With all the Russell Westbrook talk of late, I was thinking about other Rockets who were spectacularly athletic, and of course Steve Francis came to mind. I was look for his career highlights on YouTube and found the video below. Apologies if it's already been posted here, but I couldn't find it via search. Everyone here knows Steve has battled some pretty big demons over the last decade, and has been in the news and on ClutchFans for all the wrong reasons during that span. In the past year, though, the only thing I could find on him is that in February he successfully beat a hit & run charge from a while back. Steve was divorced a couple of years ago and his ex said drugs played a big part in her filing. Despite us taking shots at him occasionally (myself included), I know the vast majority of us here would like nothing better than to see him healthy and happy. This video is about a year old, and it's the best I've seen Stevie look in ages. Who knows if he's gotten clean, but I hope it's evidence that he has.
I saw him at the gym a few times about a year back and said what’s up...he seemed to be in good spirits I used to love this dude...I was actually annoyed with JVG during the 03-04 season because I felt he was stifling his game and taking away his creativity, but we were finally a playoff team again so I had to deal with it...I was not a fan of those slow paced, ridiculously low scoring games tho
Lol - Steve was a miserable point guard with low efficiency all the way around. Once the step faded, he was the only one who could save himself by adapting and working on improving his shooting/playmaking - but he would never put in the work. It was and1 or no fun.
That article was dope. Thanks for sharing. Still got my Franchise #3 jersey. Explains a lot about Franchise and his NBA career. Unfortunately, I have a fair number of alcoholics in my family. Every time I saw Steve in recent years (before he got sober), he looked just like some members of my FAM so I always thought alcohol - not other drugs. Also, as a Hoya, I can only imagine if Franchise had laced up the blue & grey...
Yeah, that whole article was awesome. Gives you much more insight into what makes Steve tick than any interview I've ever seen with him.
Agree 100% about JVG. He put the shackles on him something serious and was trying to force Yao to be the man when he was nowhere near ready. He basically tried to turn him into Charlie ward or Chris childs from the knicks. Another old school coach who couldn’t see where the game was headed. He was far too talented to try and turn into the prototypical PG.
I hope he's clean, definitely looks good here (1 year ago), and his article was really well put together. I thought it was a lot of great insight he shared.
‘I was partially deaf in my left ear,Yao was partially deaf in his right ear, we were going to try talking in basic English.’
I respectfully couldn’t disagree more. Check out his efficiency in NY off the ball. Incredibly underrated shooter and playmaker, and far more cerebral than he is given credit. Often not taking more than a couple shots until the 4th quarter, focusing on getting Mo Taylor and Cat off, and then closing games for us with some truly dreadful teammates. (And Carrying us to .500)
I agree. Steve was more undisciplined than inefficient. Good instincts, but tried to do too much at times.
