1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

  2. Watching NBA Action
    Can Embiid and the Sixers hold off elimination in Game 5? Come join Clutch as we're watching NBA playoff action live!

    LIVE: NBA Playoffs!
    Dismiss Notice
Welcome LIVE NBA ACTION

Oh Lord Francis is 28th in Assists Per 48 Minutes

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Panda, Feb 19, 2003.

Tags:
  1. Panda

    Panda Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2002
    Messages:
    4,130
    Likes Received:
    1
    Those who's read my posts know that I'm not a big fan of Francis. I confess I only like Stevie's scoring. Nothing much else. Good rebounding from guards doesn't mean much to me. It's the big men's job. With that said, I noticed that Francis took about 10 minutes to get his last assist, from 6 to 7 in the Lakers game. It got me thinking about well, the old controversey of moving Francis to the 2:D. It dawned on my that maybe the reason Francis is averaging 6 apg is because of the long minutes he played.

    For verification I checked stats on nba.com.

    http://www.nba.com/statistics/default_48_minute_leaders/LeagueLeadersAST8Query.html

    Bad news, very bad news. Francis is 13th in assists per game at 6 apg, but he is only 28th in assists per 48 minutes at 7apg. The little increment of 1 assist is because Francis averages 41 mpg, 6th in the league. Assist leaders vastly outnumbers Francis in 48 minutes, such as Kidd at 11 and Payton at 10.4. Several sgs actually are better than Francis in this category while averaging less minutes and touching the ball much less! One in particular is Brent Barry, in 32 minutes he avearges 9.4 point, 4 rebs, 1.6 stls and 4.8 assists on the Sonics.

    I'm not talking about trading for Barry and moving Francis to the 2. Just using him to illustrate the point. Are the Rockets in the right direction to build the offense around Francis when he has proven so far that he can't involve the teammates? Francis is a tweener - physically he can't play the 2 and mentally he can't play the 1- and tweeners seldom get to the level of greatness, with Charles Barkley and arguably Allen Iverson being the only exceptions in my knowledge. Couple it with Francis' high TO's and subpar defense I have a hard time to expect Francis to evolve into a great player in the future. Case in point, how does Francis benefit the team when he's not shooting well, like tonight against the Lakers? Francis lacks the other aspects such as defense and playmaking to elevate his game when his shots aren't falling.

    Nice stats are often in disguise. Unless Francis takes the team to another level I can only regard him as a player that racks up points on a medicre team. For these reasons I don't hold much hope in Francis leading the Rockets to win a title. I suggest the Rockets treat Francis as a complementary player, and focus the offense on someone else like Yao Ming, or trade WHOEVER to get who has what it takes. Some bones to chew, I won't mind trading anyone on the Rox for Kobe. I believe Kobe can take a team to the finals with the right supporting cast. I'm a huge Yao fan but I'd take Kobe over Yao. He's that good.

    Excuse me for giving up on Francis as being the Rockets leader, I've waited for 4 years for Francis to convert himself into a decent pg, so far he's gotten worse as a pg and better as an sg year by year. Four years are too long to be called impatient!
     
    #1 Panda, Feb 19, 2003
  2. gunawanspurs

    gunawanspurs Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2002
    Messages:
    292
    Likes Received:
    3
    GREAT TAKES BY YOU:)

    When will the Franchise lovers finally see the light ?;)

    Hopefully, before Yao decides to switch team for REAL chance of championsip and greatness ! ( i would love to see the Texas bigmen rivalry between TD and Yao for longer time )
     
    #2 gunawanspurs, Feb 19, 2003
  3. carayip

    carayip Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2002
    Messages:
    2,135
    Likes Received:
    20
    Francis not being a true pass 1st shoot 2nd PG is not news to everyone. I don't even care about it anymore. I don't even want to turn him into a John Stockton anymore. But I still hate it when he relies on his athleticism to play every game, not smartness or fundamental. He seriously needs to watch some video of Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton, etc. If he gets it, he may have a chance of becoming "the greatest player at his position" (quote Rudy T). Then Rockets will really become a true elite team. But I am not holding my breath.

    BTW, as great as Kobe is, I wouldn't trade Yao for him. No 1 man can win championship by himself in this league. We would become another Orlando Magic (with T-Mac) then.
     
    #3 carayip, Feb 19, 2003
  4. gunawanspurs

    gunawanspurs Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2002
    Messages:
    292
    Likes Received:
    3
    Well, maybe Franchise needs a lil bit of azz spanking by "the BIG Fundamental" down here in SA.;) Seriously, the talents are there, but not the mentality IMHO


    If Carrol Dawson could gag and fool Donnie Walsh so you could get JO'Neal for Franchise, and trade Yao for Kobe, your team could be "that" great. This O'Neal ain't a lazybum who eat his way into obsolation, and frustate Kobe right now.
     
    #4 gunawanspurs, Feb 19, 2003
  5. HotRocket

    HotRocket Contributing Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2002
    Messages:
    1,410
    Likes Received:
    6
    Why play the stat game?

    Mark Jackson, Howard Eisley, Jay WIlliams, Troy Hudson, Eric Snow, Earl Watson, Erick Strickland, Kevin Ollie, Alvin Williams, Jamal Crawford, Scottie Pippen. All those players are above Steve in assists per 48 mins.

    Some players close behind Steve are: Junior Harrinton, Moochie, Christie, Mike James, Jacque Vaughn, Chucky Atkins, Tyronn Lue, and Palacio.

    I'm sorry to tell you, but all these players are no where near the player Steve is. Yes they might avg. more or close to the same amount of assists as Steve, but I doubt half of them will ever avg. more than 30 mins per game. Why? Because most of them are scrubs, or players too old to handle 48 mins per game. Steve on the other hand is able to play 40 - 42 mins quite easily.

    It's kind of hard to rack up assists when the only player who doesn't play one on one on your team is Cato, and he can barely hit a 2 footer.

    Besides the best example is with Cato. Per 48 mins, he is rated in the top 5 in rebounds. Do you actually think if given the time that Cato would actually pull down 18 reb per game?
     
    #5 HotRocket, Feb 19, 2003
  6. dmkin

    dmkin Member

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2002
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    The stats is not everything but it takes part of something.
    Francis is not a true PG,Which we can know from the stats. this is not the key.i don't doubt steive is a great player ,especially an effective scorer!he needs to trust his every teammate sometime
     
    #6 dmkin, Feb 19, 2003
  7. carayip

    carayip Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2002
    Messages:
    2,135
    Likes Received:
    20
    I wish we have one of them as our backup PG. That's all.
     
    #7 carayip, Feb 19, 2003
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page

Toggle Width
Style
ClutchFans Original

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Rockets Content

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now