Hmm...Interesting.. Starting Lineups in Stevie's Era: 99-00 Stevie, Shandon Anderson, Walt Williams, Kato, Kenny Thomas (hakeem and barkley out with injuries) 00-01 Stevie, Anderson, Walt, Mo Taylor, Hakeem (last yr wit the rockets...career pretty much over) 01-02 Stevie, Cuttino, Walt, Kenny Thomas, Kato 02-03 Steve, Cuttino, James Posey, Eddie Griffin, Yao (rookie) -->missed the playoffs by one game 03-04 Stevie, cuttino, jim jackson, kato, yao (made the playoffs, lost to the lakers--lakers starting 5 - shaq, kobe, malone, payton, fox) I dont think you can sit there and say he had a talented team... And in those Steve Francis teams, there were so many different starting lineups that the team couldnt even play consistently. Steve Francis of 99-03 + Yao of last couple years.. i think they could have done some damage. His play never showed he had IQ cuz he was the only one that could score on the team besides Cuttino.. dont think so? Just look at those rosters from the Original Steve Francis era.
ALSO...loook at the teams that won championships those years...Lakers, Spurs, and the Pistons.. OUR Roster didnt even come CLOSE to matching up with those rosters.
No, his play never showed he had IQ because he didn't. He was the only point guard that I have ever watched that consistently screwed up a 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 fast break. He dribbled the ball way too much and made lots of careless plays. We overlooked it because he was a talented scorer and a freakish athlete and he didn't mind carrying the weight of the franchise (no pun intended) on his shoulders after we lost Hakeem.
Well looking at 02-03 season and on it looks like he had a very talented team. Its just that the guy admitted that earlier in is career he was more focused on being on sportscenter than actually winning so there you go.
You forgot the fact he was consistently amongst the league leaders in turnovers. And you forgot about the amount of shotclock violations we had. OMG, whenever I hear the names Steve Francis or Moochie Norris, a shotclock buzzer just goes off in my head. It does not sound pleasing at all.
LOL at all these folks that think he was great b/c we made the playoffs with him and bad role players. Write this down, take a picture, do whatever you have to do to get in into your heads... 8th seed is NOT a good basketball team...it's mediocre...AT BEST. I know Steve's fans are so proud that he got them to that level, but honestly I'd preferred our team did better...I don't know, that's just me. Have fun with your money Steve.
There were, they just got copied over with the videos of Von passing, handling the ball, and playing defense.
8th seed is nowhere near mediocre. Would you call the Suns, Hornets, Jazz mediocre teams? No, you probably wouldn't.
I can remember at least two videos of his passing, 1:Vs laker, dribble-dribbled to FT line, faked the shot, KB took the fake,last second, went up, SHAQ came to help, SF passed to Yao, Yao dunk, Game won. Maybe his best game all time. 2enetrated to hoop, threw a awkward no-look to Yao behind 3 point line, Yao made attempt, everybody was happy at the moment. Maybe the happiest time for SF-MOB-YAO era. I still missed SF for his personality forgiving all his bonehead weakness.
hopefully steve gets another crack at it; unlike marbury, he actually wants to play basketball. good luck steve.
Why is there no videos off Steve Francis talking a bit about University of Maryland and Gary Williams and his recruiting??? eh? lol
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y-ikExgYnX4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y-ikExgYnX4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> (One of the greatest Francis mixes in my opinion. They took the "Last resort" song off of it for copyright reasons but it made the vid immense. Lot of passing in the video from what I saw. It was his best season assist wise dropping 7 dimes a game) Good to hear some news from Steve. Of course there's always a lot of guys on the forum that are very negative for Francis and the fact that wants to give his career another shot. To the ones saying that he'll be lucky to make an NBA roster, theres countless god awful players that are under contract so for Steve Francis to not get a contract while players like Tyronn Lue, Jamal Tinsley, Jason Hart, Chucky Atkins and countless others have jobs is laughable. A healthy Francis without his hops from 2002 would still be lightyears above many in the league. I heard some similar news of his comeback earlier in the week of him working out in Washington with trainers Mike Moreau and David Thorpe in some intense program and Hoopsworld Publisher Steve Kyler stated that he was busting his ass like never before. He's driven for a comeback and I'm sure he'll be at an NBA training camp somewhere and is waiting to show that he can still go.
First want to say, I am a huge Francis fan(look at my name). I admit he wasnt the smartest player but to say he had a good team around him is stupid. I always wondered what would have happened if we had JVG in his rookie season. Rudy gave him the green light to do as he pleases. If he was forced to adapt much earlier to a more team role, I think he would have had a great career. He probably would have never won co-rookie or year or made those all-stars games early in his career but that doesnt matter. I am sure his team would have done better. Look at Marbury for an example. He looked great with the T-Wolves. He was in a controlled offense and he didnt have free reign. After he left he seemed to become more me-first and his career went down hill. The best record he ever had was in his second season with the T-Wolves (45-37). I am pretty sure he has been on other teams with better players. It will be the same when we have Brooks leading the team this year. Yeah he might look great but it wont result in wins.
