I feel like the way Harden plays is very damaging to his body long term. He needs to develop a reliable mid-range game, look at Ginobili tape, and develop more scoring moves. At this rate, with the number of minutes he's playing, he's gonna get injured.
I don't think it's a Lin vs Harden, we know Harden is a better player. It's the consistency of how you're treating the starters. It SEEMS one you keep on short leash and the others not. It might not be true, but it's what it seems to me and the other poster who brought it up.
I agree with this. Also, against the better defensive teams that will heavily scout him, he's going to have a tough time getting good looks for himself unless he hit that mid-range jumper. His currently playing style makes it easier for opposing teams who play smart to shut him down.
Once again, I'm stunned by how people just reinvent history on this board. Saying Sampson sticks with the hot hand and JVG, Adelman and McHale never did is ludicrous -- especially McHale, because he never had a star player on this team.
And I understand that Harden is lacking on the defensive end but don't say he can't play defense because he clearly showed last year that he can play defense because the offensive load wasn't on him, it was on durant and westbrook. He did hell of a job setting his teammates up then and shoot wide open shots and MAKE THEM. You do realize, if Lin makes more wide open shots, it can really open up things for the Team. It can help Harden play better all around.
I expect him to develop a mid range jumper, he flashed one at times last year. Right now he has too much going on to expect it to happen until the off season. He is playing heavy minutes, has a lot of scoring responsibilities, has ball handling responsibilities and is expected to lead the team. He was used to being an after thought in OKC and it has to be hard to become the center of everything.
Which is why I don't understand why the coaching staff isn't letting Lin playmake more. They're asking Harden to do too much and as a result he's playing way too many minutes and not playing defense because he has no energy leftover from all the offensive load he has been asked to carry.
My guess is Coach Sampson understands that McHale is still the head coach when he comes back. He needs to win now to show that he has HC ability to other teams or may be even to DM in case McHale decided to leave coaching. Thus, would he care about Harden's minutes and burn out in the later part of the season? Would he care about developing the confidence of the young starters? Would he dare to bench the team's franchise player when he's shooting is also bad? Only he knows.
The logical answer would be that they do not think Lin is overall as good as the alternatives or that Lin and Harden do not play as well together, and prefer Harden be on the floor. For what it is worth I do not think Lin will ever be a real star player, but I see no reason he cannot be a top 12 starting point guard that does a number of things well. I would play Lin more than he is, but Sampson is a very bright man, and there must be a reason for it. Last night I can understand, Douglas was hot..... but some of the other games I do not understand.
Sampson has come in, and done very well. I think the players like him, and he is a "players' coach." I love Sampson's attitude, and style so far during/after games. I think the team is starting to learn more, and more about themselves. The troops are rallying, and not giving up! --For those that derailed about Harden not living up to expectations. Well he kind of came in first two games, and just played ball. He put up the astounding numbers that no one had ever done on a brand new team in their first 2 games on a "new team." Harden is doing very well even when he has a bad shooting game. Look at last night 10 rebounds, got to the FT line, drove constantly to the hoop never gave up. The players see that, and feed off of it. -Harden probably could do that many many nights depending on the opponent of course. He has played smart ball, and he doesn't take tons of shots. He is playing totally different than the way he did the first two games. A player just would take a tough toll doing that 82 games. Harden is smart. We aren't looking at a TSlack here that needs 27 shots to score 15 pts. on a bad night. Harden is just involved in so many plays that at times people don't realize that the play happened because of Harden. Example last night the OX got many chances from Harden facilitating to him after Harden drove through the lane. --Harden is our man. Sampson is our man at HC right now. I think Sampson has done GREAT! --On a little side note. I would like to know how many runs the team has gone on with Tony as PG, and Harden in with him. Compared to any team runs (*runs I'm meaning shutting down the opponent on several possessions, such as, an 11-2 streak so to speak) that Lin, and Harden have been on playing together. I think, and have said many times that certain situations TD is not better than Lin, but it's a better match up at the time. You have to take those advantages, and execute them. This could be seen last night. Lin struggled, and Harden did too. Harden found other ways to get himself, and others involved. The difference was Sampson kept the hot hands of the night in (Smith, and TD), and they did great. The call to go "hack-a-howard" was a smart move as well on Sampson's part too!
I am okay with the Lin benching as Asik gets benched all the time in the fourth for no reason at all. I cant tell you how many games I have watched and asked myself where Asik is as the other team gets every offensive rebound.
The team has a winning record under Sampson, but I doubt if it's because of his coaching. Eager to see if McHale will take the team to another level when he returns.
the team is coming together because they just starting playing together a month ago or whatever. You can't attribute this all to Sampson/McHale when there's something as obvious as that out there
Agreed. You could plug in any random coach (even McHale) and get the same bump in performance from a young team building chemistry and learning to play together after being formed from scratch. Whether Sampson made some good decisions or poor ones (I would say both), the bulk of the improvement is not his to claim. Some might even argue that the team is succeeding with their chemistry/time/growth IN SPITE of Sampson, when you consider he left out Asik for that key rebound that cost the Rockets a game and other questionable coaching choices.
JLin comments on MDA's system: "He gave me confidence in running the offense," Lin said. "He's a coach that empowers his players. He gives his players the confidence and freedom to go out and play to the best of their abilities. That's what he did for me last year." http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameo...mike-dantoni-with-los-angeles-lakers/1702703/ Not sure if this affects Sampson's feeling on benching Lin whenever he has an average game.
It doesn't matter if it was Sampson or McHale on the bench..this team would have still won 5 of our last 6 because the TEAM got better.
I think the Rockets are winning in spite of Sampson. Problems with his coaching: 1) team defense (around 27th in the league) 2) Substitution patterns 3) Plays Harden too much (especially when he's off) and at point guard a lot 4) Is hurting the confidence of his starting PG by limiting his playing time in a lot of games 5) Plays Toney as a backup point guard too much when he is really a shooting guard.
