I agree. It's not so much a given single bad night by Steve. It's his lack of consistency on a game-to-game basis. If he keeps alternating good games and bad games like this, he might not be voted an all-star over other players who giving consistently good performances. Don't count out Tony Parker, who wasn't even voted in for the all-star game last year, but proved later in the NBA playoffs that he is definately going to get votes this year. As well as Mike Bibby, who gave a solid performance on the Dream Team in the Olympic Qualifying tournament. I want the best for Steve, and I hope he proves a lot of the doubters wrong. At the same time, I can't ignore his glaring mistakes--and they're bad mistakes for a five-year veteran, all-star, all-nba player. Yao makes some pretty bad mistakes, but he's still under a grace period because it's only his second year, but the "still young" card is no longer available for Francis or Mobely. But I'm more worried about Steve right now. He has more pressure to perform than Mobely. His overall career may very well hinge on this season. He needs to be a consistent, reliable scorer and passer, and he needs to be a consistent threat to other teams. He needs to outplay all the no-name point-guards, and compete with and challenge the top, elite guards in the league. As is, Steve Francis' individual performance is reflecting the Rockets as a team last season: when the team was being outplayed by inferior teams while at the same time outplaying top teams. Right now, Steve is being outplayed by rookies or no-name role players, but at the same time, showing his stuff against top guards, showing that he's capable of lighting it up. But if he wants to maintain his all-star status, HE HAS TO take care of business consistently with the inferior guards and keep up with the performances of his all-star point guard peers. I think Steve is probably facing more pressure than anyone on the team right now. He is one of the two most important players in the organization, and Yao can still get away with the "still adjusting, will only get better" argument. The ice holding Steve up is getting thinner and thinner, and he's already played the rookie card, the young player card, the still-jelling-team card, the still-learning-how-to-be-a-leader card. The other players in his rookie class are only getting better, as well as their teams. Baron Davis, for instance, evolving into an absolute nightmare for opposing teams. At the same time, new young guards are riding on Steve's coat tails for the all-star spot in the West. Lebron is showing him up in numbers--though their numbers are almost the same, Lebron is only 18 and a rookie and on a bad team. Carmello is also showing nothing but good-things-to-come as the point guard in the east. On top of that, a lot of these new young point guards are POPULAR. Steve has always been popular, but he needs to step up and keep up with the other big boys and put distance between himself and the new up-and-coming guards to stay in the spotlight. Disrespecting the talented clutch rookie from Toronto won't help. Getting into cat fights with the Blazers because of a bad night won't help. More and more fans from opposing teams are starting to realize that Steve is easy to crack, that if has a bad night on the road, all they have to do is loudly rub it in to keep him from regaining focus. Steve needs to find his unflappable poise, and find a way to keep from ever losing it again. Last year, Steve was the all-star starting point guard for the west. But that was before Tony Parker showed his stuff in the NBA playoffs. Before Mike Bibby hung with the best in the Olympic Qualifiers. Before Carmello Anthony came into the league. And don't forget that Steve Nash is still playing a solid game for an even stronger Dallas team, not to mention that Gary Payton, still playing as well as he did last year, is back in the fan spotlight because of his move to the Lakers and how well the Lakers are doing. Add on top of that, Baron Davis, who is continuing to climax into the semblance of something very, very unstoppable. If Steve continues to be up-and-down like this, if he continues to be outplayed by not only no-name players, but no-name players coming off the bench to fill in for an inured starting point guard (Arroyo), he won't an all-star point-guard this year, let alone the starting all-star for the talented-point-guard-latent Western Conference. Give us something new to praise you for, Steve. WE've know you have a wicked cross-over and a great vertical and Jordan-esque moves. But we need to see solid, and sometimes simple, performances. Step your game, and keep that all-star spot from being taken away by the younger up-and-coming guards.
Correction, I made an embarssing boo-boo by forgeting that the Cavs are in the East, and therefore Lebron, which doesn't make him a threat for the western conference all-star spot. But Steve should still be challenged by how well Lebron is doing, despit ethe fact that Lebron is showing up most players. Oh, and another correction, I forgot that C. Anthony isn't a point guard, but a 2-guard. Earl Boykins is the starting point guard for Denver, right? Doesn't Anthony somtimes play the one? Anyway, I'm getting off track. The point is, Steve has some western conference competition for the all-star spot, and the only way to stay ahead of the competition is to play better and consistenty.
That was a typo. I meant west. Hey, I know the NBA league, alright? LOL. It's the NBA realignment changes. and couple that with my bad sense of American geography, and I don't know what team belongs where.
Hmm. No. Steve seems to need to get into his grove, you know, skipping up the court, dribbling through the legs, behind the back, 2-3 crossovers on the same man he just beat with the first one, just to get his game going while turning the ball over every 3 or 4 times he does this crap. He needs to be spontaneous, creative, and unstructured to be successful, hence his 'mad skillz'.
I'm about to head into an all day meeting/workshop, but did a rather large spreadsheet for all of last years game on steves opponents, inlcuding FG attempts and percentage for the games and season averages. believe me he has seriously improved the numbers for this year are way better, Lopez and Stoudamire games excepted, hopefully they are just a lapse and not the JVG message wearing off. nevertheless Steve is Damon's biaytch
I posted this in another thread,but Steve is byc ,He isnt going anywhere until atleast next summer if ever. So we might as well stop dwelling on tradeing him or hating him. It will get us no where. Im sure jvg and cd will roll heads if we miss playoffs. Anyways, from looking at the stats, steve is worse than I thought. This thread is very depressing. HIs stats are worse now than when he had headaches,so Id say thats a cause for worry,but still nothing will happen until next summer. I dont think JVg can make steve make more shots,its just steve is getting older and not as good as when he was younger. Im sure some of you have said in the past,that since steve relies heavily on his athletism and not smarts,that as he gets older his game will diminish rapidly since he doesnt have the brains of a stockton or kidd to still be effective without his athletism. Talk about depressing. Anyways, I hope steve is gone this summer because imagine how bad he will be in a couple more years when he is 30 and cant jump as high or run as fast, he will be another moochie.
I'd love to see his numbers the past few years, but its cool that you put this together. I'm glad steve's numbers are better on the D aspect of his position. This might be a reason why his offense is the worst its ever been. But whats the point of keeping the other PGs at their averages or a little better when you're kept under your's? Hopefully Steve can improve one while maintaining the other...but we've been hoping for this going on 5 years now.
When Raul Lopez and Mo Williams can rub him off picks for the open jumper, and beat him down the floor on the break.................................................there ain't no other word for it besides H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E. He don't have to advertise it. It is plain to see. Just wait til we play Cleveland and J.R. Bremer lights him up........again.
We should be able to use the trade exception to cancel out Fancy's byc status. Francis for Brand, please CD.
Steve's defense is better this year, and STeve is working harder on it. He's fighting through picks and actually playing above average defense. The Utah game was horrible D by Steve, but thankfully it hasn't been the norm for him this year.
You are right. I've seen improvement in his defense this year. The Utah game was just so frustrating to watch. He just couldn't keep up defensively, and after the 1st quarter he stunk it up offensively also. That's why I wonder if he was tired or maybe nicked somehow. Just an extremely subpar game for him that reminded me of last year's games. It is just so frustrating to watch a team with half the talent that our team has consistently beat us to the ball and win the game by playing basic team basketball, not even anything fancy. Basic basketball by mediocre players beats us. Ugh!
