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

I don't think so. There's no conspiracy.

Sampson seems to me a guy of strong opinions. He simply doesn't rate Lin as a player. But he can't just bench him, yet. (Though he tried vs the pistons and it backfired badly).

So he does the next best thing which is minimise Lin's influence on the play.

 

Alright, I would say it's just plain stupid.
And I assume Morey is a smart guy. Hope he will be able to stop this stupidity before Lin's confidence is completely crushed.

 

Your explanation just made it sound more like conspiracy....

 

Exactly. It's human nature. All this talk of conspiracy theories is strawman.

It's not that complicated. Coach doesn't think Lin is good enough and in that situation the best thing he can do for the team is to not put the ball in his hands.

 

Great post. I have personally done this before, so I know. I watched two teams of different ethnic persuasions playing against each other in a hotly contested basketball game. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw one team blowing the other one out. I assumed it was the certain ethnic team that was winning (due to my subconscious biases). Then when I actually asked someone, he told me the other ethnic team was actually winning. That's when I realized that I had all the same biases that others do. These coaches being 40, 50, 60 years old, and having never seen someone like Lin excel, trust me, they have the same or worse embedded thinking.

 

Check Sampson's comments. He knew that's Lin's strength. And still, they are taking the ball out of Lin's hands intentionally, which means they knew Lin would be a worse player when he plays off the ball.

If they think Lin is not good enough with ball in his hands, I guess it won't surprise them he will be even worse while the ball is out of his hands.

So why do they do that?? to troll??

 

It's very simple. They don't rate Lin as a good enough playmaker, so they take the ball out of his hands because they believe that's the best for the team.

I think if they had the option to not play Lin or bench him, they would take that option.

 

Somehow I feel like Lin would play better if he came off the bench on this team...But that will be a HUGE JOKE!

 

Confirmation bias is a real phenomena without doubt. But to make any assertions on it without knowing which exact coaches were involved, and in what capacity is completely asinine. It's not a substantial argument and is most definitely a reach.

No, no, no. I don't mean to bash you, but someone who is coaching in the greatest basketball league in the world is NOT drawn off guard, or subject as much to embedded thinking as an amateur. It is their livelihood. Not to say they don't make mistakes, but to say that Lin's current role and the team's subsequent losses is a function of some unnamed coaches/staff from an uncited NYDN article is an injustice.

 

Nowhere in my 200+ post did I ever argue that Lin is a better player than harden. Stop assuming things that were never implied in my posts. The fact of the matter is the rockets paid not insignificant money to bring him here to build a foundation for the future, not as a role player.. Morey is not stupid. He knows the system Lin excels in. But if his philosophy has changed due to unexpectec harden winfall and Lin is no longer part of the equation than they should trade him.

However, if Morey still believe in Lin, he needs to find the coaching staff who shares his belief in Lin to be more than an avg pg and fire them. Remember that it's a players league. Players have much more leverage than some no name assistant coach or not so bright ex player-coach.

 

The same professionals repeatedly cut Lin from everytime and didn't give him a chance to play.

He only got a chance in NY cause everyone else was injured.

There have been hundreds of articles on why Lin was missed. A lot of articles on how he was just on a lucky streak.

People have very intractable opinions because their personal worth is tied into the worth of their opinions.

If it's your profession to rate and spot talent and you missed it big time on Lin, it's going to take a hell of a lot to convince you, you were wrong and for some people they will never be convinced no matter what.

I don't know what the deal is in Houston. All I can say is that based on what I've observed and what Sampson has said thus far, it seems to me that he doesn't really rate Lin as a quality PG.

 

I appreciate your point, but calling my view asinine is unfair. I think that you are overestimating the "experts." Look how many people passed on and cut Lin. Sampson was one of those. I'm willing to give Sampson some more time to warm to Lin, but clearly he did not start off accurately evaluating him (based on his comments, not to mention his usage of Lin thus far).

 

No I heard this as well. But it was from the ny tabloids so take it for what it's worth.

 

It's true. McHale was furious when the rockets management didnt offer Dragic the player option. This was reported. He was their first choice

 

The RoyceWhite-gate took all my attention and I gotta go sleep but I just wanna quickly add that I was PISSED when I watched Sampson's video.

To hear that he is well aware what JLin's strength is (being...you know a point guard) but is determined to waste his skills and just utilize him as a spot up shooter is disheartening and frustrating.
Well at least he was honest and the JLin haters can now get off his back for being so passive as if it was his own doing. He doesn't have the green light to play his natural position anymore. James Harden is the Rockets backcourt.

What frustrates me is that everyone, from ESPN to non-Rockets fans were so excited to watch this new intriguing backcourt that everyone expected would compliment themselves wonderfully. JLin being right handed, Harden being left handed, both penetrating threats, unselfish players etc. I think everyone DROOLED at the thought of all the flowing ball movement this backcourt would create.....all for NOTHING.

What does the coaching staff do? they instead force a rare unselfish SG in James Harden to become an ISO nut and use Lin like a useless Derek Fisher. BRILLIANT!


I know it's nothing new but it's just shocking how stubborn and stupid coaches can be.

 

Well some people don't have large egos. 3/4 of the posters on this site have inflated egos and cannot separate one thing from another. As an engineer, my whole life has been about dropping my ego and studying the fine details and not making judgments based on emotions or outside influence. Chances are if I'm wrong, I've learned something of great importance that will further my knowledge and understanding of how the world works.

 

Maybe the coaching staff is playing hardball to improve Lin's games, making him more rounded, not praising him so he isn't blinded by the fame and teaching him to know his position since he's the new kid on the team. I know it may sound crazy, maybe they don't want to deplete Lin's strength, but want to discover his other games, boost up his weakness. After all, this season is suppose to develop our youngsters, it's not like we have any chance contending.

 

Morey obviously admitted his mistake in judging him but you are right - a lot of old timers just simply refuse to believe that Lin is for real ( eg Larry brown, George Karl)

While I'm hoping things start to change but if it doesn't the best place for Jeremy to go would be to the coach who finally came to believe in him.

 

Lin hasnt proved he is for real a 25 game span is not a long enough period.He needs to do it for a season and so far he hasnt proved anything but it's only 7 games into the season.

 

Interesting, I have an engineering degree as well. I analyze things as emotionlessly as possible. We can agree to disagree, but I don't see Sampson highly valuing Lin, utilizing his strengths (which would clearly benefit the Rockets), appreciating him as an excellent defensive PG, or anything close. At least he is giving Lin PT, so I will credit Sampson with that. I will be curious to see how Lin is used in the coming days and whether the Rockets' potential will be fully maximized.