JaKarr Sampson Flies Under The Radar, Has Intangible Qualities

JaKarr Sampson is a hard worker, but has struggled to find his groove so far this season.

In a season for the Philadelphia 76ers where many gems have stepped up to take on large roles with the team, JaKarr Sampson seems to be finding himself left behind in the rosters’ power rankings, at least in most fans’ minds. Guys like Richaun Holmes, T.J. McConnell, and maybe even Carl Landry have proven their worth to the team, big time.

Sampson, although clearly a hard worker, has struggled to really find a statistic groove and show he’s worth keeping around. When the Sixers put out a video of Sampson and Isaiah Canaan playing the Christmas sellout-toy “Pie Face,” fans on Reddit exploded with comments like, “everytime I wanna cut Jakarr, I see sh– like this then I feel bad,” and, “JaKarr should be given a 10 year 20 million dollar contract. Even if its not a legal contract, the league should make an exception.”

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Perhaps it’s that smile that makes people want to keep him around. That gap-toothed, Michael Strahan-like smile that everyone loves. You can tell the kid is charismatic, and you can tell he’s a positive benefit to the locker room. But this is basketball, not a popularity contest, and it’s hard to not look at Sampson’s contributions this season and think, “is he really doing everything he should be?”

On top of that charisma, he does bring a sense of toughness, which he knows he brings. Speaking to Sixers.com beat reporter Brian Seltzer, Sampson said his job was to, “Bring that toughness to the team, and let other teams know we’re not backing down, we’re not going nowhere. So I think I’ve been doing well.”

Toughness was demonstrated in their win against the Minnesotta Timberwolves last Monday night when veteran Kevin Garnett shoved JaKarr, and the sophomore forward didn’t even think twice about standing up to the 21-season veteran, shoving him right back. Both guys earned technicals, but Sampson’s resiliency even up against the sneaky trash-talking Garnett really spoke volumes in the game about what his toughness means for this team.

His play is certainly lacking. It’s hard to even conclude that his playing isn’t completely worthless when you look at just his stats. Especially offensively, Sampson is a very curious player.

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We can also conclude, though, that a portion of his shot attempts are when he is given the ball to take a tough shot.

Sampson shoots below 25 percent from the field on catch and shoots, which is definitely not ideal. Despite that, just about one shot per game is taken when there is less than seven seconds on the shot clock, which sets him up for disaster. Those rushed shots are not often easy to sink, and for a guy like Sampson who isn’t a great shooter to start with (46.2 percent overall but under 25 percent from beyond the arc), it can be even more difficult.

Regarding Sampson’s shooting, it seems like a lot of his points come from cleanup duty right under the rim. 74.7 percent of his shots are within 10 feet of the hoop, and 40 percent come following him dribbling the ball zero times. His shot chart is incredibly ugly, with his only area that he’s attempted more than two shots and gone above 40 percent being right below the hoop. Everywhere else, Sampson is practically useless, only even taking 15 shots so far in the zones directly outside of the zone right beneath the basket.

Shotchart_1452483097689 /

For a guy that’s a supposed swingman, this isn’t good, and thinking of how a player that takes so many shots so close to the rim fits in with an already hugely dominant frontcourt is nearly impossible.

On the rebounding front, Sampson is only pulling in 25 percent of his rebounds when he has just one other player contesting the rebound, and just 7 percent when there is two or more players contesting him for the rebounds.

Sampson is averaging 5.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.4 blocks per game. Which really isn’t all that bad considering he plays just about 15 minutes per game. But at the same time, he doesn’t fill up a stat sheet by any means. He also turns the ball over nearly three times per 36 minutes, which, on the Sixers, doesn’t look so bad, but it’s definitely not good.

Not much can be said for Sampson’s defense, either. Opponents shoot a mere 2 percent worse when Sampson is guarding them in the two-point zone, but overall shoot 2 percent better with all shots taken into account. They shoot 10 percent better looking at strictly the 3-point zone, showing his ineffectiveness at guarding range shooters.

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Overall, Sampson is one of those guys that seems like he should be easy to say goodbye to (which could be a possibility at the trade deadline), but because of his fight, and his fire, really must be kept around. You really have to wonder what the Sixers would be like without the glue guys such as Sampson around, but looking at his statistics, it really should be incredibly easy to say goodbye to him.

A lot of us just really would hate to see that goofy smile go. We love you, JaKarr, but we would love to see some more statistically from you.