Great Article. Gotta love Steve... he leaves everything out on the court and from what I read from the article he seems to be learning more and playing smarter. ie. Jason Williams. I hope he decides to keep up with assist:turnover ratio, then Steve could really be the point guard we want him to be.
Sixers pointgaurd name is Snow i do not agree with you here Kidd ísn't a verry good one on one defender, he is a team defender. Nash isn't that great of defender either also the only point guard who can really stop a fast poiuntguard like Francis is Payton. the funny thing is that of al the pointguard you have mentioned, not one is a scoring option in their attack (atleast if you do not count Kidd and NAsh) except for Payton. so those guards are defensive specialist, and francis isn't a defensive specialist.
I was only trying to answer Acizlan's question (see below). Labelling as speciallist just makes them look like they don't do other parts of their job well. The most important thing is that they play the role of "floor general" well including the offensive and defesive undertakings.
With the exception of Nash, Payton, Kidd, and Snow, the rest of these guys suck arse. Of the four previously mentioned, only Snow and Payton are good defensive player. You can't have your cake and eat it too unless you Payton and Payton ain't doing so hot in Milwaukee.
Armstrong does not play solid man to man D. He gambles a lot and actually gets lost in one on one situations consistently. It has been widely known Fisher gets lit up by every PG, dont mistake the occasional flop for good D. Ollie plays solid D? The guy is the most invisible player in NBA history. Charlie Ward and Eisley...I guess thats why the Knicks get lit up by every PG they play and why they are always looking for a PG, what happened to Frank Williams? Payton=Gets lit up now...he use to be great but after seeing him get tore up by Marbury, Francis, Kidd, Parker, Nash, among others I am not a believer in him anymore. Steve Nash is actually one of the worst PG defenders in the league hands down in one on one situations. Tito Maddox???? Why didnt you put Ty Lue in there? I agree with Kidd and Eric Snow...the fella who starts for the Sixers. Other than your post isnt accurate. The fact of the matter is PG is the most difficult position to play consistent defense on because of the opposing players quickness and the amount of defensive energy spent on the ball. Now obviously there is more talent at the SG/SF position but for match up defense its harder for a PG to contain another PG without help. Steve does have some problems containing other PG's in the league for sure. But hes a solid defender as many of the people you named are...but I would not rate him the great defender class at all. But not many are doing much better.
There is no point arguing with you because I suspect your opinion is based on mis-information. If you do not know that Charlie Ward or Armstrong are defensively formidable then I cannot help you.
Hmmm. Derick Fisher. Did Steve torch him up with 44 pts on 1/17. League's #2 flopper only after Vlade. Well, I do agree that defense is not Steve's forte.
Ward and Armstrong are decent defensive pg for whatever that's worth but are not good point guards in general. Name the point guards in the league that are worth having that play good defense. I can name 2 and they are Payton and Snow but how good would Snow be if he didn't have Iverson to play with.
I actually agree somewhat with him. Part/most of the reason why Yao will only get 4 shots in a game, is because he isn't aggresive enough. My main beef with Francis is that he never plays defense, and can't run a fastbreak to save his life. However, his quote is dead-on.
stevie franchise, your future mvp. woooohoooo sure his d is ave at best( i think is might be above ave myself) but he is the teams general that is evolving around his team(yep i said it his team) thats what great players do evolve... and if you think he sould have evolved as soon as yao showed up in the preseason you need to put the pipe down, evolution taked time.. it does not happen over night, and now we are seeing a little of what the franchise has instore. and as far as him getting his points, if he aves. 13-15 shots and still gets 15+ points and 8+ assists with 3- t/o (not to mention 6+rebs), would that make you people happy?? here are a few guys who have 3+ t/o a game(i said a few but here is 10/14) kidd franchise p pierce j rose kobe a walker AI marbury webber timmy d
FWIW, Francis shot 4 of 19 in the next game against Fisher. I think it has to do with Shaq being in the game or not. Francis got a lot of his points against LA by hitting shots off of picks, when Shaq is too lazy to come out. Is that Fisher's fault? No... Then when thye played again, when Shaq missed the game, suddenly those open 17 ft jumpers aren't there anymore, as Madsen or whoever will actually prevent the open jumper.
How much more CONSISTENT does he have to be? Francis has been playing as the ESPN article suggested the entire second-half (give or take a game). Like someone said, he's been the best PG in March and you could make the argument he's been right behind Kidd (along with Jason Williams) the entire second-half.
What are you talking about? Francis had his way against Fisher in the FIRST game agains the Lakers -- WITHOUT SHAQ. So in three games v. the Lakers Francis has had the uperhand in two of the meetings; once w/Shaq playing, the other w/o.
Great article, BTW! Basically stating what many of us already acknowledged from the Franchise. One of my favorite parts: Keep up the great play #3!
Francis was guarded by Kobe most of that particular game. Remember? Talking about consistency - were you living in Tora Bora mountains when he and Mobs went back to old habbits last week? Is that still considered consistency in your books? For him it is a mental thing - not a physical thing as well all know. He just needs to continue to fight and suppress those demons.
