Kelvin Sampson discusses the Rockets' growth on offense, the Jeremy Lin-James Harden

I would be thrilled if this were the case. Lin has shown enough improvement in all of his weak areas, that I would be happy if the Rockets kept playing to them. In the end Lin will be better than ever and the Rockets will benefit.

 

Seven games in 4.5 of which he hasn't been allowed to play as a starting PG.

The only time he's played as PG was in game 1, 2 and the second half vs the Pistons.

 

They gotta see that they are making his game worse. At some point they need to readdress their usage. That would only happen if they truly thought he was worth it.

 

I said in the last 18 seconds thread lin needs to intiate the offense more because it will get him going and make life on harden heck of alot easier, but two games of good play is not a long enough period nor saying he is a joke after 7 games is fair.

 

Now Spiegel, would it really be fair to judge JLin's current performances in comparison to those 25 games when the coach has admitted he wants the ball in Harden's hands to make the decisions, sacrificing JLin's strength and just use him as nothing more than a spot shooter?
In those 25 games JLin was allowed to play PG, even when Woodson took over.

 

Completely agree with you there Spiegel, now if only coach Sampson agreed with us

 

Did you even read what i wrote?.25 games proves he has potential, a season or two of consistent effort like that what makes players real. Conversely you cant call the kid a joke after 7 games.

 

Imagine when Harden and Lin are just playing off each other. When it stops being something they are trying to do - but they just flow back and forth like Yin and Yang - like Push/Pull ~ Like the row of a boat

Like ~ OREO COOKIES and MILK.

When teams are just running all around the court - trying to plug up the leaks as whomever they lose attention of - nails another shot.

There was stretches against Miami - where they didn't know WHERE the next shot was coming from, with the passing and movement of the ball ~

Is it Asik? is it Chandler? Is it Morris? Is it Delfino? Is it Lin? Is it Harden?

IS IT TONEY DOUGLAS?! I mean - up-tempo, fast-paced, finding the best shots - making it LOOK EASY.


Things to look for:

The minute the game suddenly becomes.

- Easy for the Rockets
- They all start letting the shots come to them
- You see more smiles
- The bench is fired up


Then collectively they can one after another salute the other team.

 

Thats upto the coaching staff.

 

It is making his overall game worse, but some of the individual categories actually improved. His defense is improved, turned over is down (partially because he is under-used, oh well...), and spot up shooting (in-progress)...

I don't think it is all that bad of a thing his game is worse if his other areas can be improved, but I do think they need to be careful with his confidence level. You can hardball someone to improve his games, but when the emotion kicks and stuff gets into his head, it can turn the results negative.

I agree with you on the usage. If they are truly just trying to improve Lin's games, they should improve his usage when his confidence level is lowered (which is I think after that airball), but only time can tell. I would predict next game they will run more plays for Lin to get his confidence back. Keep in mind, if the coaching staff really thinks TD is better, they would just stop playing Lin.

I think they are treating the 2 players with different strategies, they are cutting TD some slack coz he's already under a lot of stress, he could be traded anyday. They are praising him to give him assurance, boost up his confidence, while on the other hand, they are hardballing Lin so that he's not over his head, giving him less freedom, so he's not out of control.

 

Sorry I took your "hasnt proved nothing yet in 7 games" as a diss. I now realize we both agree the coaches arent using him properly.
I hope the coaches realize this soon otherwise they're just killing his growth as a player.

 

Guys, honestly, do you think that Morey doesn't have the numbers that we're pulling up for Lin re: usage and efficiency? Do you think that he hasn't shared these numbers with the organization and the coaches? The same guy that nabbed Shane Battier when no one knew him and optimized his defensive IQ?

I think, best case scenario, the coaching staff have a bigger plan, because it's been mentioned over and over that they didn't have a training camp with Harden. I think they're treating these games as 'training camp'. I think that the first two games' stat boxes and eyetest showed that the team was leaning too much on Harden and Lin and that there were holes in defense and offense based on lack of chemistry.

I think they might be teaching Harden his teammates' habits by brute force; he rarely gets paired with his old teammates Aldrich and Cook, and Lin isn't facilitating him like in the first two games. Lin, with whom Harden had instant team chemistry.

Meanwhile Lin is pretty much force feeding Asik baskets near the post over and over again these past couple of games and they've slowly changed from cringeworthy to "oh hey that man just dunked!" Why hadn't the coaches stopped Lin from making this clearly inefficient play over and over and over again? Why hadn't Morey?

Fact of the matter is, nothing can really replicate game conditions; nothing beats actual experience. And sometimes this experience has to happen without using a crutch.

Thing is, Lin frankly makes his teammates better. Lin had made 12 assists during that preseason game, 8 assists in roughly 25 min with the Pistons, 4 assists during the first quarter with the Nuggets (I think?) before Sampson talked to him and he ended up with 6 assists in total. I don't think this was on accident; I don't think Morey or Morey's analytics had missed this, nor the coaches.

And it makes no sense that Morey hasn't run the analytics on Lin and isn't high on him when he'd defended Lin's TO's personally. It makes no sense when McHale had called Lin a very good player and reliable, when McHale had mentioned that hype isn't good for young players and when they gave Lin the corner locker (hard to access for reporters) instead of a locker on the edge (which Harden has). If the organization only wanted Lin for marketing, if they weren't trying to protect Lin and trying to maximize his playing by shielding him from hype, why did they make him hard for the reporter's to access?

I don't exactly have a read on Sampson's views on Lin, except for how his words describing Lin's physical attributes (ie. 'point guards bigger and stronger') clearly doesn't match reality (Lin at 6'3" and 200lbs is one of the bigger/stronger point guards, with maybe 5 exceptions. Think about his rebounding numbers relative to other point guards and let the relative athleticism needed to produce such a number sink in.) However I DO think that they're all trying to maximize their team's potential, instead of concentrating on only a couple members. Not only for team-building purposes but as trade-bait.

TLDR; I think there might be too much chicken little going on. I'm a Lin fan and I'm not entirely convinced that the sky is falling.

If you trust in the math, and see that Lin is doing awesome things, if you look at the math and see that Lin isn't being used right, how can THIS organization with THIS GM possibly not see it as well?

 

The thing that bothers me is that McHale and Sampson are always saying publicly how much stuff Lin has to work on. Calling him a work in progress all the time. I have never seen a management so ashamed of a player. Yes, Lin has stuff to work on, but so does Irving and Rubio and every other young player. I don't see Toronto talking about Landry Fields like this, though he SUCKS and is vastly overpaid.

Linsanity is like a blessing and a curse for everyone involved -- Jeremy, Knicks, Rockets. If Lin was like Ram

 

(accidentally pressed submit)

If Lin was like Ramon Sessions or someone like that, and Morey was paying him 2-3mil, nobody would be like this. But to me, Rockets coaches and fan base sound embarrassed to be paying him 8mil for 2weeks of Linsanity and are terrified he won't pan out and they will have egg on their faces. So every mistake is magnified all out of proportion. Meanwhile you got Harden getting 80mil and playing like ass, and Royce sitting by himself in a sushi restaurant during game time.

 

Yeah, coaches have no business telling players what they need to work on. We should take a page out of a winning organization's book like Toronto.

 

Key word I used is publicly. You're willfully misunderstanding me.

If they're trying to build Toney's confidence by talking him up in public, why not Lin? Imagine Toronto listing all the stuff wrong with Fields's game in public.

 

The fact is, Lin is overpaid due to the unique situation of an undrafted player exploding like this. If Lin had been drafted (second round seems fair), he'd be earning as much as Parsons.

Face it, Rockets fans, McHale, and Sampson are embarrassed by the 8mil dollar mascot. I see it here everyday on Clutchfans.

 

Harden is averaging 26 points 5 boards 5 ssists a game.

 

Anyone who says Lin and Harden isn't being used properly and not playing them to their strengths are just upright selfish, and don't know jack **** about basketball.

Ya'll want Lin to slash and drive, going hard in the paint. Harden be a spot up shooter and witness Linsanity/Beardsanity again are just here for the feel good for yourself story. They're not gonna last long in the NBA if they keep playing like that(health and skills), they need to develop other areas of their games.

Hardon ain't going anywhere if he just plays off the ball.
Lin ain't going anywhere if he just PnR.
These two guys can only play at the 1 or 2, you develop them in those areas to be really successful.

Same rules with frontcourt, what a 5 gonna do if he only knows post moves, maybe that's enough for a role backup but not a starting 5.

And the talk about the coaching staff conspiracy? yeah...... okay

 

Nice post although rather angry when the forums are in bed.

hahaha ~ I think the best scenario is where Harden and Lin make it impossible to double or triple team effectively.

Causing all sorts of havoc for defensive schemes. They can't just swarm 1 at half-court. Eventually teams will be forced to respect those 2 equally - which in turn allows both to create a lose/lose scenario - they both can dish they both can swish.

All sorts of nonsense once this clicks from beginning til end of each game.

Just seeing the entire team develop and the chemistry build is awesome and the games are getting more and more exciting ~

They got to push the pace and keep the tempo up - against good teams you should expect 30-40 pts from the opposing teams star. As long as they are pushing it - there won't be any momentum gained because they will answer right back and find a way to score in a counter-reply.

Okay end 4am commentary -continue your raging!