ok let me start off by saying that i am not a steve francis basher or hater or whatever it is that yall say of someone who wants more out of there star player. But i just wanted to throw this out there to see if anybody else has noticed this as well. Ive noticed this season that it kinda looks like steve has lost a lot of confidence in his ball handling abilitity. He just doesnt look as smooth bringing the ball up the court or setting up the offense when there is a halfway quick point gaurd gaurding him. I think much of this is due to him probably focusing on defense all summer because of JVG, which is understandable. But even if you look at moochie, which I would love to get rid of, he looks like he has a ton of more confidence handling the ball. I really hope francis gets his confidence back because until he does were not gonna see a steady number of 7 or 8 assist games, but we will see a steady 5 or 6 turnovers a game. Anyway, just wondering if anybody else has noticed this. And no i do not think we should move steve to the two.
It's apparant he's trying to give up the ball, and looking upcourt for the open man, whereas two seasons ago, he would have just created his layup (which he still can do). Think about this, 24 seconds left in the NBA finals of this year, Rockets verses Whoever. We're down by 1. Who gets the ball? I would still say Stevie over Yao...sorry but his incredible abilty to either get a layup or get fouled is UNMATCHED in this league. He is such a unique player in that he can decide where to go on the court, and make it there... Francis bashers have no arguement, sorry.
duh... not many people willl argue giving the ball to steve for the last seconds, becasue he is one of the best in the league in creating his own shot... Yao has to set up and back down and verything... I would still go with steve.
Yep. IMO, Yao and Stevie should always have some type of play ran for them in the final seconds of close games. If they're covered other guys (i.e. Cat, Mo, JJ, etc) step-up when called upon to then make the shot/play.
I think its because he isn't playing "his game" anymore and JVG wants him to totally change the way he approaches the game, so he doesnt feel as confident as he used to because he has to question his every move, rather than just do what comes naturally for him in the heat of the moment in the game. for the past few years, he has really been playing a SG style game, so as he forces (or is forced) to play more of a PG style game I guess there will be some teething problems. I do think he needs to change his game, and as his confidence grows his game will improve.
Everytime that the Rockets are full-court pressed, I cringe because I know it's not going to be handled well. It's not only Steve's fault, because very rarely do any of the other players come back or get themselves open to relieve Steve when he's doubled or pressured bringing it up. That said, for a PG, he doesn't really have strong handles in the open court. In the half-court offense, it's not a big deal, but his weakness is obvious in the full court, and I think that's part of the reason he doesn't run the fast break that well. For some reason, when Cat or JJ brings the ball up, I'm not as worried about the press as I normally am. Cat may hog the ball sometimes...but he won't give the rock up to a defender (and sometimes teammates!) without a fight! Other than that, Steve is playing great this season. If there was a time to be worried about his confidence, it would have been after the Portland game, but he rebounded extremely well and played a great, great game.
he's confident enough to skip dribble while bringing the ball down the court against the blazers....which was also while the Rox were losing.
Francis is gaing confidence in his team. That's all that matters. He's game will progress. But he needs his team. We all know what SF can do. But what can SF do when his team is on fire too?
we cant look at stats on this. Steve is actuallly as of now the centerpeice of the team. Without him the ball movement is not initated as well. For ex: when moochie is on the court. He is becomig a true distributer. Hopefuly he can keep up what he did against the cippers. But this team still needs him to score at;east 20 pts right now.
we cant look at stats on this. Steve is actuallly as of now the centerpeice of the team. Without him the ball movement is not initated as well. For ex: when moochie is on the court. He is becomig a true distributer. Hopefuly he can keep up what he did against the cippers. But he still shlould start scoring 20+ pts now. He is getting ajusted and knows when it is his time to score.
Nice post. No matter what people say, Francis has definitely changed his game the most since JVG came. Things are still a little rusty on the offensive side of the Rockets game, but everyone gets healthy and comfortable with the system, I think we will have a great season.
Although Tranmerica told us JVG had other plans, I think that's what they tried to do on the final posession of regulation in the Toronto game...we all know what the result was unfortunately...
If Francis appears tentative at times, it's not because he is now placing a greater emphasis on d, it's because JVG is trying to force more him into making smarter decisions with the ball, involving his teammates, and running an efficient fast break something that hasn't been natural for him, at least in his tenure with the rox. I'll say this: the fast break has improved, though there is still much room for improvement. Also, SF has always had problems with fast guards pressing him. I think it partially has to do with him just not seeing it that much.
Exactly. JVG is trying to NOT to put SF in position where he will look bad (taking away some of the decision making). JVG has SF doing things that he's good at while making him work less for his shots (trust the system/teammates).
