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

Linsanity was indeed a fluke, if by fluke you mean that realistically, no PG could be expected to keep up that rate of usage and play for an entire season, let alone a career. Lin was playing at top gear for 40 minutes every game during that stretch, and he was only allowed to do so because of the unique and desperate situation that the Knicks were in.

If Lin can only be effective by playing that kind of intense and unreserved style, then his career won't last long because he was flying and falling to the ground all the time during Linsanity.

I'm going to assume that the Rockets are trying to find a way to harness that side of him, while also building enough foundations to enable him to be a long-time NBA player.

 

So what you are saying is that Sampson is Mr. Miyagi and Harden is Karake Kid_1 and Lin is Karate Kid_2. And all of this having the pg play sg and having the sg play pg is a grand plan, so that when they both have honed the fundamental skills, that the Rockets will be unstoppable... Seems possible, but is this probable . Let me ask you this, what if Sampson never informed the team of this grand plan? Does everyone on the team know that this is by design to improve each player's. Seems like a risky proposition if Lin or Harden are not informed of this, lol.

I have no clue what is going on. All I know is what I heard out of Sampson's mouth - and he says he wants Harden to be the primary ball handler.

 

No, what I'm saying is we are not in win now mode, we are in development mode. WE develop our stars in all areas. Once they're polished, and the pieces are all put together, the coaching staff will use the players to their full strengths and SWITCH to win mode. I'm sorry man but the org has been here far longer than you and me, they konw what they're doing.

Def. of role players: know your role, do your thing.
Stars : you can do everything when asked to.
Get it?

 

You need to tell that to Sampson/McHale and let them know.

Everybody from different game announcers to hoop reporters point out Lin is very effective when he initiate offense. But Lin's usage was so low (rated around 45th of the total 50 PGs), how do you expect him to initiate the offense when he rarely touches the ball? Don't tell me he needs just do whatever he should because he is not that type of personality to just ignore Samson's instructions. From the clip, clearly Sampson wants Harden to mainly initiate the offense for the team.

 

That is what I think is possible as well, but if that is the case, they have to be very careful not to hurt Lin's confidence. They should definitely at this point add some more touches to him. You can't just keep on pressing a player without giving him something to hold onto. Lin's performance from other areas outside of spot up shooting has improved, it is time to add his original game back a little. He seems to be knowing his role now and following the game plan. It is not like the kid really needs disciplinary lessons. If they want him to develop a spot up shooting game, tell him to shoot more of those, don't just pass up. I'd like to see him shoot at least 10 times a game.

 

Lets see:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2013_leaders.html

Assists Per Game
1. Rajon Rondo-BOS 12.9
2. Chris Paul-LAC 10.3
3. Jrue Holiday-PHI 9.0
4. Greivis Vasquez-NOH 8.8
5. Brandon Jennings-MIL 8.5
6. Ty Lawson-DEN 7.8
7. A.J. Price-WAS 7.7
Deron Williams-BRK 7.7
9. Tony Parker-SAS 7.6
10. Russell Westbrook-OKC 7.5
Goran Dragic-PHO 7.5
12. Mo Williams-UTA 7.4
13. Jeff Teague-ATL 7.2
14. Jose Calderon-TOR 6.9
Darren Collison-DAL 6.9
16. Mike Conley-MEM 6.8
17. Damian Lillard-POR 6.6
18. Kyrie Irving-CLE 6.5
Brandon Knight-DET 6.5
20. Jeremy Lin-HOU

Not in the list but clearly better than Lin:
Curry
Lowry
Rose (injured)
Licky Lubio (injured)

Arguably better:
Raymond Faton
Sessions
George Hill


Lin's 5th in steals per game. I give him that. But still, all things considered, he's just middle of the pack, i.e. average...

 

He's talking about how Lin's usage is low, and you give out ASSISTS PER GAME stat to argue? Not saying he's necessary right, but at least use PPP as the stat to compare?

 

Thank you. Very informative post.

 

Having played PG in high school and college, I really feel for Lin. I was in a similar situation during high school and it was really difficult for me to get my shooting rythm. Like Lin, I wasn't a spot up shooter. Unlike Lin though I did handle the ball probably 70% of the time, but just that 30% really messed up my rythm. Took me probably a whole season to get used to it.

 

I'm too lazy to look up all PG stats, but it's pretty safe to assume his 11.9 PPG 37.3 FG% and 30.8 3PT% isn't going to make him stand out either.

Chalk it up as low usage or dumb coaching or whatever you want. But he's playing like an average PG and certainly not worth the $8m contract we give him.

 

Well this is my point though. So if you want to say that he isn't worth the contract given go right ahead. But my response is that the Rockets aren't maximizing his contract because of the precise reasons you listed, dumb coaching & low USG. It has nothing to do with a lack of skills but everything to do with giving Harden 80% of the playmaking duties & Lin 20% of them.

By the way Lin's AR is 30.56 which is greater than the League average of 27.94. This figure is even more interesting considering his below league average (20.85) USG of (18.34).

 

after reading all these posts by haters and ppl who know nothing about bball and the clueless rox coaching staff...i'm starting to see the gasol for lin trade suggestion as something that makes more sense.

 

Lin's earning half of Harden's money, yet his numbers are more than half of Harden's across board. He's one of the best defenders, and Harden is one of the worst defenders so far. Lin should get over 10 mil a year to match Harden's performance/salary ratio.

 

You mentioned you played basketball in high school and college so you know how Lin feels. Interestingly, there is a black dude on the ESPN board fiercely defending Lin and he was also a NCAA basketball player and has played against Lin before. I guess those who are/were basketball players knows the best and can truly appreciate Lin's talent.

 

yeah i think anybody who has ever played PG knows what Lin is going through...if I were him, I would go off on the coach and force him to bench me or make me play my role

 

You do realize, don't you, that everything you wrote about developing Harden should apply just as strongly to Lin?

The evidence we have, namely the first two games of the season, strongly says that Lin and Harden -- yes, both of them -- are most productive when they share the playmaking duties. In fact, the same two games show that Harden is <b>spectacular</b> when both guys are playing to their strengths. So of course the coaching staff immediately had to change that, to the detriment of everyone on the whole team. What a stupid thing to do. After all, if it's not broken, why fix it?

IMHO, we should go back to what was working in the first two games, and we should continue to do that until we have proof that it doesn't work.

 

excellent points. I think it's after the 2 games, the ROX coaching staff were like wow we have our franchise superstar and they made those adjustments thinking harden would be able to do that every night and even more. like u said, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

Uh, $8M gets you an average to below average PG once they're off their rookie contracts.

These are the 2011-12 stats for PG's who will make in the $8M range this year. If you average their stats out and use them as a standard, I'd say something like 11.7 points, 4.8 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals would be playing within Lin's salary range, JUST from performance.

Player: Points / Assists / Rebounds / Steals / 3PT%
Mike Conley: 12.7 / 6.5 / 2.5 / 2.2 / .377
George Hill: 9.6 / 2.9 / 3.0 / 0.8 / .367
Devin Harris: 11.3 / 5.0 / 1.8 / 1.0 / .362
Jameer Nelson: 11.9 / 5.7 / 3.2 / 0.7 / .377
Goran Dragic: 11.7 / 5.3 / 2.5 / 1.3 / .337
Mo Williams: 13.2 / 3.1 / 1.9 / 1 / .389

Right now he's playing above his contract, especially when you factor in his defense, youth and upside potential.

It's amazing how much people underestimate NBA salaries.... as if we could EVER get a player like Harden for LESS than $16M/year, or a player like Lin for LESS than $8M/year...

 

But that's the thing about Lin. He is simply too nice to do that. He is a good dude always listening to whatever coaches ask him to do. It's just not his personality to be confrontational with anybody, let alone with his coach. It seems in situation like this, his being too nice is doing no good to his performance and his career.

 

Lin is averaging 12/6/5/2.4/0.31

So yes he is playing above his pay grade and also factor in him having one of the lowest USG in the NBA.