's attacking power and Stephenson can not be compared. Even in the lower levels of NBL and ABL, Mayo has not been able to produce much insider lethality, averaging only 5.2 free throws per game and 2.0 per game. As a small foreign aid, there is not enough ability to hold the ball and attack the basket, which is a fatal shortcoming in the playoffs. Speaking of defense, Stephenson is a problem of attitude, and Mayo is really a problem of ability. During the NBA period, Mayo was a strong offensive and defensive player. Now even if he has a positive defensive attitude, he may not be able to make too many contributions on the defensive end. On the whole, Mayo is somewhat similar to the former Guangdong Men's Basketball foreign player Delaney, but it is a weakened version.
Conclusion
The 30-year-old Stephenson is in his prime, and his first choice is the NBA. After being invited by the former club, Stephenson is likely to seek to terminate his contract with the Liaoning Men's Basketball Team and return to the NBA. The 33-year-old Mayo is no longer in his prime, without the aura of "Kobe successor", he is eager to knock on the door of CBA, and then strive to rebirth here. The Liaoning Men's Basketball Team is ready for both hands. Of course, they hope Stephenson can return and help the team wholeheartedly. If Stephenson returns, then Mayo will continue to be the third foreign aid to prevent injuries. If Stephenson insists on leaving the team, then Mayo's opportunity will come, but whether he can gain a foothold in the CBA is unknown.
