I don't watch enough Suns games to determine the comparative efficiency of the two, all I know is that this time last year, nobody was running around praising Stephons efficiency, he was a selfish shoot first point guard, and the evil foil to Jason Kidd.
Oh... by the way I thought that this was an excellent article. Dead on. I fully expected this type of response from the anti-Francis camp. This article made two mistakes in their eyes...1.) It did not completely vilify our guard tandem and 2.) It had the nerve to criticize Yao. Bad Feigen... bad,bad Feigen. My only solace from the sickening amount for Francis bashing that goes on here is the knowledge that he is here to stay and isn't going anywhere, and as soon as some of you Francis detractors realize that you will either join the rest of us in supporting him or find another team to root for... until then... bash on.
Parker is not OVERALL better than Francis. Francis is a starting All-Star, and proved his worth. Parkers strength is not his one-on-one ability. And he knows that. But, Parker is a better play-maker than Steve. Forget the numbers. Why? Because I think it's interesting that we are even having this comparison considering that this is Parkers 2nd year vs Francis's 6th.
I remember there was an interview (last year) on Marbury in which he was talking about this very same thing. He said that he took it as a personal challenge to work hard in the off-season on his total game. And he did improve. This was before Amare. The year with him and Marion. That's when I noticed a difference in his game. It's was like all he did was fine-tune. But it was like night and day because it was those little rudimentary things that he improved on.
That's nice and all, but how do we square that with him shooting more and making less? I'm not saying I don't believe you, I just think that comparisons like this (efficiency, total game) etc, are not quantifiable and are in the eye of the beholder, and that they look a lot better or worse depending on whether or not you win or lose. Phoenix got a beast of a power forward, they won more games, made the playoffs, and stephons shortcomings are more easily overlooked.
The efficiency part can be validated by his assist/turnover ratio and points for his whole career. As far as win/lose factor. Yes, it's eye of the beholder. But that because I watch them play (mainly rooting for them to lose. Same with Dallas). And they were sqeaking out wins, not because of Amare. But because of SM playmaking. It was noticeable.
Jonathan Feigen always writes substanceless articles and this one is no different. Houston Chronicle is better off without him.
Here's my .02. Francis and Marbury are about as similar players as there are in the nba. Both are strong , atheletic, and quick. Both are pretty much the same age despite Marbury being in the league 3 yrs more than Francis. Both are pretty much called a lead guard because of their ability to score and pass. The comparison both negative and positve is that Francis is the better rebounder, but Marbury is the better distributor. Every since Marbury has been in the leagu he has been capable of dropping 50 on you or dropping 8-10 dimes. Francis has been known to drop 50 and grab 10 rebs in a game. The truth of it is, marbury , despite his off court debacles, is a better pg period. I don't think anyone on this board would argue that if Francis was avg 8 asst per game, no one would even care about those high to's. I don't have the exact stat, but the Rockets were next to impossible to beat when Francis had 7 or more asst in a game. As weak of a stat as that may sound, when he gives up the ball 1 extra time on the fast break, this team was hard to handle. To me, that should have been the light bulb that popped on for Francis. I'm not knocking him as not being a good player, I'm like everyone else and knock his sometime questionable decision making in the half court and open court. It was times when a break was there and Posey and someone would fill the wing and Francis would either deliver the ball late or attempt to make a mound out of a mole hill. In my honest opinion, If Marbury was on this team last yr and Francis on Phoe, this team would have made the playoffs before them. Why? Think how many easy shots Amare got when Marbury penetrated. Reverse that and put Ming in that same situation in those ill fated pick and rolls ran by the Rockets, and thats the difference in alot of close games. Marbury used to terrorize Tony Parker, but Francis wouldn't even play him to a draw. Strictly on a talent basis and core players, We had more talent than Phoenix regardless of whether or Rudy left the team or not. The difference was the leader of the offense, not anyone else.
But then we get back to the same age old problem. Is francis getting 7 assists a game because he is passing more often or is it because he is passing the same amount, its just that guys are knocking down their shots? Somebody would have to doa film study or something to find out. The pattern I usually saw with excessive shooting was on days when other guys weren't getting it done, steve would get furstrated by the second half and start driving more and more. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. However, in games where somebody else had the hot hand (e.g., that Clipper game where Posey hit 6 straight 3's, or the game in New York where Mobley dominated the first half and Yao had a big 4th quarter--but we still lost, how frustrating , I got to see the rox lose to the knicks 2x in person last year, maddening), Francis was more than willing to share the rock. In the NY game, it proved fatal because Yao kept turning the ball over in the final minutes, in the Clipper game it was a laugher and an easy win.
I bet you he lurks here from time to time, and maybe even posts , if I was the Rockets beat writer, I certainly would. All right I give up guys, I'm him.
Tony Parker does nothing better than Steve besides "Speak French" Are times really this bad when we are comparing Steve to a guy that plays less minutes than Speedy Claxton?
One more reason to believe that Feigen gets his materials from this bbs. He got his "reputation" from one half of the posters. And his "reality" from another half. Slick.
Dont get me wrong Marbury has improved but the reason the Suns made the playoffs over the Rockets is because they are MORE talented. Amare, Marbury, Marion, Penny, Outlaw(Who I would love to see on the Rockets) They are more talented than the Rockets and should of had a better record. Next year with better coaching and improvements in Yao's game hopefully we will be over take them. As far as Clutch's comment about where does Marbury rate with the best players in the league. People have to realize there are 5 positions on the court. Steve was ranked about 6 months ago as the 11th or 12 most valubable commodity in the league. Everyone in this league needs a good PG, we have a great one. Steve is still young and PG is the hardest position to play in the league but as I said before he is the 2nd or 3rd best PG in the league and to say you would rather have Parker is ridiculous. People in here are hung up on this 'traditional PG' thing. As far as feeding Yao the ball, Yao was NOT ready to be the go to guy last year. He was not assertive in the post and he didnt make quick decisions when he got the ball. He is a great passer but to be able to draw double teams you have to be able to score pretty easily and Yao is effective but he still needs time to become that player, hopefully it will happen this upcoming season. Brand and Parker over Steve? Man thats sad. If we got Parker we can expect to see much more of Moochie LOL. And if we got Brand(Who is very over-rated) certainly not a max player who will run point? Steve Hateration is in full effect even with the person who is running the show. Thats not a good sign. But hey people seem have been over-rating the talent on this team for some while. Steve is our best player easily, Yao could be some day soon. Steve is a great PG and player in this league who is widely respected by players around the league. Bottom line, Dont hate, Appreciate. Because if he leaves he will dominate anywhere he goes.
It's not a bad article at all, though I don't consider it to be a great one. Or even Feigen at his best.
This is true. Because there are some stats that can't/aren't measured. Maybe someone keeps these kind of stats. But they are hard to measure... A Turn-over could be: Passing to someone, but the pass goes out of bounds. A Turn-over could be: Dribbling off your foot. Both are turn-overs. But one of them is just "novice." I would guess that would be FORCED vs UNFORCED. Getting (or not getting) an assist could be: Passing to open man that HITS the shot/lay-up. Getting (or NOT getting) an assist could be: Passing to open man, but he MISSES the shot/lay-up. There's also the "difficulty" of the completed assist that isn't measured as well. For example. Jason Kidd puts the ball right where the supporting player can make an EASY shot/lay-up. Francis puts the ball right where the supporting player has to make a DIFFICULT shot/lay-up. Both are assists. But one is "making his team (average players) better." One is not. Again, this is the difference between an efficient ball distributor, and one that is not. I hope that the new system remedies some of this. But not all the blame should go to Francis. Rudy's system had a lot to do with it as well.
Good article by Feigen, though not as good as Newark star one because Feigen seem reluctant to come right out and address some of the issues. SF can be a point guard but he's not playing with the same mindset as Jason Kidd or Andre Miller. He needs to get things moving earlier in the shotclock. SF should be at least as good as Parker as a point guard. I think the problem is without familiar set plays, SF could not really feel his teammates, therefore he is indecisive in finding the man. They are not doing their jobs in regard to adjusting to Yao Ming being the center of offense although it's because it's a new team they're still learning to play together. Finding the big target with easy basket is neccessary, as well as using his passing skills. I think most of Yao's fatigue is mental considering the kind of pressure he's under. Letting him go one one one with guys like Duncan & Shaq is quite stupid. I don't know how you define a play as ISO. Mav's ISO plays are really well executed, they have Finley signaling his teammates to clear out, and Finley then takes the advantage of the situation and try to score, which he does regularly. Our "ISO" is different, you have a guy dribbling and wondering what to do while other guys wondering what they should be doing, then shot clock runs down, the ball handler is forced to penetrates and pray that his shot against 4 defenders are going to fall or there's a chance to pass out to a open guy with under 1 second remaining. (Exaggerated a bit) Mav's ISO is really ISO 1 on 1, not 1 on 4 or 1 on 3. I agreed with Feigen on this one. However it's only part of solution, EG as well as all the young guys need discpline to play like a team and trust each other as well as playing like Cat with fire. Right on the money on this one, Feigen. Rockets is young and talented, they just need to grow as a team and play with discpline.
"Francis has been known to drop 50 and grab 10 rebs in a game." Laughable........... When has Francis ever dropped 50. I believe his career high is only 44.
Feigen may single handedly be the worst beat reporter. All his articles are of no value and are meaningless. It seems as if he was on Rudy T's staff. His article's seemed to relay the message that he is listening and believing in Francis's BULL SH**!!!!
