Post#24 » by joneb » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:15 pm
I'll start out by saying that Sam's grade thus far is an I. He hasn't had a chance to get in the flow of what the team is trying to do yet, so we can't draw any valid conclusions at this point. As others have noted, his propensity to look for his own shot has been a little destructive to the team's chemistry in recent games. I have no problem with Sam taking shots when he's open, but so far he has been forcing shots up when his man is defending him closely. There's no need for that with this team. We play at our best when the ball is moving crisply, and so far this hasn't been the case when Sam's been running the show.
I'm hopeful that Sam will find his niche on this team as we head down the stretch. He will get plenty of feedback from the coaching staff and the Big 3 as to what the team needs from him. Basically they need him to be a distributor first, and a scorer second. I think his lack of playing time against Phoenix might have sent a little message to him, as well. There's no doubt that Sam could be a huge asset for us in the playoffs. Once he's had a little longer to assimilate himself to his new surroundings, hopefully we'll see a much more effective version of Sam.
