It is. Nothing new to see here folks. A lot of posters have a "hey, I have never played competitive basketball before" label on them at the moment.
I've never played competitive basketball before. I started following basketball after JLin arrived on the scene. Last year, when people are talking about particularities in team dynamics, I had my guesses as to what was happening but I deferred to the people who has had more ball/posting experience. The news that came out this offseason proves a lot of the so-called "LOFs" right in terms of the team dynamics. All of this is not to say what happened at the Staple Center is unusual, but having competitive basketball experience is not a sine qua non to having an informed opinion. Common sense usually suffices. All that talk about Lin and Bev starting aside, I do think they're probably the closest on the team.
Is this worst than some of the other threads that are out there? "Kevin Durant is coming to Houston." comes to mind. We're all just killing time at work talking about something that a ton of us obviously care a lot about. Isn't this a place where we can share observations and have discussions? I appreciate posts describing actual details from games. I think those are fun to read and are generally informative - obviously I take these posts all with a grain of salt.
No!! Why are my boys fighting?! Kidding aside, doesn't seem like it's abnormal to yell at each other in games when frustrated. Didn't Harden and Howard have a few words with each other at the Blazers' game, which we won? Yelling may not be a preferred way of communicating, but at least they're trying to get on the same page. Like already mentioned, the only problem I see is if the players do start to tune out the coaches. It never ends well.
Oh what did the offseason news prove right? What team dynamics are you referencing? It was clear in the OP that supposed "common sense did not suffice" and was actually quite off what *most likely* happened in the game. They run plays. Shame on anybody who thinks the Rockets don't have set plays, calls, or defensive rotations. Yep, exactly. Are you saying data points on people yelling at each other? This is not necessairly a bad thing. Whenever it turns bad, the media hears, in time. But whenever it smooths over, nobody hears. Usually, it smooths over, but it seems like it will lead to bad times because the media only reports the negative.
For instance, many last season (myself included) thought Lin was a confidence player and that explained his ups and downs. Putting aside whether coaches OUGHT TO consider about the players confidence level (some do more than others, for example, D'Antoni), the conventional wisdom on the board was no, Lin is a NBA player - he can't be so weak as to allow confidence to affect his play (which is a clear falsehood after following this game for a year and a half - confidence is everything). Another example is his view on his role and how that was challenged during the season in terms of what he was being asked to do (see for example, Lin's speech in the churches). My point was that common sense is sufficient for the interested observer to have an informed opinion on the team dynamics but note that common sense in this scenario would ask that we don't knee jerk based on the one Clippers game. Also note that I didn't defend the OP as being absolutely correct nor could I. My only point was that it seemed credible given the level of details and verifiable factual assertions. Data points on how players interact with each other. The verdict is still out.
I'm not sure what you meant by your comments #2. Do you mean coach need to test Jeremy if he should be allowed to shoot a 3? Have you seen the stats lately? For the 4 games so far, he has one of the higher 3FG % on the team!
As a defense attorney, I know how easy it is to spin seemingly innocuous facts to make the point you wish to make. The reality, however, is that the truth is somewhere in the middle. What did the reddit post really reveal? That Harden didn't run a play as called? That players yelled at each other? It's of absolutely no consequence without more context. For example, Kenny Smith went on record and stated that back in his day, Rudy T would draw up set plays to start every game. Hakeem would then go to Kenny and say, forget those plays and just give me the ball so I can establish myself first. Did anyone mind Hakeem doing that? Of course not. And it shows that this is not some crazy dynamic with players just doing whatever the hell they want. It's part of the game. Remember, our team is close. You could see that from the preseason international trip. I'm not worried one bit. Go Rockets!!!
typical diva behavior from harden dwight and now parsons is heading on that road. his agent has corrupted him.
Who isn't a "confidence player" then? I don't understand what you are trying to say. Don't you think Brooks lost confidence being the 3rd string after a 20 ppg season? Players have ups and downs because that is just how it is: they have good games and bad games, especially young players. Lin is not on an island in this regard. Lin is not the only player with emotions. In the NBA, if a player's role is not challenged, there is a serious flaw in the team competition. The role should always be challenged 24/7, or else people will get complacent. His church speeches were definitely motivational, but in basketball terms, just means that the NBA is a grind. Yes, the verdict is not fully final (would need to win a ring), but all signs point towards a healthy lockerroom and good team chemistry. Obviously, in a blowout, people are frustrated. However, in practices, players on the same team going against each other talk so much @#$% to each other as well. Does that mean they hate each other? No. I have had former teammates cuss me out in practice/games then hug me in the lockerroom afterwards and apologize. This is overblown. I would like to hear what verificable assertions you have that I must of missed in my first response in this thread. His shot is much improved, I agree. Shooting like he did at the end of last year. Jeremy is definitely improved across the board. About the "test": Yes and no. Players shoot thousands of shots, and you can bet your life that they record their percentages. Many teams in College and the Pros have a 60-70% (usually 70%) rule: if you don't shoot at least 70% in practice from threes, you don't have the auto green light to shoot in games. This is for all players on the team, not just Jeremy obviously. Edit: it is not a "oh you didn't shoot 70% today in practice? you can't shoot in the game then" type thing. It is an over the course of a long time period type situation. This is why you hear from the media "so and so expanded his range to the 3pt line" during the offseason. This means that the said player finally shot over the minimum percentage at a certain spot consistently enough to shoot them in the game and will be allowed to shoot them as well.
I just wanted to thank you for your point of on what you saw. And to clear up and add to what I said earlier, you are right, not all fans are the same.
The OP is laden with facts. All you did is offer a competing theory for the same factual predicates. As I said, more remains to be seen. I don't have enough information to say which theory is correct. Are you saying confidence is not a unique issue to a player that has been a perenial underdog coming back from a season ending injury facing unworldly expectations? I am not going to engage on that point but let's just say I disagree. I agree that competition is a good thing. My beef there was that people just brushed it under the rug when the argument was raised last year (i.e. how Lin can do what he did in NY without having the usage or freedom to do so). Now, Lin's skillset is more established, hence people are starting to embrace the Lin to Bench movement, which is a concession that the "LOFs" were right on the usage point. It shouldn't have taken this long to come to this conclusion if people were more willing to listen.
You're going off two found quotes by coffelover and a guy who saw it on TV? We all watched the game on TV, didn't we? Coffeelover didn't even give links. Then if he did give links--one to reddit (wow!) one to "a Clips fan"--how do we know they're true? In the GARM we at least see "pics of GTFO." There's no standard of credibility over here in the Dish it seems.
