What makes Steve Francis better than Cuttino Mobley?

Before I start let say that I don’t want this to turn into a bash Steve or bash Cat thread…please. If I could have it my way they would both turn into the best player at their positions.

But on to the question: What makes Steve Francis better than Cuttino Mobley?

Seriously now with out bashing state your case. Personally I think Cat has been the better player this year and here’s my point.

Defense

I think it is heard to deny that Steve has really improved his defense this year but Cat has been a very underrated defender his entire career.

Steve Francis has a few players that seem to just have his number and just kill him every time we play them, Damon Stoudimire and Stephon Marbury. Steve has had good games against those guys as well but almost every single time we can count on those two guys having season best games against Steve. Another guy that almost never have a bad game against Steve was Sam I Am Cassell.

I don’t know of any one player that just dominates Cat on one end of the floor every time they play. We all saw Ray Allen have a huge night and frequently Kobe does as well but Cat has made both of those guys look mortal at different times in the past. It is not that unusual for Cat to have exceptional games on both ends of the court against some of the premier guards in the league. He held Tracy McGrady to 23% shooting. He held Kobe to just 34% shooting earlier this year. He was the primary defender on Vince Carter earlier when Vince shot just 20% from the floor. And dominating Allen Iverson has become a regular thing for Cat, this year he held him to just 21% shooting from the floor which is good for AI when you look at how bad Cat schooled him last year. And in each of those games Cat out shot his opponents.

Playing against no names or rookies

How often have we seen Steve get shown up by a scrub on the defensive end of the court? Some notable players that have had big games against Steve are Dewayne Wade, Raul Lopez and Luke Ridnour. Can anyone ever forget the look on Steve’s face in Seattle as Luke Ridnour took over the game on both ends of the court while playing opposite of Steve?

Someone else is going to have to come up with a game where some rookie or no name schooled Cat because I can’t think of one.

Do the Stats Lie?

Steve Francis is having his worst season as a pro in many respects putting up career low numbers in almost every statistical category. Granted, I don’t mind seeing the lower points per game when he is taking fewer shots but you would think that his assists and field goal percentages would be up and they are both career lows.

Field Goal Percentage - .392
3 Point Percentage - .288
Free Throw Percentage - .756
Turnovers Per Game - 3.5
Steals Per Game - 1.5
Rebounds Per Game - 5.8
Assists Per Game - 5.4
Points Per Game - 17.2

red equalls career worst, orange is worse than career average, light blue is better than career average

In contrast to Steve, Cat is averaging career highs or near career highs in multiple categories and is near or above his career averages in the rest. Most notable are his shooting percentages and assists that are all near career highs.

Field Goal Percentage - .437
3 Point Percentage - .407
Free Throw Percentage - .822
Steals Per Game - 1.3
Turnovers Per Game - 2.2
Rebounds Per Game - 4.4
Assists Per Game - 3.1
Points Per Game - 15.8

blue is career best, light blue is better than career average, black is same as career average, orange is worse than career average

What these stats don’t show is that Cat improved his shooting percentage during his first 4 years in the league and only last year did we see a marginal drop in his percentage while this year it is almost at his career high again. Cats worst two years were his first two years. Steve on the other hand is all over the place. His best year shooting the ball was his first and Steve has dropped in shooting percentage every single year with the exception of last year. Steve’s best two years shooting were his first two in the league while this year is his worst.

Salary

Cat has a 31 million dollar contract that runs through 2005. He currently counts $5,394,000 against the cap.

Steve has a 85 million dollar contract that runs through 2009. He currently counts $10,067,750 against the cap.

Intangables

1. Teams most likely game plan against Steve a lot more than Cat.
2. Cat is the better ball handler than Steve. Steve has never had good handles, how many times have we seen him dribble the ball off of his leg trying to cross someone over.
3. Steve has a better vertical. I don’t think anyone can argue this since only VC can challenge Steve’s leaping ability.
4. Cat has a better first step. I guess this one could be up for argument but I just don’t think there are many guards in the league with Cats first step. That’s not a knock on Steve but Cat’s explosive first step seems to help him split defenders and get to the basket a lot better than Steve.
5. Neither are very good passers but once again I have to give the slight edge to Cat. Of course Steve is charged with having to pass the ball a lot more than Cat but I on those occasions that Cat passes I don’t see as many out of control off target passes that we get from Steve almost every night.
6. Leadership. I don’t know that either player has exhibited a great deal of leadership.
7. Basketball I.Q. Until this year I would have to say that it was a draw, both players were equally lacking here. I think JVG has helped both players in this category though since you rarely see either dribble out the clock or dribble into a crowd with their heads down and eyes closed just hopping for a call. Although both have improved I think both still have a long way to go but Cat is better IMO. Both have made horrible fouls beyond the 3 point line in the closing seconds of a game that either cost us the game or cost us a chance to win the game. Steve tends to compound the problems by yelling at the officials a lot more than Cat although Cat is not bashful about whining to the officials either.

OK, I’ve made my case and I think Cat is the better player and better fit for our team. I am not a Steve hater and if anything a typed came off as Steve bashing it was not intentional, I was just trying to make my case for Cat.

 

I think it would be hard to argue against that statement. The Rockets have a number of players that excell in the one on one game and that inludes Steve, Cat and even Yao. One of the problems with Steve is he has always been a streaky shooter but at one time was very consistent driving to the rim. He simply does not drive to the rim near as much as years past and I'm sure this has a great effect on his shooting percentage.

I would also say that his decrease in driving to the rim has also had a negitive effect on his assist numbers because one of his favorite plays before JVG was to drive to the rim drawing the week side defender leaving Cato open for the highlight reel ally oop dunk that used to happen a couple of times a game, we rarely see it any more.

I do think that Steve is really trying to do what JVG is asking I just think what he is doing is so forign to him that it has severly effected his game.