This is probably the most thought-out and competently written post about optimism and glass half-fullism ever to appear on this forum. Brav-friggin-o.
I don't know about all this but I do know that the front office most likely has a plan going into next free agency & I am pretty sure that certain players won't be on the roster anymore in a few to several months. Smart front offices have plans for next season going into the current season & Morey is definitely smart.
You are comparing established best players to our inexperienced young team, to make your point that established players don't need extra time to develop? BTW, for your probability analogy, using your own conclusion as premise and then drawing the same conclusion is not called logic.
Actually, I think only 5% of the posters here appreciate the coaches we had while we had them. When we had JVG, people wanted better offense. We we got RA, and after the JVG (to Thidobeau) instilled defense principles/toughness slowly drifted out of our players, we wanted better defense. And after half a season of McHale, we wanted RA or JVG back, or a dual-coach feature RA and JVG. And it won't be just Jeremy Lin. We've heard no one crediting McHale for his work with Greg Smith over the summer (and he looks much improved), and not so much on Asik albeit Carroll Dawson isn't officially our coach so he has more respect. And we're certainly not going to hear anybody say McHale helped toughen KMart and Chase up on the defensive end over the last year (or that his defense-first principle helped Marcus Morris come in this year with the right attitude and looking like he can defend both the 3 and 4s in the league). Dragic, who so many people want back, was a career back-up before last year, but of course, he had it in him, it was just a matter of playing time. And let's not mention that when Jordan Hill is allowed to play his natural PF position as opposed to out of position at center, and only asked to rebound and hustle in LA, he hasn't looked half bad either. I mean McHale is just that awful coach credited with developing Kevin Garnett, Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.
True in some sense, but defenses can only break apart a PnR play, not prevent you from running one. And I haven't see Lin been pressured by full-court defense such that he needs to drop the ball off to Harden and run to that corner 3 spot. And defense does not want force you to feed to ball to Asik, it actually doesn't mind you forcing it to someone with reputed stone hands, 40% FG% and a FT% of ~50% last year.
we can attribute that to the low usage maybe? but fantastic original post. don't know if that's indeed the case, and we may never know. but definitely an interesting thought and well written post.
If I were the coaching staff, I would make sure every outlet of a defensive rebound goes to Lin. Give him that extra responsibility to bring up the ball and set a play, and let him see the defense set and decide if he should attack the basket, pass to others (bigs and fowards) or as usual hand it to Harden. Make him feel he is doing his job and give him that touch and playmaking duties. This would take maybe 9-10 seconds max, that would leave 14 seconds left to our best player in the team. Just by doing that, the coach would actually give him confidence and responsibility to do what is best for the team. Right now, this job has been given to Harden.
All Mchale and Sampson has to say is. "Lin, you take care of the ball, run the offense and attack if you can, and you decide when is best to give it to Harden. Right now, we need you to create, not just move the ball". This would make a word of a difference, IMHO. So far this has been Harden's job, which has taken PG out of equation.
basically the ROX coaching staff needs to utilize all their weapons especially their 2 best ones ---harden and lin. To mostly use just one is insanely naive.
They don't see Lin as much of a weapon as a liability, that's the problem. Sampson is just stubborn. He's happy to encourage Lin to shoot (which he says he's streaky at) but not to actually run the point (because he's 'weak' going left, not that it matters that Harden mostly goes left and could be 'weak' going right?) (also because even TD is better in transition offence because of his fantastic athleticism and we all know how SLOW Lin is.)
Come on guys. Please leave breathing room for coaches, Lin, and non Lin fans. Lin knew his current role and accepted it while developing his own weaker skill sets for the future. He is a tough kid. He and other young players are here to win games while developing their own skills. They will do fine together. Lin got paid well to develop his games while playing in NBA along with other young players. Linsanity 2 might take a little longer to revive. But we still get to see him play without any injury. Coaches and FO did have a plan for him and other young players for the future. Just enjoy Rockets new ride.
I would bet my whole life savings this isn't something that was planned by the ROX staff; it merely developed out of necessity with Harden aboard. The outcome of players having to work on and develop their weaker skill sets, is just a convenient and less frustrating way to look at it. Perhaps, granted, in the long run it may benefit the players OR it may end up destroying their confidence and thus shatter their development. I guess time will only tell. The only player I can see benefitting from this is Harden. He can shoot away and continue to hone his skills in order to become a "superstar" player one day.
I think you're reading too much into these comments. Even if Sampson personally hated Lin's guts and thought he was more of a scrub than Toney Douglas, there's no reason for a coach to marginalize a player whom Les and Morey spent $25 million to snatch away in free agency. Even if they felt it was a mistake to sign him, they would highlight his play (like they did with Martin in preseason) so they could trade him, not make him look like crap.
Less effective doesnt mean he cant, he went left plenty of times, kept the dribble and found the open man.
I don't think there is a method to the madness. I love what mctalky preaches, defense first. But when we got harden the coaching staff got a hard-on for harden(can't blame them i did too) and everything they had going into the preseason has taken a back seat to accommodate harden for now. but again, we're so young. we can only get better and better. can someone think of the last team that had a great shooting guard that facilitated the offense and a point guard that ran the team? mind is going blank. I'm curious to what kobe and nash will look like, though nash never misses an open shot or so it seems. eh, even if harden goes 1 on 5 and lin is throwing up airballs from 27 ft (or 10) this team is still fun to watch as they grow together.