That's the whole key to righting Steve's game. If he defends, we will run the break, he will get plenty of offensive opportunities and he will be able to dish. But if he doesn't defend, it just turns into a scoring battle so he can put up more points than the opposing team's pg, so he doesn't look so bad...........but the Rockets lose. Steve has to play D for this team to improve.
I've never heard Steve talk about the importance of him improving his defense. He seems to be trying to cover his weakness by talking about all this "if I'm open, I'm gonna shoot the rock" stuff. No duh, man. Now tell us something that we didn't know. Are you gonna shut down somebody? Are you gonna get the big fella the rock? Or are you gonna just shoot when you are open? If you are gonna just shoot when you are open, we can bring back Glen Rice for the vets minimum to do that. Steve is getting paid the dough to be the FRANCHISE, the leader. He has to play defense, he has to get his teammates involved and make them better. Otherwise, the salary cap space he takes up is wasted.
Get real dude. The league is full of players that take the open shot. Steve shouldn't even be talking about taking the open shot. He is implying that JVG's scheme may require him to pass up open shots. It's the definition of what an open shot is that is the question. Steve can claim he is open all the time. All he has to to is shimmy shake, crossover, and wala, he's open. So, let him shoot it 84 times a game then, right? Steve should be talking about getting Yao the ball, getting the ball inside, and he should be talking about having a different attitude on the defensive end.
By the way, I love Steve. I love his hops. I love his crossover. I love his offensive fire. I loved every second of that game when he dominated the Lakers. I love the way he throws himself around the court.............on the offensive end. I just want to see that kid mature into what he can be, which is a top 5 player in this league. If he does it, the Rockets win. If he doesn't, the Rockets lose. To get to the top 5, he has to defend and he has to get the ball inside. He can do all those things, and he will still average 20+ and get plenty of shots.
What will you think if he only averages 18pts/gm.but gets 9 assists/gm. and 3 stls/gm. Will he still demand your respect as a top 5 NBA player? Because thats what JVG is going to require of him as a starting Point Guard.
If he does those numbers, with only 3 TO's per game, then obviously somebody is gonna have to pick up the scoring slack. I would assume that if he only averages 18 that Yao averages 18-20, and Cat averages 16-18. If Steve cranks it up to 9 assists and lowers the TO's, that will be acceptable to me, AS LONG AS HE PLAYS DEFENSE AND HOLDS THE OTHER TEAM'S POINT GUARDS TO UNDER 20 PPG! Look at the games last year. We had way to many poor to mediocre point guards in this league having a scoring field day against us.
Forget all this fanatasizing about perfect stat numbers for Francis Just play smart. Its not that hard to do. By playing smart I don't mean having the mindset that says this is my play, my possession, my time to score, playing smart is being able to play each possession without having a set play in your head beforehand but leaving a variety of options open to you each possession, spontanously reading defenses and having the ability to react to the defense without hesitation or insecurities because you don't trust your teammates because they make 1% less shots than you do or they missed the previous 3 shots. play smart for once in your life for the love of god and everything will take care of itself. But the pessimist in me doubts any of this is possible with Francis running the point because the past years that he has been here the offense has taken on a such a disordered look, there is rarely ever any flow because although he tries so hard physically he still seems to try very little mentally.
If Kobe can learn to defer to Shaq, and vice versa, I don't see how Steve and Yao cannot BOTH be dominant players. The problem is Mobley. If he insists on proving his status as Steve's sidekick who deserves to be an Allstar, it'll never work. Once Mobley gives some shots to Yao, and Ming and Francis are always the first two options, we can begin to approach the level that this collection of talent warrants. That's why we replaced nice-guy Rudy with hardass JVG. It's his job to put Mobley, and everyone else, in their place: behind Yao and Steve.
