Lance Stephenson had a tough act to follow.
Sebastian Telfair won three PSAL championships, had a documentary made about his senior year and a book chronicling his leap from Lincoln to the NBA. Stephenson, a junior at the Coney Island school, wouldn’t mind topping all that.
He already has won a pair of titles in his first two years with the Railsplitters and is the subject of a Web-based reality show. As for the book, well, thus far, that will have to wait.
“I’m working on making Lance Stephenson a big name,” said the 6-foot-5 star, who scored 16 points in Lincoln’s 87-66 victory over Jefferson in the PSAL Brooklyn Borough championship game yesterday at Hunter College. Justin Greene led the team with 18. “I want my family’s name to be a famous one, for people to say, ‘There’s Lance Stephenson.’ ”
So what does Telfair, now in his fourth year in the NBA have to say about all of this?
“As much hype and attention he wants to get himself, I think it’s smart, if you ask me,” said Telfair, a point guard with the Timberwolves. “Sometimes you get problems out of it, but you should make yourself as powerful as you can.”
Telfair parlayed the focus on him into a multi-million dollar sneaker deal with Adidas – even before Portland made him the 13th-overall pick in the 2004 draft.
Lance Stephenson, Sr., said he doesn’t believe his son’s exposure will matter all that much if he makes it to the NBA.
“Lance’s game speaks for itself,” the elder Stephenson said. “We’re not thinking about how popular he is. If that happens, great. But that’s not our focus.”
Telfair, who talks to Stephenson Jr. occasionally during the offseason when he hosts his summer tournament in Brooklyn, still believes the family should do whatever it can to increase his profile.
“Having the movie and stuff, it’s not pressure,” Telfair said. “It’s pressure because everybody doesn’t do it, so everybody looks at it as, ‘I don’t know about that.’ No one else does it. That’s why you’re supposed to want to do it.”
He felt that name recognition helped him.
“Every other athlete doesn’t have a movie or a book,” Telfair said. “That makes you powerful. You want to brand yourself. That helps you make as much money as you can and help your family.”
Which is why Telfair said Stephenson needs to be careful.
“When you come from where we come from, [kids] face all kinds of temptation,” Telfair said. “Everyone is going to fall prey to it. If they say they don’t, they’re lying.”
Stephenson missed three games earlier this season after fighting with a teammate during school.
“I heard about that and I knew he made a mistake, no matter what,” Telfair said. “You can’t let that stuff happen if you want to make it.”
He’ll have to wait awhile for that, since the NBA instituted a rule preventing players from going pro straight out of high school – a rule that head coach Tiny Morton calls “unfair.”
“It should be their choice, just like other sports,” Morton said.
But Stephenson said he would have wanted to go to college anyway, although if a similar opportunity as the one that Telfair had presented itself, it’s impossible to believe that Stephenson wouldn’t make the same decision.
And the rule will make the latter part of Stephenson’s high school career markedly different than Telfair’s.
“That affects everything,” Telfair said. “The ending of the story isn’t as glamorous. Nothing against going to college, but to go from Coney Island right to the NBA, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
