Baron Davis at his best vs Steve Francis

Night and day.....not even close....Baron hands down.

 

Baron was able to take the hornets to the playoffs before his flurry of injuries, in stevies "worse" year he was able to make the playoffs.

 

Steve Francis never had a "best"

 

do you seriously need to ask this question or are you just trying to get people's opinions? the answer is pretty obvious. baron is a flat out baller who does everything. it would be interesting to see how his career will turn if he can manage a couple seasons of relative good health. the only thing they are equal in is scoring and rebounding...other than that baron is a better decision maker, passer, ball handler, defender, and has better intangibles.

 

Baron over Stevie, because of two factors:

1> Baron's got *real* confidence, when Stevie just tries to bluff his way through the clutch situations. I mean, seriously, which would you rather have with the ball in his hands and 10 seconds left in game 7? No contest.

2> The beard.

 

Baron in his New Orleans days looked like he was going to become an MVP. The guy was a slightly smaller but quicker Wade with better court vision and a better jumper.

Francis had the same athleticism but not the size, strength, vision, defensive ability or intelligence of Davis.

 

Baron was never as good a rebounder as Francis. If you look at the stats. The only thing Baron has ever been better than Francis at is passing and shot jacking. Every one of Baron Davis' career shooting averages is worse than Francis'.

 

Baron Davis' jumper was never better than Wade's. D-Wade's midrange jumper is one of the best in the league. Baron Davis can barley shoot 40%.

 

I do remember Stevie having one amazing game against the Warriors back in 2000 where he had a ridiculous triple-double... too bad we lost that game.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/HOU20000127.html

Definitely the kind of numbers that makes it easier to compare the two. Having said that, I'd still take Baron mainly because of the decision-making.

 

I think people forgot how good Steve was. And admittedly, learning to play with an inside presence is not easy (look at McGrady right now, he's still doing well but you can tell his game is slightly less fluid than it was when Yao was out). While it's an asset to the team, having a big man inside does two things to guards:

1) Clog the lane. making it harder to penetrate
2) Greater focus on getting the ball out of the guards hands and into the post.

Steve's game does not blend well with a good big man and as Yao and Howard, started emerging, it became obvious that he needs to be moved. Unfortunatly he ended up in New York, that albatross of a team.

 

Are you f*cking kidding me?



That's all I could come up with after realizing this thread was serious.

 

I thought the question was still comparing the "Best" of both players. If you had to define a player by one game or one playoff series, Baron Davis will have one of the best performances in a while (if GS wins that is). Francis? The most memorable game/series for me was when the Rockets played the Lakers and he poured in like 40 points in the overtime game.

 

Dude, you're freaking nuts. Baron tears Francis up into pieces.

 

well i guess if this is just them at their best, and this is baron at his best, then steve can't quite match this level of taking over and imposing his will, though he could have big games.

but y'all are taking baron in this series and turning him into something he isn't, or at least hasn't been. the guy has been a shotchucker extraordinaire throughout a good amount of his career. francis has been a far more efficient shooter throughout his career (which is saying something for how inefficient davis has been). davis hadn't been over 40% shooting any of the last 3 years and his 43.9% this year is easily his best. a career 41.1% shooter and 50.3 TS% for his career, which is terrible. francis has also been a better scorer while being more efficient.

davis has been a better and more instinctive passer, and better decision-maker (except shot selection i guess), throughout his career and has had far bigger assist seasons, though francis has been a far better rebounder (though i would give the ast advantage more priority than rebounding). davis has turned it over significantly less. neither has exactly led a team to amazing playoff success (and baron making the second round in the east when francis had rockets teams that could've done the same isn't exactly amazing playoff success). and francis has hit several big shots for the rockets and magic over the years (and even hit a game winner for the knicks) so it's not like he's never hit a big shot, though i would still put davis higher for clutchness.

career PER's of 18.4 for francis and 18.3 for davis with davis's rookie year and francis last couple years holding each back from their prime PER's. francis was .1 ppg one season and .2 apg another from having 4 20/6/6 seasons.

all in all, fairly similarly impactful players over their careers. could francis just take over a team and energize them the way baron has this series? i don't see it. has davis lived up to this potential very often? not really.

 

aaaahhh nothing like waking up
and looking at a thread where people seek out new ways to Hate on Steve Francis
for no other reason . . than they hate Steve Francis
a man
that is generally not done anything to them

Gotta log the ClutchHaters portion or ClutchFans

Rocket River

 

Davis has been better than Francis since the day they both stepped onto an NBA court.

DD

 

I dunno . . .i saw this Awesome Video Game commercial with Davis and Steve
and Steve's Dunk where he did the flip and broke the concrete was AWESOME!!!

Rocket River



I think Steve and Baron are like 1 and 1a
I won't let ya'lls hate of Steve . . . distort the Rocket Love I have for all that wore the Red . .er. . pajamas . . .. ROCKET COLORS!!!
The simple truth is. . . The Pajamas ruined Steve's Career. . had he been in
Red and Mustard. . he'd have a ring by now

 

I think Steve was comparible to him athletically, but MILES behind in basketball IQ.

Baron Davis can pass, lead a fast break, and play defense.

Steve......not so much.

DD