IIRC, we had Cato playing PF along with Yao and both had quite a chemistry growing before Cato was shipped out. Our PF weakness exposed when the all mighty Juwan Howard took over.
I think you mean athleticism instead of skill. The greatest knock on Francis is he didn't have any skills, couldn't shoot, defend or pass. My guess is he probably tried teaching too many things to Francis instead of letting him develop slowly, and instead of making progress Francis just shut down mentally and did what he always does: dribble the air out of the ball then drive for the dunk/layup/ft.
All I know if Franchise had a better screw on his head, he would of kept playing. I blame the failure of Stevie on him, just like Vernon Maxwell. I think JVG is giving him a little too much respect.
For those of you who that missed it, JVG was praising the way Brooks has handled Westbrook. He thinks that Brooks is doing a great job because he has allowed Westbrook to play to his strengths while gradually getting him to improve on his weaknesses. He said that he coached Westbrook before and his name was Steve Francis. Then he made the comment that if he had one regret from coaching Francis, it was that he tried to change too much too soon. He said that doing that can take a player away from what they do best.
Either way... Francis went to Orlando and immediately reverted back to his old ways (when healthy), so you cant blame Van Gundy for Steve's career ending the way it did.
No Doubt Steve was one on those entitlement style of players. JVG treated him just as he should have IMO, Francis was no Westbrook, especially on D. Steve was more interested in fame then winning, IMO. DD
We still had Maurice Taylor, too. Cato started and MoT was moved to 6th man. Why would you say this? Francis could shoot. Let's not get carried away with bashing him. He had a great mid-range game. imo, it was as good as Cassell's mid-range game. Let's not throw all memories away. I got on his case probably as much as anyone, even before Yao, but I always respect his mid-range scoring ability and ability to elevate and get a good look. Prior to Yao, it's not like everyone at cf.net was enamored with dunks and ISO, only. He had some game, for sure.
Yeah, Steve has a great stat line, and you have to have some skills to pull that off. If I recall it was 20 pts, 6 assist, 6 rebounds, 1.5 steals. Give or take some on each stat there of course. Of course, that's a little easier to do when you are the focus of the team and have the ball most of the time. I'll always remember the sad day when the Rockets played the Magic, and Yao was shooting FTs and Francis, by habit, tried to give him daps and realized they aren't teammates anymore. This happened right? I'm not making weird stuff up?
