Sorry Francis Haters: Rockets to pursue Francis extension

theres just a slight difference is Magic's supporting cast as opposed to Steve's...dont ya think? I mean, forget about Rudy T vs Riley but Worthy and Jabbar are hall of famers (im not sure if worthy is in but he will b eventually).

Besides that, my point was that he means a HELL OF A LOT to this franchise and if we lose him after next year, it will set us WAY back. A point guard who puts up numbers like Steve doesn't come around too often.

 

lemme see if i got this right...if you had a broken finger, would that stop you from getting an abcessed tooth fixed? one has absolutely nothing to do with the other! what does his shoulder have to do with him going to the mayo clinic? it's not like he would have to drive...

as for that idiot on the sixers, well, just refer to the first seven words of this sentence.

 

malfunction

 

if ming is as good as reported, he will be a hall of famer. the number of true centers is one greater than the number of trips francis has made to the mayo clinic thus far. oh, and worthy is not the hall of fame...


i get your point about his importance to the team, and i agree that he is...let's just not overexaggerate HOW important he is. some people might take your overexaggeration as a reasonable facsimile of the truth, which it was not.

steve's numbers are impressive, but these numbers would be much better on the rockets:

17ppg
13 assists
~6 boards

and a team oriented true point guard game...

if francis can come close to approaching those numbers and mentality i'll be absolutely elated and will gladly refer to him as "stevie franchise". until then, he's just plain steve to me. he has the ability.......................physically.

 

- Great to hear that the Rockets are going to lock up Francis. So much for the Chicken Little 'Draft Ming & I'm gone' posts that some people were starting around here.

- As far as the trip to the Mayo Clinic, ya'll are just nit-picking now. Steve has the whole summer to get his body straightened out, he just came off shoulder surgery for crying out loud. It's not like taking a car to a mechanic, 'Hey, buddy, while we got your shoulder open up, let's check on those feet', Steve has to have a chance to heal a bit. Just pray that it's nothing serious, not only for the Rockets' sake but for Steve's own health and well-being.

Deep breath in, & breath out.

 

And IF the queen had balls, she'd be King. I hope Ming will be as good as reported...I happen to think he has a very bright NBA career ahead of him. But I know this for sure...Francis IS as good as he was reported to be...in fact there are only like 5 guys in the league that put up #'s (20/6/6) like Steve does.

It's obvious you think of Steve the same way I think of Mo T...and that fine...you are entitled to your opinion. However, as a Rox fan, Im surprised you dont see how much he means to this team.

 

Verse,

Well said, but in defense of Francis he has not exactly had the quality supporting cast around him to allow him to get those assist totals.

I am willing to concede that his numbers are deflated due somewhat to his supporting cast.

Now, that being said, if the Rocks have a healthy team this year and his assist numbers don't go WAY up, and his turnovers WAY down, then we should look at the future of Steve as a PG.


NJRocket,

All that about Steve is true, but the Menieres disease is very worrying, if he can not get it under COMPLETE control, then it is very risky as a franchise to tie him into a long term deal if his availability is questionable on a day to day basis.

DaDakota

 

NJRocket,

 

Dr. Walter Lowe is great. I had shoulder and arm pain for 3 years, and every doc would give me muscle relaxants or Advil. Dr. Lowe did a thorough checkup and after a small procedure on my shoulder and 6 grueling months of PT, I am pain-free and able to bench press my weight again (post-op I could lift about 10lbs before almost passing out).

Mo's accident was a freak thing. Doc couldnt have figured it out.

 

I really hope we regain the "Franchise" and we get his migrain problems to go away.

 

13 assists is unrealistic. It hasn't been don't since 91-92, and only 8 times in history. 10 is more reasonable. Andre Miller and Jason Kidd couldn't get 13.

BTW, what does "come close to approaching" mean? Why not put down those numbers?

 

Man,if we really sign him to this stupid contract extension,before we know about his health,we are really the stupiest orginisation of the NBA.

GRF

 

(1) Why would Francis haters not want his contract extended? They may want to trade him, but I don't know why they would want him to walk away without the Rocks getting any compensation.

(2) I think the most likely reason Francis hasn't yet been to the Mayo Clinic is because the Mayo Clinic isn't yet ready for him. I recall -- from when he canceled his previous appointment -- reading that getting an appointment at Mayo was difficult. I think he may have even gotten some special dispensation to be seen so soon. I do remember the journalist (Feigen, likely) speculating that it may be awhile before he could get another appointment with them. Mayo isn't at the Rockets' beck and call.

 

WinkFan,


i really believe those are the type of numbers that steve francis can achieve. i am well aware of the history of point guards and all that, and it means squat to me. steve francis has THAT KIND OF TALENT. he could do it. so when i say "come close to approaching" i mean exactly what i say.


he could be at 20ppg, 10 apg and 6 rbs and that would be close to those numbers...or something close to that.


german rocketfan,


b...i...n...g...o.

so why wouldn't he take care of it before the july 1st date when the team can negotiate with him?


JuanValdez,


good point. i hope you're right.

 

Calm down german rocketfan, they already said they were gonna wait until after a physical before re-signing him.

13 assist, pfffff, what a joke. Only one player avg double digits in assists this year, and his team sucked major ass. Steve just needs to get up to 8 assists, and he could have done that this year had Rice and Walt been healthy and if T-mo could learn how to shoot. This year, if Ming can knock down jumpers and if Boki can shoot half as well as he did in his workout, Francis will get 8 or 9 apg for this year. As for his shooting, all of it was affected by the shoulder. In the article, Jones mentions how they learned during the surgery that it was worse than they thought. He also mentioned that after the injury, Steve couldn't even raise his arm without pain, so imagine what he went through when he was shooting, dribbling, and passing. Steve is the man, if he stays on track, he'll be a hall of famer for sure. Yao, on the other hand, hasn't played a minute of NBA ball and I woudln't even consider him a possible hall of famer until I see what he can do. Who's more of a sure thing right now, Jay Williams or Ming? Jay Williams of course and nobody has started calling him a possible hall of famer. Nobody said Dream was going to be a hall of famer when we drafted him. Who knows how things will go this year, but if people start putting Ming in the class of hall of famers before he has even stepped on an nba court, they are setting themselves up for dissapointment.

 

I don't think I even know you anymore. Hehe. But I agree; the isolation offense isn't conducive to a high asssist average. Having guys that can hit 15 to 18 foot jumpers are. Or, having a center that finishes well could also. Steve got Cato involved alot offensively, but I cringed at Cato's missed lay-ups at times.

 

That answers my question. 20, 10 and 6 would be great numbers for Steve. Then all he'd need was a little defense. All he lacks there is effort.

 

The shoulder is different than the head, but if he has to physical rhab on the shoulder, or if he needs to report back to the doctors here to make sure his recovery is coming along on schedule, and they can make any adjustments to his recovery regimen, then that would keep him from going for a stay at the mayo clinic.

Again at the mayo clinic they may want to run some kind of stress tests etc. That would definitely conflict with an injured shoulder recovering from surgery.

I think there could be valid reasons why a shoulder surgery would prevent his immediate attendence at the mayo clinic.

I think DaDakota reported that he's already scheduled to go to the clinic in July, so hopefully it will all go well, and apparently he has taken the leadership and his health seriously enough to schedule the trip.

 

Now, people are telling Steve what to do concerning his health...

I hope none of the Francis haters meet Steve in a public bathroom...They might tell him he's holding his dick wrong when he takes a whiz...

 

If the Rocks get SF to sign the extension then I don't think there's much more they could do to make this a better off-season.

Are there still flaws to Stevie's game? Definitely. Does he still have some maturing to do? Yup. But there is no mistaking that he has an abundance of talent, and even if he never improves his game he is still a good player, just not a "franchise" one. I think he'll improve tho, esp with the talented teamates he has around him now.