Well, I know it's only preseason, but last night's 4th quarter proved how valuable Steve is to this team. His court vision seems to be better than last season, but he needs to listen to Calvin Murphy and start popping those mid-range jumpers. He can easily get three more field goals per game on the "stop and pop"... Anyways, during Steve's first two seasons, one constant has been that he's never really had a fully healthy frontcourt. If we do get Marc Jackson and our frontcourt stays relatively healthy, I think he needs to crash the boards less often and let the big guys do their jobs. I noticed last night that Cato threw some excellent outlet passes to set up fast break points. If Steve stays in the backcourt more often instead of going to get the rebound, he can take advantage of those outlet passes and get a lot of fast break points, which is what this team was built to do. Personally, I'd much rather see some 25-30 point nights out of Steve than 12 or 13 rebounds Steve, make those big guys play <b>BIG!</b>
I agree but Steve isn't the reason our big guys aren't snagging the boards. Cato sucks and doesn't use his frame to box out. K9 thinks he is a shooting guard and is never around the lane when the boards come down. TMo did a good job in limited minutes. Until we get our guys back with a nose for the ball (Collier, Griff,Jax?) Steve will continue to follow the flight of the ball and lead this team in whatever capacity he needs so we can finish w/ a W. Sometimes I watch our games and he and Mooch seem like the only ones on the court who want the rock and that is why Rudy refuses to take him out of games even preseason.
We'll definitely be the one of the worst rebounding teams in the league if Jackson and Griffin cannot come in and help in that department. Thomas is big but he plays small. Cato is not very dependable when it comes to rebounding consistentley. So we definitely need Jax and Griff on the court by the seasons opener. I agree with assesment that Steves strengths are more beneficial to the team when he's looking to run instead of to rebound. Steves a pretty big guard though. He likes to get in the paint and around the bucket and bang his body around some times , but you're right, he'd probably do this less often if we had big men willing to consistentley focus on rebounding the ball. Hopefully, when Jackson and Griffin come back they can start clearing defensive boards and Francis can start breaking around mid-court for the outlet more often.
I'm not sure if you should discourage a player from exploiting a talent that seems to come so naturally to him.
Just because something comes naturally to him, doesn't mean he should be doing it... Steve isn't built to rebound. Granted, if the ball comes right at him, he should grab it, but he shouldn't go out of his way to bang around with those 6'9"-6'10" guys. He puts himself through enough physical contact when he drives to the basket.
