"Even when he's not hitting, I want him to keep shooting. He'll learn that, as we continue to feed him the ball, if they play him one-on-one, he has to dominate."
I knew as soon as I saw that quote that you would need to provide a link so that people would believe that our "ball-hogging, no-defense playing, Yao-hating " point guard would actually say that about a guy who some believe he doesnt want to do well. So, where did that quote come from? btw...dreamer, that wasnt aimed at you...it is a generic statement about the ones that would not want to believe that quote
Well, it's nice to see that. And Steve did seem genuinely enthused about Yao's play, even when watching from the bench in the 4th quarter. I just wish Steve would actually feed the ball as he says and not let opposing PG's get in his skull. "Got to get mine, got to get mine, signed a max contract, got to have numbers."
alright...thanks elephant.. ROX, he really hasnt been doing that lately...he didnt allow Marbury to do that to him...and thats normally the guy that gets him the most.. Time will tell if he continues to not let others get him off the game...I just felt it needed said that he is improving as far as that goes.
I think even Steve is surprised they didn't lose the second game to NY seeing as how they do so poorly in those type situations. Not only did they pull out a win, they pretty much dominated and it doesn't take a genius to figure out how. Exploiting mismatches is smart basketball. Then again, most games are a mismatch down low so we'll see how this goes. When they do it consistantly, then we'll have our breakthrough. You can't have 2 all-star starters without having these mismatch situations fairly frequently. Let's face it, the league isn't a hotbed of talented centers, or even point guards for that matter. Most teams don't have Steve Francis, Yao Ming, or anything close.
Great that SF said that. It is funny in comparing Yao's game to Dream's game early in his career. We have to beg Yao to shoot and be more aggressive and in Dreams case we had to beg him to pass the ball more and trust his teammates more. Hopefully, it will balance out for Yao like it did for Dream and we hope for the same results or better.
Another team first thing Steve has done was that he asked for Mark Jackson to stay in the game because he wasn't playing well himself that night. Any one still he has a ego? Name another all star guard that would do something like that? Baron Davis? T - Mac? Kobe? Starbury? In my opionion, I'm more afraid of Steve giving away to much of his game to make other players happy because we would really loose a leader that we need. Yao is too mild to be that leader and Steve is slowly becoming that. Hopefully Steve can find the nice balance of both confidence in himself and team first attitude.
I seriously doubt it's "got to get mine" going through his head. JVG said, he goes for homeruns, it's still an issue about trust. "I've gotta do this, nobody else can" is more like it. Now he just needs to believe that it isn't true instead of just agreeing to it when talking to JVG.
Does that mean we can stop the Francis hating now? This is just another hopeful sign that this team is really starting to come together as a team and every player is getting more comfortable in their roles. As someone said about Yao that he will become a much better player if he learns to shoot more, Francis will become a much better player if he looks to set up the rest of the team. At the sametime I think he can still bust out for a lot of points and eye popping dunks because once he opens up the offense for all that will create more shots for him.
Don't be silly. Dozens of similar bits of evidence have already floated through this BBS without changing any haters' minds. Why would this one be any different?
The great dominant player is a guy who gets double-teamed all along but still shines during the game,not just "play him one-on-one"!
Similarly unconvincing. If it were true, he would not have, in the same game, twice refused to pass to a wide-open and red hot Yao on the low block... and take closely guarded shots instead. I'll be convinced when Francis truly learns to defer in games. Really... just about every single player in the universe (with notable exceptions) says the right things. Why should we care, short of action?
Blah blah blah, focus on the 1-2 times that he didn't pass to yao and crucify him for it, ignore the times that he did, ignore that he told Van Gundy not to put him in in the 4th period and keep Mark Jackson in, ignore it all....trade Steve F. Boring.
Yeah, or complain when he did attempt to get the ball into Yao when he was "wide open" (when in reality a pass missed by one millisecond or one inch ends in a turnover) and it gets picked off. Then, it will be "Steve has too many turnovers." I hear this "Yao is ignored when he is wide open," and, frankly, it's rarely true. Oftentimes, the play is simply not called for Yao and the guard is following the directions of the coach. Yao is used as a decoy on many an occassion as a way to set up a shot weakside. He also fakes a post up on one side and reverses in order get better position on other plays. There are also the plays where a pass MIGHT result in a turnover and we all know how JVG has been preaching the reduction of turnovers. I love how it always seems to be so simple for people watching when, on further inspection, it isn't.
Your telling me he passed up yao on just 2 possestions? Thats your argument? The guy told the coach he wanted a 38 year old player who hasnt played a game this season to stay in 4 him! But i think not passing to Yao 2 times in the game is much more important than that...
