I agree. I listened to all the interviews again and I've got to say that I liked a lot of things that Sampson had to say for the most part except the things I've stated in my previous posts and his opinion that TD is faster than Lin at bringing up the ball from the backcourt. He never openly says that they're running more pnr plays for Lin, but he does say that he wants Jeremy to be aggressive and attack before the NYK home game. I've guessing he watched some film from Lin's time during Linsanity to help scout the Knicks and realized Lin was at his best when attacking the basket. Otherwise Sampson seems like a good coach and he's got a great sense of humor. Here are links to all the Sampson interviews I could find during the 11/10 to 12/7 period from rockets.com/nba.com. Pregame 11/10/12 DET http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/10/ZOOM0001MOV-2289789 Postgame 11/10/12 DET talks about TD's good game and better speed bringing up the ball from backcourt over Lin and better defensive matchup. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/10/Sampsonmp4-2289984 Pregame 11/12/12 MIA http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/12/ZOOM0003MOV-2291384 Postgame 11/12/12 MIA http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/12/postgame111212sampsonmp4-2291886 Post practice 11/13/12 talks about Harden and Lin who should be the primary playmaker. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/13/ZOOM0001MOV-2292657 Pregame 11/14/12 NOH talks about Marcus Morris and Royce White and free reign from McHale to do anything he wants. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/14/ZOOM0001MOV-2293959 Link posted earlier Postgame 11/14/12 NOH http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/14/Sampson111412mp4-2294113 Post practice 11/15/12 http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/15/Sampson111512mp4-2294912 Post practice 11/21/12 Omer's offense and LAL, POR, UTA road trip http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/21/ZOOM0003MOV-2300562 Postgame 11/21/12 CHI Harden's best game, TD matchup with Nate Rob. Pressure on Lin. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/21/Sampson112112mp4-2301061 Post practice 11/22/12 Lin ups and downs. Must stay aggressive and keep attacking. We don't have a Novak. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/22/KELVINSAMPSONPRACTICEh2642000Kbp-2301517 Postgame 11/23/12 NYK Parsons praise, running pnr for Parsons, be aggressive and attack. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/23/postgame112312Sampsonmp4-2302686 Post practice 11/26/12 Comments on the passing of Sasha McHale. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/26/ZOOM0001MOV-2304640 Postgame 11/27/12 TOR Lin's best all around game http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/27/Sampson112712mp4-2305970 Post practice 11/30/12 http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/11/30/ZOOM0005MOV-2309874 Postgame 12/01/12 UTA http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/12/01/Sampson120112mp4-2311796 Post practice 12/03/12 http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/12/03/ZOOM0002MOV-2313624 Post shootaround 12/04/12 LAL http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/12/04/ZOOM0001MOV-2314794 Postgame 12/04/12 LAL Greg Smith and bench play. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/12/04/Sampson120412mp4-2315458 Post practice 12/06/12 SAS preview, Lin evaluation. http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2012/12/06/ZOOM0002MOV-2317387
Excellent work! I rep'd ya for it.. well deserved. but... it's pretty plain to see that Sampson hampered Lin's development. 1) Lin plays pretty good defense and he helps out but there were many times Sampson would call him to the sides and yell at him. Lin is the last person on the floor you need to gripe to about his defense. 2) even though they told him to spot up, Sampson would bench him when he missed the jumpers and that's exactly what you don't want to do to someone trying to get out a shooting slump, especially when you put him in that spot in the first place.
You're ignoring the fact that Sampson is simultaneously also trying to win games, and that takes precedence. Its a long season, and a player like Lin who is streaky because of less than ideal shooting mechanics will go in and out of slumps.
One thing to note is that everyone on this team except Harden gets yanked for poor performance on any given night. Parsons get yanked for Delfino quite a bit. Patterson gets yanked for Morris and even Jones at times. Asik sometimes ride the pine with Greg Smith replacing him. The only difference with Lin is that everything that happens to him gets magnified by his fans.
Very good point. Frankly, this team is "Harden and the supporting cast". Not "Harden, Lin, and the support cast." And that's not meant to be a knock on Lin or anyone else. I think Lin is a pretty good player, but in my opinion he hasn't established that level of consistent quality to where he has to be on the floor in crunch time regardless of how he or his backup is performing.
While it's true Harden gets a pass when he's playing badly, Lin has had a shorter leash than Asik and Parsons. While LOFs can get things twisted, Lin has had games where he's sat the entire 4th quarter. If that game when he went off for 38 never happened I'm sure he'd be riding the pine a lot more. How are you going to compare Lin getting pulled from a game to Parsons? There was a string of three games where Lin played 20, 26, and 18 minutes. Even the last game it looked like he might sit out the entire fourth.
Jeremy Lin gets a short leash from McHale and Sampson because they don't believe in him yet. They don't believe he's worth more than TD in the 4th quarter for crying out loud. And even now, as soon as he starts having a bad game, he's pulled. That much is indisputable. Had we lost the last game, Lin would probably be benched more in the 4th as of course he is the reason we almost lost. But, I totally disagree. If we had a really solid candidate for a better pg that was in the future of the Rockets, fine. But for Dougie?! Ridiculous. Does anyone not see how horrible the offense is run with Douglas?? It's laughable. I know Lin sees it. How could he not with his bball iq, even a lot of us see it. It's disrespect. They need to allow to him to develop a rhythm without such a short leash.
in that case, why exploit his weakness in the first place? if you think shooting is his weakness, isn't it obvious not to make him a spot up shooter? if you're gonna make him a spot up shooter, then why yank him when he miss?
In that string of games you referred to, the first (against the Lakers) the bench (Douglas, Delfino, and Smith) was playing fantastic in the 4th quarter, and neither Parsons or Asik were playing to close that game. The following game against San Antonio it was a blow out by the end of the 3rd quarter and none of the starters played in the 4th quarter.
He wasn't made into a spot up shooter because that's where we think he's best suited. Unlike Linsanity last year when he was the only player who could create shots, this year we have James Harden who is one of the top pick and roll players in the game (much more established in that regard than Lin). Moreover, to start the season Lin struggled not simply as a spot up shooter but also in shots he took out of pick-and-roll plays and isolation (maybe someone can pull up those Synergy numbers from earlier in the year). So, Lin naturally had less opportunities to be the ball-dominant pick-and-roll guy, which means a higher percentage of his looks will be of the spot up variety. That said, I don't think even during the first month of the season that Lin was relegated to being merely a spot up shooter. Maybe he took a higher percentage of spot up shots this year compared to last for the reasons described above, but its not like he was asked to be Derek Fisher. What I saw was a player (and, full disclosure, I watched maybe half the games plus highlights and maybe a few halves of basketball here and there) who for whatever reason often didn't have the explosion or confidence to consistently create a good shot for himself even when he had the ball and a pick was set for him. The last several games, he's looked much better.
All of this 'Lin wasn't aggressive and the coaches did not relegate him to a spot-up corner 3-pt shooter ignores the fact that Lin did not play this way in the first two games of the season (even though he didn't shoot well nor had his aggressiveness back). It was only after the coaches had time to institute their 'system or plays' after the first two games that Lin ended up as primarily the corner spot-up shooter for the next 6 games, before things slowly shifted back to something that made more sense. I'm not saying the coaches tried to make Lin fail as some crazy posters have suggested, but the schemes were not beneficial for Lin or the Rockets, and obviously over-emphasized Harden as the PG/playmaker to the detriment of the team. That stretch also coincided with the Rockets worst play of the season, lowest pace, and offensive effiency for team plus Harden. That much is pretty obvious. Even Lin said he was trying to see how he could fit into the team's 'system' in one of their interviews. It's obvious the coaches made an experiment and it did not work out. And they're coming back to their senses. Best to move forward. The coaches and players most likely have.
According to 82games, up to Dec. 18th, Asik has played 67% of crunch time. Parsons 90%. Lin 68%. Crunch time is defined as 5 minutes or less in the 4th/OT and game within 5 points. Also during crunch time, Asik had been +15, Parsons -15, and Lin -22. Unfortunately, reality from Lin fans tend to be quite distorted from the truth.
Try looking back at the games where Lin sits down. You will more often than not see the other team coming back. Lin's game is not really on the stat sheet. Most people see FG%, but what about the shots that he creates for people where there is no hands in their faces? Notice when you watch him find the open man, as the person is shooting, there is rarely a defender with a hand in their faces. That is not counted on the stat sheets. I think that's important.
I have no idea how that works. After listening to a few descriptions of it though, I think it's flawed. I mean, Asik has huge +/-, but I honestly don't think that Asik helped TD score, or Morris, or Parsons. I was watching the OKC game tonight, and if you look very closely, all the OKC and Dallas players shoot with someone in their faces. The difference between Lin is that when he finds the guy, it's usually in motion or stride to layup or dunk, or he's open for a shot.
Def reb - leads to fastbreaks/no extra possesion for opp, blocked shots, off reb - extra possesion In the passes that you speak of does the shooter make the shot?
Sure, the rebound is important, but who passes to the open man later on? Asik is very important, don't get me wrong. And to the question you just asked, does the shooter make the shot, of course not always, just like any other player, but certainly there is a higher percentage when there is no hands to the face or when running a break when receiving the catch in stride. It's no different than when Morey was talking about Lin's turnovers from NYK, when Lin loses those balls, those balls do not usually lead to easy buckets for the opposing team. There are turnovers that lead to fast break and an automatic 2 points. So, same analogy here, when Lin passes the ball, it's usually to the guy who has a high percentage shot, no hands to the face, or going for a dunk while receiving the ball in stride.
Actually, the +/- stats tell a different story: Code: [B]Date On Off Team [/B] 10/31/2012 +23 -14 +9 11/2/2012 +9 -2 +7 11/3/2012 -17 +7 -10 11/7/2012 -1 -5 -6 11/9/2012 -14 +6 -8 11/10/2012 +3 +11 +14 11/12/2012 -16 +13 -3 11/14/2012 -5 +9 +4 11/16/2012 +5 -7 -2 11/18/2012 -20 +9 -11 11/19/2012 -5 -6 -11 11/21/2012 -3 +7 +4 11/23/2012 +24 +4 +28 11/27/2012 +25 -9 +16 11/28/2012 -12 -10 -22 12/1/2012 +0 +8 +8 12/4/2012 -18 +20 +2 12/7/2012 -7 -15 -22 12/8/2012 -9 +2 -7 12/10/2012 -4 -4 -8 12/12/2012 -1 +7 +6 12/14/2012 +6 +6 +12 12/16/2012 -7 +0 -7 12/17/2012 +18 -5 +13 12/19/2012 +23 -1 +22 12/22/2012 +18 +7 +25 12/26/2012 -1 +4 +3 In 6 games, we outscored the other team with Lin on the floor but were outscored by the other team with Lin off the floor. In 11 games, just opposite happened. Overall, in only 11 out of 27 games did we have a higher point differential with Lin on the floor than off the floor. And currently, for the season we're +0.7 per 100 possessions with Lin on the floor and +5.5 per 100 possessions with Lin off the floor. This isn't to suggest that Lin is a worse player than his backup. But if you want to argue that we tend to lose ground so far this season when Lin isn't on the floor, well that's just not true.
