you're completely ignoring sampson's "democratic ball" comments. hopefully it doesn't take them another 20 games or so to figure out that douglas handling pg duties while one of hardlin is on the bench is not good.
Being in love with TD, I say Sampon have always been looking for chances to stop playing Lin. It was him who started the trend of benching him in 4th QTR, a proven effective way of destroying a young player's confidence level.
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Question: What were Lin's stats before he started this trend, and what have Lin's stats been since then? I'm just trying to understand to what extent Lin's confidence has been destroyed by Sampson.
Somehow I missed this article at the time, but its a very nice writeup by Sebastian Pruiti (now a video analyst for the Thunder) from August. http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/34797/jeremy-lin-on-the-rockets-part-ii [rquoter] The fact that Houston has a lot of forwards who can handle the basketball means that whoever grabs the rebound is probably going to initiate the break themselves, pushing the basketball instead of immediately looking for a guard. Guys like Terrence Jones, Jeremy Lamb, Royce White, and Marcus Morris can all create transition opportunities on their own, lessening the burden on Lin. In addition, the Rockets are looking to run an organized break more often than not. They have a secondary break that evolves into a half-court set. The point guard pushes the basketball along the sideline, and if nothing is there, he simply swings the basketball to the trailing big, which gets the ball to the top of the key and turns the trailing big into the decision maker. This turns the fast break, a situation where things can get crazy, into a structured set with options. Having this option should allow Lin to thrive because it makes things simple for him. He's going to push the basketball along the sideline, and if he gets a lane, he's going to attack. If not, he's going to quickly swing the basketball to a release valve. If Houston sticks to this, you will see Lin's efficiency in transition rise. Frankly, Houston's coaches and fans shouldn't worry too much about his fast-break play. They should worry about his defense. Defense is really hard to quantify, but one of the best ways to do so is to look at Synergy Sports' isolation numbers. Using those metrics, Lin rates poorly. In isolation situations, he allowed a PPP of 0.971 (bottom 16 percent among NBA players) on 45.1 percent shooting last season. Defensively, Lin really struggles keeping his man in front of him, and that shows both on tape and in the numbers. According to Synergy Sports, he allowed his man to drive to the basket on 80.9 percent of the isolation possessions that he defended against.[/rquoter] He correctly point out that the Rockets would be looking to run a lot this year, and their offense would rely heavily on transition, secondary break, and pick-and-roll. He expressed concern over Lin looking uncomfortable in transition last year (and concern that NBA better Bob Voulgaris also expressed earlier this season). Statistically, Lin was very turnover-prone in transition, but it looks like he's really controlled that better this year (especially of late). Defensively, the concern was Lin's one-on-one defense. Pruiti believed that Lin lacks lateral quickness to stay in front of most NBA quality point guards, and so he needs his teammates to provide adequate help.
1. Basically solved transition TOs by throwing a football pass to the runner ahead 1/3 times. :grin: 2. His Synergy numbers for this season are much better esp for ISO defense - Isolation 0.69 ppp ranked 36th FG % 41.7 3FG% 38.5 (overall 0.79 ppp good for 85th in the league).
But in any case, yea he still does lack the lateral quickness to guard smaller/faster guards. I've consistently been impressed with his post-defense on bigger guys though.
I think the concerns with Lins defense are wrong for this year. For the most part he has played pretty good D.
Only with sports fans does the logic "younger employee gets job without earning it over better, more experienced employees" be considered not only sensible, but also better. No one with a job would want to work with crappier co-workers when better ones are available. No student would want crappier classmates when working on a school project when smarter, more knowledgeable ones are available. Yet we expect NBA players who makes millions of dollars and among the best in their field to just blindly accept a crappier co-worker when their own earning potential is on the line. And not have that be an issue.
Your right, it seems like that would be common sense. The rookies are getting small chances to see what they can do and I think if they show something they will get more chances.
You are free to pretend that Houston's coaches were not misusing Lin earlier in the season, but it wasn't only loudmouths here who noticed it. There were plenty of national news articles in recent weeks written about it. Obviously, there's no way to prove what caused which beyond a shadow of every person's doubt, most of whom, including me of course, have plenty of ego invested in it. All we know for sure is that Lin is being used at a much higher rate now and he's thriving. Many of us believe that this being highly coincident with Houston being forced to play to play Lin as the primary ball handler at San Antonio--and Lin putting up super star numbers in that ONE game where he was allowed to--is not merely incidental. Since then, despite occasional hiccups, his role has increased dramatically, exactly as predicted by many, many people. Once you put up 20-5-5-2-2 in your first 45 games and only 7 players have done that in their first 7 games, or whatever the stat is Morey tweeted, and one of those games is now with a completely different team, the old rationalizations kind of disappear. You can't say, Oh, he was the product of D'Antoni's system. He had a hot stretch. He had all those athletic dunkers to pass to. He had all those All-Stars and Defensive Players of the Year on his team. He can't do it again. When he goes 20-5-5-2-2 again a week later. The rationalizations become even more hollow. The pressure to play him in the obvious way, to his strengths, becomes a lot stronger. National news articles start being written. Upper management starts making "suggestions", since upper management are the one's whose butts will be on the line if Houston doesn't squeeze the most they can out of Lin, and he goes to another team and "Linsanity" happens again. The embarrassment, as you can imagine, would be acute. Many of us predicted that Lin would be this efficient eventually. Last 4 games he's 19 and 9, I believe, so Linsanity numbers. Many of us predicted that Harden would be far more efficient if Lin were given a higher proportion of the offense's decision making. That's happening, as people are noting. Those of us who said these things have been vilified but are vindicated. There will be more hiccups, but one way or another the doubters will be silenced no matter which explanation they choose to believe. I had these same battles with Russell Wilson deniers in the NFL after he was drafted and during his coaching-induced struggles at the beginning of the season. Fact is, when you've got a high sport IQ guy with off the chart athleticism and a demonstrated track record of deliberate practice resulting in measurable improvement, you're going to be a star. That's the model in sports and it never fails. Lin's BAM score was elite. Faster first step than Irving, Wall, Rose. Confirmed athleticism by Houston's acclerometer readings, Lin's being the fastest they've ever measured. Harvard IQ and plenty of anecdotes, stats, and eye testing to verify the basketball IQ to match. Heavily documented deliberate practice leading to performance improvement over the last few years. Signing a contract was the last step to becoming a can't miss star. He needed the leverage in the face of anti-rational doubters. A team can't afford to allow cognitive dissonance to waste that cap space. One way or another he was going to get a full legit chance to shine and he is and it's only going to get better.
i will begin , others can add Like the first 2 with Harden games . great stats. comments like " td is a better match up". thank Santa Claus. Mchale is back!
You claimed his confidence was destroyed by his coach. My question is simple. What was his performance like this season before his confidence was allegedly destroyed by Sampson. And did he tend to play worse after games in which he didn't play in the 4th quarter?
