No doubt he got some good minutes in the first half. Don't get me wrong I loved seeing his blocks turn into points and I think he will eventually win the 4 spot if he can keep playing defense/rebound and have better shot selection. Lots of potential.
I'll put it this way, as someone that watched Kelvin Sampson coach during his entire tenure at OU, I feel confident saying he's a better basketball coach than McHale. However, this is largely due to McHale's own failings, as evidenced by Sampson's common sense competent decisions tonight being met as a refreshing change of pace.
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I still he should let Lin be the facilitator and Harden be the finisher, but overall T Jones and Cole finally played, much better than McFail.
Not sure when McHale will be back. But I'd be interested in seeing how Sampson would coach against Miami.
was putting in jones like when tony montana agrees to buy the yeyo from soza without Frank's authority? in other words, will this cause tension? stay tuned.
I know the other thread created was a troll thread, but Sampson did say in the post-game interview that he thought Douglas's speed was better for pushing the pace. He "thinks Jeremy is a better half-court point guard", but by qualifying his statement like that, he appears to genuinely believe that there are situations where Douglas is the better choice. Outside of giving Lin time to rest, I have a hard time agreeing with that. Then again, maybe Douglas will have a chance to prove everyone wrong against Miami. With their strong defense against the pick-and-roll and vulnerability to 3-pointers, a shoot-first point guard matches up better on paper. Douglas actually has to start making shots for that to be true though.
Just because a guy can't pass or create for his teammates doesn't mean he's a shoot-first point guard. He's more like a shorter Chuck Hayes.
I get a sense that Sampson loves Douglas because he plays the style where the PG brings up the ball and then camps in the corner, and then the SG/PF/C does all the scoring. Lin is more the D'antoni type where the PG makes the majority of the plays. I get a sense that Sampson does not like D'antoni's style of play.
The funny thing is Douglas doesn't do that. He's seems to be constantly trying to score more than anything. Anyways it's kind of funny for Sampson to say they want to run fast especially when Harden is so slow bringing up the ball when he gets it.
I tell you what if Mchale doesn't come back, guess what D'antoni is free and looking for a head coaching position. (he was just interviewed by LA Lakers, so was Phil Jackson) You can't tell me that Morey/Les aren't chomping at the bit to get D'antoni or Phil Jackson to coach the Rockets. We will see what transpires in the next weeks.
I think he legitimately believes that Douglas pushes the ball better than Lin, and he's right. Despite all of his many, MANY, shortcomings, TD pushes the damn ball up the floor and at least tries to look for early opportunities (which he usually f--ks up). Lin drives me nuts with the way he has to be reminded to push the ball up and really only does so when we have a transition opportunity, rather than to create early offense. It's a little jarring to me, because we haven't had a PG that didn't consistently hurry the ball up the floor in a looooong time (I think you have to go back to the Ward/Strickland stint in 04-05).
At least Sampson knows the game and can properly analyze what other teams are trying to do. McHale press conference he just talks about the sky being blue.
Yeah, in the interview he liked the match-up, because of TDs speed. This may be so, but does he not see how much Douglas was stinking it up out there even against the pistons. Like, TD seems like a nice guy, but he should not be on this roster, let alone be a serious replacement for lin (other than give him some rest) - it's not lowry and dragic out there it's Lin and Douglas; there's too bug a drop in talent in that second rotation. However, this is the only really coaching misstep he seems to have made in the game.
