does francis have a chance to go back to his deadly scoring?

I hope so. It would be nice for Steve to be able to take over a game and throw in a 35 point performance every once in a while

 

ofcouse he will, I just hope he is still a Rocket when he does.

 

I thought it was pretty entertaining watching Francis (and Cat) bust a few ankle breakers on guys back in the day but with zones and a legitimate low post threat I'm happier with Francis playing with the team than trying to do everything himself.

From the few games I've seen this year though he still gets a chance to iso every now and then.

 

One more thought.

Since Yao and Cato's rebounding are coming around I've been thinking the way to make the Rockets more entertaining and unleash Francis and Mobley's athleticism was to try to run more.

When Yao or Cato grabs a board on the defensive end outlet out to a streaking Francis, Mobley or Jackson rather than have Francis bringing the ball up.

The Rox certainly have the athleticism to run but both JVG and Rudy T never seemed to be into playing a more wide open offense.

 

the iso is no longer used or rarely used because it never lead to the wins the teams is looking for. We also dont need him to be the leading scorer no more. It may be exciting but it wont lead to wins in the long run.

 

well if the past three games serve as any indication i think the rockets have a new direction and it doesn't involve steve francis averaging 25 points per game at the point guard position.

it would be great if a solid distributor could be brought in and steve works out of the two. in the end yao could average something like 22 per and steve 25. kind of like shaq and kobe the year kobe scored more

 

He would need to move the the 2 guard. I want to see how Mark Jackson runs the point with Steve at the 2. (like they used to do with Moochie)

 

I wouldn't mind steve scores little less w/ better a/t ratio and we win more.

 

There is no doubt he will once again be dominant with his cross overs (iso).

IMO the thing that hurt his one on one game was the Zone defense.

 

It comes down to just making shots. Francis should practice more on his catch and shoot skills rather than his palming, traveling, and his patented dribble right, stop on a dime, shuffle your feet fadeaway jumpshot. He still sometimes catches the ball beyond the arc, hesitates, and then shoots the contested 3. Some of the things he does out there really makes me scratch my head. Does he know the definition of a travelling violation? Maybe Ewing can tell him so that he stops doing it. I know a lot of players travel in the nba, but the more you do it, the more you are going to get called in a game. Francis probably gets half of his turnovers because of his fundamental problems. On a positive note, he is really moving the ball better lately. If he can cut down on stupid turnovers, I dont really care how many points he scores.

 

No.

He won't in the sense you're talking about.

To do that, he would have to either be more efficient in his ISOs... or play on a bad team.

Neither one is likely to happen. So the reversion you wish for will never occur. I hope you'll be consoled with the increasing victory count.

Note: Francis still takes more shots per game than Yao... so why are you concerned about his marginalization?

 

I like the way francis is playing, he just needs to work on his shot. He should be averaging double doubles.

 

Who cares how many he scores as long as the team is winning?

I would rather see him play a complete team game than score like 35 or so points and the team loses.

Sure, it may not be flashy or sexy enough for some people here, but when you have missed the playoffs the last 4 seasons, you get a little desperate to change things up or at least you should be desperate to change it up.

 

Possibly this would be most benificial to the Team but not while playing the Point Guard position. Steve still needs to concentrate even more on making others better rather than his own Scoring Game. If he moves over to the Two Guard position in the future he will need to relinquish his position as floor leader.Another consideration is not being in control of the ball might not fit in with his mind set.
Steve Francis is not a deadly scorer, he is a volume shooter that has a moderate Field Goal Percentage.

 

I believe so. He's gonna come out of that shooting slump in the not-so-distant future. He's been shooting better in recent weeks.

Then he'll have a game or three when he goes on fire and chalks up 30+. BUT, we do have plenty of guys who are capable of putting up points. Yao. Cat. Steve. Mo. JJ. On any given night, any of those guys can light it up. We just hafta feed the hot hand.

 

The only deadly scoring he'll be going back to happens after the game.....

 

That is why we should trade Francis for some forward help and bring in a role playing PG. We could have gotten Charlie Ward to give us what Francis has this year, and for about 10% of the salary.

 

That's true. The role that Steve plays can be accomplished by a player who makes much less. Charlie Ward will be available after the season is finished. I'm not sure about trading Francis, but the idea is to make the team better with the same payroll. If Ward makes the $1-2 million while Steve makes $10, that's a difference of around $8 million. That's a lot of money to play with. $8 million usually gets a very good player all any position on the court.

 

And now your only perimeter threat and breakdown threat is.....?

CAT? Yikes!