Kobe was good defensively for about a 15 month stretch, otherwise he has been anywhere from mediocre to hot garbage. Even when he was good, he tended to be good on key possessions or in the fourth. It is very hard to be a 25-30 point a game offensive force as a wing and still defend.
I think if you compare us to many of the championship teams and perennial contenders, we lack across the board defensive talent. Howard makes up for a lot of that. But generally speaking we don't have length, strength, on the ball defense, or denial. I don't think we will get that much better either. We just don't have the talent or the footing. Seems like OKC and Miami still have elite level athleticism on us.
To get the Denver game into overtime the Rox played a 90s full court press defense. Too bad it's not sustainable and in most cases would be a defensive foul against some of the better teams.
Look for something like this. Spoiler But then again, Harden doesn't discriminate as long as you have some cellulite on you around the ass area. Spoiler
Podcast with Kelvin Sampson: Why the hell is Houston down 3-1? Have you seen James Harden's offensive stats? How about his defense? His offense usually makes up for (his defense). Last time I checked, that scoreboard keeps track of points. I saw he took 34 shots and I don't even know how many he made. That's un-James-like. The playoffs are a different thing. I compare it to the World Series or MLB playoffs. The thing that dominates those series and games is pitching and great pitching will always beat great hitting. Wes Matthews, I don't think people...people ask what's wrong with James? Look at the defense Tony Allen is putting on Kevin Durant. His stats aren't very good either but nothing is wrong with Kevin Durant and I don't think anything is wrong with James. Wes Matthews is an elite, elite physical defender. Tony Allen is probably the premier one-on-one defender in the NBA. When those guys guard you, you're not gonna have great stats. You're not gonna have open looks that you have against poor defensive players. I think Oklahoma City's struggles aren't really...we shouldn't overreact to them. Memphis is a tough draw. Tony Allen's matchup with Durant is why it's a tough series for Oklahoma City. Same thing for Houston. Wes Matthews' defense on James is a tough matchup for Houston. That's why Dwight, Chandler Parsons, Terrence, Pat Beverley, those are the guys that have to pick up the slack for him. (4:40)What has been the most ever-lasting impression on you as a coach as you go back to college? McHale - Kevin has the patience of Job. He doesn't react to everything. My dad was a HS coach and told me 30-something years ago and I still use it today and I think Kevin McHale does it better than anybody I've been around: you have to learn to coach with one eye open and one ear closed. Don't try to see everything your players are doing and don't hear everything they're saying. Use enough discretion to pick and choose your battles with players. Kevin was unbelievable that way. There was situations where I would have reacted where he would sit back and just watch and it would work itself out. Not always but most of the time it did because he knew the player and they knew him. It was always Dwight wasn't it? No doubt Dwight. Some James. Is Dwight the alpha dog? No, James is definitely the alpha dog. Dwight has some alpha in him. Wasn't always the dog. Kevin was really good at that.
if you say so. i guess he is saying his dad was a bad coach too then, since he is comparing the two. people will hear what they want to hear
not sure if you're being sarcastic now :grin: just to make sure, my initial post was clearly a line taken out of context for humor -- obviously sampson is not going to say anything bad about mchale
Boy you really learn to appreciate someone once they're gone. People used to rag on Sampson when he was here but how does he look now huh.
His offense usually makes up for (his defense)？/ i do not know until i saw the stats of pot ios vs harden
Kelvin Sampson is once again unbelievably folksy. I am having a folksy overload listening to this podcast.
not able to listen myself as well, but gonna take a hunch and think he was replying to "dwight seems to be the only one playing decent defense this series" or maybe "if Harden ever does pass the ball, it seems like it's only to Dwi-"
That was a "slam"? I wish he would've said something more harsh, these stay puft comments won't affect anything.
