Anybody who thinks Stevie is the same is blind. But anyone who watched the preseason and thinks he is washed up is also blind. You fall in the latter category. Stevie may not be a good fit for this team but he showed in that one preseason game where he got extended minutes that he can still play. He is still very athletic albeit his shot is not on just yet. The problem with Stevie is he has never had a penchant for conforming. ANd for him to help this team he would have to conform a little. Not as much as people think but more than he seems to be now. So IMO your opinion of stevie is just as extreme as those who think he hasn't lost a step.
Back to the original title of this thread. What exactly did Adleman and Francis talk about? A little bit of conjecture here.. Francis "Coach A, I gave up millions to play for the Mavs, the Clippers and the Heat to play here. Now you're telling me I'm not getting any playing time?" Coach A "Steve I like you, you've got game. But you still haven't learned when and where to cut and your passing is off. I think that when you get it down, we can use you later in the season for your scoring and athleticism. Francis "But Coach, I didn't sign here to not play at all. What's the plan here?" Coach A "Steve, clearly Alston is not the scorer that you are but for right now he's putting the passes where they need to go and he's running the offense. He still doesn't shoot anywhere near what you do. Now if you can get this high post offense down and by get back into the shape you were in when you last played here, yeah I think we can look at the starting roster again." Francis "Damn I thought I was going to be starting" Coach A "Steve, you've got to be patient, this offense doesn't come to all my players instantaneously" Coach A "Steve work on your timing, study the offensive sets. Memorize them until it's second nature" Francis "Sheeezzttt, damn I thought I was through with all that when I was a Freshman at Maryland" Coach A "Steve a basketball player should never stop trying to improve. Always be learning" Francis "Yeah but to be beaten out by Alston" <rolls eyes> Coach A "Steve, there are going to be injuries as the season wears on. Alston may not always be our first option. It depends on how you play in practice and learn our offense so that it's second nature to you". Francis "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll stick around and see what happens. I really did come here to play and get a championship ring y'know. Always thought Houston was the best place to do that with T-Mac and Yao here. Thought I could get back to some of that All-Star play that I used to have" Coach A "Yeah, that's what I thought too at the beginning of the season. I really thought you would start. Clearly you have one of the best athletic skillsets of all our guards but you need to get the offensive sets down. Once you do that, I think you'll really get some playing time and be very valuable to us down the stretch." Francis "Ok, I won't ask for a trade to the Clippers just yet. Thanks for the talk Coach" Coach A " Anytime Steve"
The talk went like this. SF - I want to play coach. RA - I want you to play too. SF - So, I'll be playing tomorrow? RA - umm... NO.
It's the first 2 games of the season, Have you seen Francis' demeanor? If that tells you Steve isn't going to be last season's Bonzi Wells, I don't know what will
If by "last season's Bonzi" you mean, A good player that doesn't get to play, than you are right. Because Bonzi wasn't a cancer last year. If he was, do you think they would have kept him? He just had problems with JVG. It's not like Bonzi was causing all sorts of trouble behind scenes because coach didn't play him. From the looks of it, he got a long with the players in the locker room. We definitely could have used him but our success and failure of last season didn't depend on the possibility of Bonzi playing or not. Their situations are completely different but similar in how both were both big time players that came into camp out of shape and are not getting playing time. Although, so far, there seems to be no problems between Steve and RA. But I guess only time will tell.
I guess you forgot about Bonzi actually quit the team last year. Quit. He wasn't a cancer, but he was hugely overweight and admitted to not giving the effort b/c he was pissed about his contract And I agree that he didn't seem to be a cancer, but he did quit.
I wasn't talking about Bonzi being a cancer, all I know is that he (Bonzi) kept on pleading his case to the other players on why he should get more PT, and by the looks of it, Francis is about to do the same
Are you sure? I only heard Bonzi plead his case about playing time to the media and never the players. I think I heard a rumor about him talking to V-Span about it or something like that but that is it. Nothing official. No, I remember. I hated him for that. But here's the big difference; Steve didn't turn down a huge contract because he thought he would get more money. So when he signed with us, he wanted to sign. It wasn't because he lost out on his chance on a big contract and just had to sign with Houston like Bonzi did. So the main factors why Bonzi didn't get in shape and played half-assed, are not factors in the Steve Francis situation. Steve WANTS to be here. He loves this city. He had a much better chance to start on the Heat and with his buddy Cuttino on the Clippers but he chose to come home. That alone shows you he's not all about "ME" anymore. That's why I think theres a big difference between Bonzi and Steve's situations. Bonzi signed here because he couldn't get big money and Houston was the best team left. Steve signed here because he just wanted to come back home.
It's not about not wanting to play in Houston, who wouldn't want to team with Yao and TMac? all I'm saying is the attitudes these kind of players have when faced with the reality that they're going to play limited minutes... both Bonzi and Steve were highly touted to start, and what do they do when it didn't happen? I know it's different with the case of Steve's case since it was supposed to be a feel good story when the once franchise player of Houston returned, all I can say is, where is the more mature Steve Francis everyone's talking about?
