I'm with you. The only thing I can think of is the "We Want Steve!" chants.. keep the pressure on the organization to not pull another Bonzi fiasco! It's funny reading Clutch's recaps.. in almost all of them, he says "Well Rafer played horrible.. but he isn't THIS bad..". If you find yourself saying it over and over - yes, yes he is. Francis might not give you the smooth running offense - but neither does Rafer! Our offense has been stagnant all season, and Adelman has been quoted as to being unhappy about it. Rafer doesn't rebound, he can't shoot, and he can't finish at the rim. Francis would be a huge upgrade. As I've said in previous post, it's about maximizing your talent. If we're such a "deep" team, that means players that could possibly be rotation players on other teams (see: Alston) should be riding the pine. Francis is too good to be on the bench. Feign said in a blog that Francis was NOT out of shape - maybe he wasn't referring to "game shape". But you only get into game shape through playing - like Francis has been telling the media. Let's face it: Francis barely played in preseason. How was he even given a chance? Practice? How many NBA players take off practice and turn it up in the game? If Francis is "washed up, out of shape" - how the HELL did he get that put back dunk in preseason? It was nasty - vintage Francis. Please, Rick. For the sake of our team - Free Francis. Do it sooner rather than later so this team has as much time as possible to gel.
We were 5-3, while we are defeating the tougher team, I honestly believe with last year's squad, this team would've started out with a losing record. This team has only played together for last than 15 games, players are still finding their way. Scola has only played less than 20 games, while Francis might be out of shape. Even with the poor play and lost to Memphis, the team sits 6-2 and is still tied for 1st in West and has already beaten S.A, Lakers, Jazz, and stayed close to the Mavericks. And by the end of the week, if we can go 2/3 or better 8-3 or 9-2, which is good mark for a team finding it's way. Rafer is probably on borrowed time, no coach could possibly keep someone in lineup for playing so poorly. And another thing is we have been beating teams over .500 regularly, something we were not doing last year. I think this years' team is at least capable of beating any team in the league.
Unbelievable Ricky Rick. Even Outside of the TMac injury your going to give minutes to Kirk Snyder over Francis. You can't use the out of shape bullcrap anymore. We have seen the pictures of Steve at the Toyota center. So all your doing is covering. Really....Snyder over Francis. First Luther, and Alston and now even Snyder. I call Bullsh!t on you. TMac goes out, and Steve Still cant get one minute? Enough already...Team First. Put Steve IN. Give him a fair chance already.
In 2002-03, It happened all the time with Yao. Steve stand around pounding the ball, while Yao raised his hand for a pass that would rarely come from Steve.
But that was yao's rookies season and steve was at his prime. it remains to be seen if he will continue this way.
I'll tell you this right now The fans chanting for Steve are just making it worse. Maybe you all should man up and admit Adelman is getting paid a large chunk of money to make decisions.. perhaps he knows more than all of you. So hush and let him make them.
With TMac gone for a short while, this seems like it would be a perfect opportunity to experiment especially with Steve. THE PROBLEM is that if Steve plays well (compared to Rafer which isn't saying much), the fans and media would demand that he be played when TMac returns. If Adelman wants to give Rafer more games to prove himself, than putting in Steve might be the curtains for skip. Instead, maybe we can see AB, Synder, or possibly Landry. Note that media and fans be damned, I think Adelman should play Steve anyways and take him out when TMac returns if he wants.
LoL at Hayesfan to the Rafer Rescue once again. And I guess Coaches Never make mistakes. I guess one should never be fired, because no one should ever fire a coach except a coach, because only a coach could know it the moves said fired coach was making were wrong. It is idiotic to ever think "Hes the coach and he knows more" Well then a coach should never be fired for his decisions because....coach knows best.
Its exactly this coach knows best attitude that allows debacles like the charlie ward, rod strickland, derek anderson, charles oakley, and mark jackson to ocurr. Honestly, it is getting to the point where it is absolutely impossible to understand what is going through rick's mind at this point. There is no possible way that he can justify keeping steve on the bench given our guard play the last 3 or 4 games. I just don't understand the rationale, why is it so difficult to give him Luther's 10 mins as a start just to see what he can still do, and if he performs give him some of rafers. The downside is absolutely nonexistant because even as a worse case scenario he will give you more than luther who is currently a complete zero, so at worst its a wash. Uggghh, it is so so so frustrating.
if we're supposed to have a new offense let some guys get adjusted. we don't look much better right this minute but you posted like we should be worried for the playoffs and we're only 8 games in. i think most of us projected a slow start followed by a growing comfort level and an explosion as the season progressed. why on earth would you assume this is the best basketball we can possibly play when cleary everyone but yao and mcgrady are playing significantly below their career norms? i say again, let them work it out.
i love the new guy coach, he is a great part to this team, but i agree with every point you made. adelmans **** smells like everybody else's on the team, so PLAY STEVIE!!!!!!
Any truth to the rumor that RA has something personal against Steve? I wouldn't pay any attention to this rumor, but they played everybody tonight except SF3 and that technical foul during practice, you gotta be kidding me.
I don't think the coach knows more than say, the GM, but I do know that the coach knows more than all of you and me as well. My point is that the Steve chants aren't going to change his mind. And do you honestly think Steve wants pity minutes because the fans were cheering for him. No. I don't think so.
You can't judge a coach on 9 freaking games. Wait until the end of the season, then you judge.. or if your team goes 2 and 30.. then make a change. 9 games doesn't give you enough of an example to let the guy institute his changes.
actually, it does: Rafer: field goal percentage: 0.300 3 point percentage: 0.212 Franchise's worst season ever: field goal percentage: 0.403 3 point percentage: 0.292 it's not even a debate.. Alston CANNOT start for this team, Luther Head CANNOT play not even a single minute if he is not shooting the ball well or not even shooting at all (which is what he has been trying to do, to "not limit his game" to the 3 point shot, which is the one and only good aspect of his mediocre, one-dimensional game) bottom line: first 9 games of 06-07 season: 6-3 first 9 games of THIS season: 6-3 outcome of 06-07 season: 1st round exit outcome of THIS season: ??? bench in 06-07 season: Head, Deke, Juwan bench THIS season: Bonzi, James, Scola, Francis, Deke only possible explanation coming from a hardcore JVG hater: JVG > Rick
Maybe Iverson was really speaking for Francis <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eGDBR2L5kzI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eGDBR2L5kzI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Dude leave RA alone. He knows what he is doing. We just gotta be patient and see how everything pans out. For all we know Steve probably hasn't put forth maximum effort to get playing time and that's why he's rotting on the bench. Once RA feels "It's Time" ... it will be time and the rest of the league better watch out cuz we will be a major force come playoff time.... hopefully
It's amazing that Rick only gets 9 games, while JVG got 347 games to ply his trade. Fire Adelman for not playing Steve Francis.
