Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson will play in either China or Italy during the NBA lockout, according to his agent.

“We’re working on a couple things and we’ve narrowed it down to Italy and China for now,” Alberto Ebanks told SNY.tv by phone. “He’s excited about just getting a run going while the lockout is in place. I think it’s important to stay in basketball shape so he’s about to bust a move.”

One key element of the deal would be a clause allowing Stephenson, the former Lincoln High School star who played sparingly as a rookie with the Pacers, to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout ends.

“It could happen shortly, it could happen in the next month,” Ebanks said.

Nets point guard Deron Williams, who is playing for Besiktas in Turkey, has such a clause in his agreement.

Ebanks also represents former Tennessee standout Scottie Hopson, who is also heading to Europe.

“Scottie is certainly going to be going to Europe,” Ebanks said. “It’s almost a foregone conclusion. We’ve narrowed it to a couple of clubs that we’re talking to and that’s where he’s going to start his career.”

The 6-7 Hopson averaged 17 points and 3.3 rebounds as a junior at Tennessee, and went undrafted in last month’s NBA Draft.

ST. JOHN’S HORNE TO GERMANY

Former St. John’s wing Paris Hornebecame the first member of the Class of 2011 to be inked to a professional contract when he signed with German squad BG Gottingen of the BBL.

Located in Northern Central Germany, BG Gottingen is a member of the German Bundesliga, the premier basketball association in that nation. League play runs from October to June, and coincides with an international competition called the EuroChallenge, which BG Gottingen won in 2010. The EuroChallenge features the top teams from across Europe in a tournament setting, where Horne and his squad may face Besiktas, the Turkish squad of Nets star Deron Williams.

Former Big East rival Ben Hansbrough, the conference’s 2011 Player of the Year from Notre Dame, has also signed with a team in the German Bundesliga.

“We are pleased that Paris has received this well-deserved opportunity to play professional basketball,” said St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin. “Paris will add true value to his new team as he is one of the hardest workers and best defenders that I’ve had the opportunity to coach. His best days in basketball are ahead of him.”

“I’m very excited to begin my professional career,” said Horne. “I would like to thank Coach Lavin and the St. John’s coaches for teaching me so much in the past year, as well as the former coaches for giving me the chance to play college basketball at the highest level and in the toughest conference. All of that contributed to my experience at St. John’s and helped prepare me for professional basketball. I’d also like to thank all of the fans that stuck with us through thick and thin, and I hope they all continue to follow me throughout my career.”

SPURS GUARD TO RUSSIA

Spurs guard Chris Quinn has signed a one-year deal worth $1 million to play for Russian club Khimki.

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NEW YORK — Lance Stephenson

“Born Ready” was courtside Saturday night to watch his old friend Kemba Walker and the UConn Huskies beat Louisville, 69-66, for the Big East championship.

The Brooklyn native will be right back at the Garden on Sunday at 1 p.m. to watch his alma mater, Lincoln High School, take on Boys & Girls for the PSAL championship.

And then Stephenson will cap off his Big Apple weekend when his Indiana Pacers visit the Knicks at 6 o’clock.

“I hope they win [Sunday],” Stephenson said of the Railsplitters (28-2), whom Lance led to an unprecedented four straight PSAL titles from 2006-9.

“It’s weird seeing the young fellas play. A lot of kids [were] on the team when I was on the team, so I’m going to come out and support them and hopefully get that win tomorrow.”

Stephenson is a fan of talented Lincoln freshman Isaiah Whitehead, a 6-foot-4 wing averaging 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.

“He’s good,” Stephenson said. “I [saw] him when he was younger, but now that he’s in high school I’ve seen he’s grown a lot. He’s a better player and he’s helping the Lincoln team get better as team.”

Whitehead, ranked among the top freshmen in the nation, is considered the next in a line of Lincoln stars that includes Stephon Marbury, Sebastian Telfair and Stephenson.

Whitehead said Stephenson gave him some words of advice when they spoke last summer.

“[He said] come in and play a role and this team will be yours at some time,” Whitehead recalled.

Said Stephenson: “I told him, ‘Work hard, stay focused in school. School comes before basketball and when you do good in school, then the basketball comes easy.’”

Lincoln coach Tiny Morton said Whitehead, a supremely athletic wing with a high basketball IQ, could be as good as any of the Lincoln legends before him.

“He’s got a chance to be right there,” Morton said. “He’s not as skilled as those guys [were] earlier. But he’s got a chance to be right there.”

The all-time leading scorer in New York history, Stephenson said he hopes someone — perhaps Whitehead — breaks his scoring mark at some point.

“I want somebody to break my record so he’s coming off as a good start as a freshman,” Stephenson said. “I just want to see somebody that’s doing better than me.”

From where he sits, Whitehead tries to avoid comparisons to Stephenson, Telfair and Marbury.

“I just want to be Isaiah Whitehead,” he said.

Whitehead’s favorite NBA player is another Brooklyn native, Carmelo Anthony, who sat in the front row wearing sunglasses for the UConn-Louisville game.

After spending much of the NBA season glued to the bench under former coach Jim O’Brien, Stephenson may get some run against Anthony and the Knicks.

Under interim head coach Frank Vogel, Stephenson is averaging 4.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in 13 minutes per game.

“Frank is a great coach,” Stephenson said. “I’m just happy I’m getting playing time and I’m just trying to help my team win.”

Asked if he was excited to conclude his hoops-happy weekend by playing at the Garden instead of watching, Stephenson said, “I can’t wait to get here.”

(Photo courtesy Daily News)

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Lance Stephenson logged his first NBA minutes Sunday, notching two points, a rebound, and two assists in the Indiana Pacers’ 110-108 overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns.

According to the Indianapolis Star, Lance Stephenson Sr. threw confetti into the air after his son made each of his two free throws.

“It felt good,” Stephenson, the former Brooklyn Lincoln star, told the newspaper. “I have to get in game shape. I was tired after the first two minutes in there. I’m in practice shape, not game shape.”

Pacers interim coach Frank Vogel told the paper he wants Stephenson to play in at least every other game so he can get some NBA experience.

“He put a toe in the water yesterday,” Stephenson’s agent, Alberto Ebanks, said by text. “The ice is broken and soon his presence will be felt and the Pacers will have another oar in the water.”

Stephenson’s NBA debut came four days after his assault case was dismissed and sealed. Stephenson was alleged to have assaulted the mother of his daughter last August.

(Photo courtesy NBA.com)

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NEW YORK

And Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George, too.

“I think a lot of times the young guys are going to be the ones that help you win the most,” Pacers interim coach Frank Vogel said Sunday, according to the Indy Star. “I can’t play all 15 guys. That’s one of the challenges of being a head coach.

“I think our fans should be excited. This is going to be an exciting part of the second half of the year.”

Former coach Jim O’Brien publicly criticized Hibbert and Stephenson, which was part of the reason Pacers president Larry Bird made the change.

“You look at some of our players, especially Roy, it looks like he’s down,” Bird said. “He’s not running around having a good time like he was earlier. … He’s very important to this franchise and we’ve got to have him playing on a high level.”

Earlier this month, O’Brien took a shot at the 6-foot-5 Stephenson, too.

“If I thought we could be better if I played Lance, I would,” O’Brien said, according to NBA.com. “That’s not my opinion.”

Stephenson won four PSAL titles at Brooklyn Lincoln and became New York State”s all-time scoring leader before being named Big East Rookie of the Year in his one season at Cincinnati.

He has struggled with off-court issues and last summer was arrested for pushing his daughter’s mother down a flight of stairs.

After being selected 40th overall by the Pacers in last summer’s draft, he has yet to play in a game for Indiana.

“I just have to learn how to be at the right spot at the right time,” he told ZAGSBLOG contributor Mike Vorkunov earlier this month at MSG.

“Everybody knows I can score and get to the basket but on the defensive side, where to be at and how to help my teammates when the ball is on the other side. Just learning that, I think I’ll be good and getting better at it.”

He added: “Every day in practice, I try to do something to learn something different or add something  to my game. Every day is a learning experience for me.”

Now he may finally get a chance to a play.

“Larry Bird stated his position clearly,” Alberto Ebanks, Stephenson’s agent, said by text. “He and I both want to see Lance play and it appears that it will happen.”

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By MIKE VORKUNOV

NEW YORK — The Lance Stephenson who made his name at Madison Square Garden and the one who arrived there Sunday are not one and the same. 

The former saw his place in New York City prep lore crystallized with four straight PSAL championships while at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. The latter can’t get himself off of the inactive list for the Indiana Pacers.

Yesterday seems so far away.

But whenever Stephenson steps back into the Garden, as he did when Indiana fell to the Knicks, 98-92, he gets that old bravado back.

“I feel like I can’t miss on this court when I’m playing,” he said.

The problem for him this year has been that Stephenson has not been able to play, still looking for his first minute as an NBA player. He has been glued to the bench in his street clothes, a victim of what Pacers coach Jim O’Brien calls a roster crunch.

“Right now it’s a numbers problem,” said O’Brien. “We would have preferred not to get any younger in terms of our draft picks but we were unable to do it so we ended up with 15 guys and it’s a numbers crunch.”

The humbling season hasn’t gotten Stephenson down. He has instead taken it as a learning experience. The Pacers drafted him as a point guard, which was not the position he played in high school or during his one year at Cincinnati. O’Brien has stressed that Stephenson needs to improve his defense before he can see the court, something the rookie realizes as well.

“I just have to learn how to be at the right spot at the right time,” he said. “Everybody knows I can score and get to the basket but on the defensive side, where to be at and how to help my teammates when the ball is on the other side. Just learning that, I think I’ll be good and getting better at it.”

Still, it is all part of the learning curve for Stephenson so far and he is taking it as a motivating factor, not a reason to get down.

“Actually, it’s making me hungrier,” he said. “Every day in practice, I try to do something to learn something different or add something  to my game. Every day is a learning experience for me.”

Despite growing up just a borough away, it was not exactly a homecoming for the Brooklyn product. He did not have a large contingent waiting for him.

During a small window in time there was the chance that he could have been able to play in New York. Following just one year at Cincinnati, Stephenson declared for the NBA Draft and was available when the Knicks were on the clock with the 38^th and 39^th overall picks.

There was some a strong clamoring amongst the fan base to take the hometown star. But general manager Donnie Walsh instead took Andy Rautins and Landry Fields. The Pacers took him with the next pick.

So far the selection has worked out just fine for the Knicks as Fields is one of the top rookies in the league, averaging 10 points per game and 7.5 rebounds.

The Knicks worked out Stephenson and interviewed him but decided to go a different direction, and in hindsight Walsh thinks that not starting his career in New York will be a boon for Stephenson.

“I think Lance is going to be a very good player,” said Walsh. “I personally think he’s better off in Indiana and he can start his NBA career not being in New York. I think that’ll be good for him.”

There may be some merit to that as Stephenson was arrested over the summer for pushing his girlfriend and mother of his child down a flight of stairs. It was not his first run-in with the law. The year prior, he also pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge for groping a 17-year old female outside of Lincoln High.

While it may ultimately prove to be better for his career to start out somewhere else, he can’t escape the feelings he gets whenever Stephenson gets walking back into Madison Square Garden.

“I came here in the Big East but the Lincoln days were the most special days for me,” he said. ”Coming here during the championships, winning four in a row. It’s hard to win four in a row. I did it and it was hard. I love playing at the Garden, it was the best moment of my life.”

To this point he has been an NBA player in name only, not in playing time. So he still awaits that first time he can see his jersey hanging in his locker, signifying he will be activated for the game.
“Oh man, when I see my jersey hanging out, I’ll probably faint,” he said. “But that’ll be a great moment to see my jersey there and get on the floor.”

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During his storied career at Lincoln High School, Lance Stephenson, nicknamed “Born Ready,” enjoyed some of his brightest moments under the lights at Madison Square Garden.

The all-time leading scorer in New York State history, Stephenson led Lincoln to four Public Schools Athletic League titles in the famed arena.

But when the 6-foot-5 Stephenson returns to the Garden Sunday as an Indiana Pacers rookie, he’ll likely be sitting on the end of the bench in a suit as his teammates battle the Knicks (18-14).

“It’s exciting going back home, but I’m just trying to work hard and get better every day,” Stephenson said Friday after the Pacers fell to the Wizards, 104-90.

Despite being picked 40th in last year’s NBA Draft, Stephenson has remained inactive for all 30 of Indiana’s games.

“If I thought we could be better if I played Lance, I would,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said Friday, according to NBA.com. “That’s not my opinion.”

After initially saying he would remain in college for a second season, Stephenson changed his mind and came out after being named Big East Rookie of the Year at Cincinnati, a story first reported by SNY.tv.

“I think he would’ve been better served to have come back [to college] for another year,” New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said. “He would have been better prepared. Almost every kid in America, they think it’s a sprint, get to the NBA as quickly as possible, almost as if going to college is a sentence in purgatory.”

After falling to the second round of the draft, Stephenson signed a two-year guaranteed deal with the Pacers.

“It’s frustrating now and then, but I’m just trying to stay focused and trying to stay humble,” Stephenson said. “I’m trying to approach practice like it’s a game.”

Stephenson has battled off-court issues, too.

He was arrested last August for allegedly pushing his daughter’s mother, Jasmine Williams, down a flight of stairs and then banging her head on the steps. The court date was pushed back to Feb. 25.

Pacers president Larry Bird wasn’t happy about the situation, and has also indicated that Stephenson could be shipped to the NBA D-League later this season.

“Not right now, because I think he needs to be here,” Bird said earlier this month, according to the Indianapolis Star. “But you never know, later on in the season we might send him there to get some time.”

In the meantime, Stephenson remains a practice player.

“We do a lot of stuff in practice that he needs to learn,” Bird told the Indy Star. “Jimmy stays on him pretty tough. I’m very high on the kid. I want him to be part of the team whether he’s dressing or not.”

Stephenson’s only chance of playing would seem to be if he beats out someone ahead of him, or the team suffers a rash of injuries.

So “Born Ready” will return to the Garden not as a conquering hero, but as a young man still waiting for his NBA debut.

“I’m just trying to learn as much as possible from the veterans, the other guys on the court,’ he said. “I’m trying to play hard and trying to learn and get better, so when I do get a chance, it will come easy.”

(John Oehser contributed reporting)

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Lance Stephenson

The Pacers rookie guard appeared in Brooklyn Criminal Court Tuesday morning because he is accused of pushing his girlfriend, Jasmine Williams, down a flight of stairs, but the court date was pushed back to Feb. 25, 2011.

“Nothing of any consequence in court,” texted Alberto Ebanks, his attorney. “New date, that’s all.”

The Pacers had no immediate comment.

Stephenson was arrested in August by New York police, who said after pushing Williams down the stairs, Stephenson then picked up her head and slammed it onto a step.

Pacers President Larry Bird said in August that regardless of the outcome of the investigation, Stephenson should not have put himself in that situation.

“The allegations against Lance Stephenson Jr. are very serious,” Ebanks said in August. “Mr. Stephenson did not maliciously, intentionally or in any other way cause harm to Jasmine Williams.

“Everyone, especially Lance, regrets that this incident occurred. We look forward to addressing these charges in the appropriate venue.”

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Lance Stephenson’s

“The allegations against Lance Stephenson Jr. are very serious. Mr. Stephenson did not maliciously, intentionally or in any other way cause harm to Jasmine Williams.

“Everyone, especially Lance, regrets that this incident occurred. We look forward to addressing these charges in the appropriate venue.”

As first reported here earlier Monday, Stephenson, a 6-foot-5 rookie guard with the Indiana Pacers, faces a preliminary hearing Oct. 19 in Brooklyn criminal court.

He was charged with assault, attempted assault, harassment, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon after pushing Williams, the mother of his daughter, down a flight of stairs early Sunday morning after she returned with two friends to her Brooklyn apartment.

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Lance Stephenson

At 5:05 Sunday morning Coney Island police responded to an assault charge at 621 Avenue Z, according to the police report. Upon the arrival of police, they discovered Stephenson’s girlfriend, Jasmine Williams, who stated that her boyfriend, the 19-year-old rookie guard with the Indiana Pacers, pushed her down a flight of stairs, striking her head against the wall. She was transported to Lutheran Hospital in stable condition.

Stephenson, the No. 40 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, was taken into custody at the scene and charged with assault, attempted assault, harassment, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.

Asked where he was on Sunday night, a NYPD spokesman said, “He’s down in Brooklyn court.”

“We have been made aware of a situation involving Lance Stephenson early Sunday morning in Brooklyn,” Pacers president Larry Bird said in a statement. “We are currently in the process of gathering information and will have further comments as we learn more facts.”

Stephenson and Williams are the parents of a young daughter, Liara, who stayed in Brooklyn while Stephenson spent a year at the University of Cincinnati and then joined the Pacers.

Stephenson’s attorneys, Alberto Ebanks and Adam Sattler, did not respond to voicemails and text messages Sunday night.

The story was first reported by the Daily News.

In October 2008, Stephenson faced a Class B misdemeanor sexual assault charge for allegedly groping a 17-year-old girl outside Lincoln High School.

Last July he pled to disorderly conduct and agreed to perform three days of community service.

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The deal includes two years guaranteed and two years at a team option, a Pacers source said.

Stephenson will earn over $700,000 the first year and over $800,000 the second. Incentives could bump up that up $100,000 annually.

“He had a great summer league and the future is looking bright for him,” the source said.

Read the full story at SNY.

(Photo courtesy AP)

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