Francis: "I've still got to play for him, God knows how long"

Sup123, thanks for the scoop.

 

wth????????? just two weeks ago, we were playing great bball, and now the team is falling apart.

 

I don't know who is bieing the bigger b!tch SF or JVG. They both need to grow the f@ck up and do whats best for the team

 

I can't wait to hear what happens next...this is like some bizzare dream. Every time I think it's gotten as weird and extreme as it's ever likely to, I come back in here and read something worse.

I'm off the fence. Trade him.

 

Here's the article about this from the Chron, posted in another thread...

Francis, Van Gundy broker uneasy truce
By MEGAN MANFULL

Steve Francis and Jeff Van Gundy finally agreed with each other. They agreed to continue disagreeing.

There was no apology. No meeting during which the two made amends. After five days of disagreeing about why Francis missed the Rockets' flight to Phoenix, they simply agreed to move on.

"It's never going to be over as far as an endpoint," Francis said at Thursday's practice. "He's going to coach the way he wants to coach, and I'm going to play the way I want to play. There's always going to be conflict.

"It's not like we're going to be best friends. There are going to be days when he thinks I should have done this better, and there are going to be days when I think he should have done things better. We both understand that."

Van Gundy argued with only part of Francis' assessment.

"I would agree with that -- not that he'll play the way he wants to play -- but I agree with everything else," Van Gundy said with a smile.

Conflicts between head coaches and star players hardly make headlines these days. That's why Francis' one-game suspension didn't cause waves with his teammates.

The Rockets (27-21) overcame the distraction Wednesday to snap their four-game losing streak with an 103-89 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Tonight, they hope to add another victory when they host the Chicago Bulls.

"The best player on the team and the coach are going to always have their spats, regardless of what team you're on," Rockets forward Maurice Taylor said. "That's why they are the best player, they can have spats with the head coach."

But Francis' problems were more than just a spat with Van Gundy this week. It wound up affecting the team because Francis' suspension caused him to miss Monday's game.

During Francis' suspension, the team suffered a 20-point loss to Phoenix, the worst team in the Western Conference. But Cuttino Mobley said Francis cannot be blamed for that defeat, which extended the Rockets' losing streak to their longest of the season.

"It's only (distracting) if you're weak-minded," Mobley said. "Steve wasn't the cause of us losing against Phoenix. We could have beat Phoenix without me, without Steve. And nothing against Phoenix, but they are hurting right now. Transition and turnovers killed us. Simple as that. You don't need Steve for that. You don't need me for that. You don't need Yao (Ming), or Mo (Taylor) or whoever."

Francis, 26, returned to the team Wednesday and helped lead the Rockets past the Bucks with 23 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two blocked shots.

One day later, he was more excited to talk about how he scored the game's 100th point, which meant free Big Macs for the fans, than he was about rehashing his relationship with Van Gundy.

"It's out of my mind," he said. "As far as prolonging it, I could care less. I don't have any bad feelings against him. I've still got to play for him, God knows how long. I have no problem with coach at all."

Van Gundy said he shared similar sentiments for Francis, and that the one-game suspension was nothing personal.

"I don't look at it as a conflict between me and Steve," Van Gundy said. "Because you could have erased his name and put anybody else's name in there and it would have been the same course of action. Steve and I are fine. Like I said, I enjoy him. I'm sure there are things at times that we'll disagree on, just like I'll disagree with any player on."


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2390086

 

there can only be one coach and it's his game plane, either you follow it or get out..

 

It's become bizzarro world, MacBeth. Totally strange.

 

From reading the Chron article, and that none of the other big three networks mentioned this, it seems as if the words speak louder than the actual emotions.

Sure, Steve and JVG don't get along.... is that really big news? Hell, there were guys who Rudy didn't get along with, but b/c of the way he was with the media, we never heard about it... whereas, JVG is so blunt and brutally honest with the media, that everything is known, and the players have no other choice but to fight back and defend themselves.

Kobe and Phil had the same arguments, and they worked things out... how? BY WINNING!

As long as this team doesn't lose focus, and keeps playing like they did last night, they'll be fine.

You guys are reading too much into the drama right now.

 

After reading that article in the Chronicle, it doesn't seem to be something that demands immediate attention from Van Gundy. However, I've yet to see a coach and a franchise player of a team be in conflict with each other and not have some of parting of the ways. Usually, it is the coach that goes like when Shaq kicked Rambis and Del Harris out or when Jason Kidd kicked Byron Scott out. However, I think this may be the one rare situation where the coach actually holds the upperhand.

 

I'm glad someone posted the whole article with the whole context of that quote.

It sounds like he's not saying that he wants to be traded but that he could end up playing for him a long time so he might as well get used it. That part doesn't really raise any warning flags with me.

What does raise a warning flag with me is him saying that he's going to play the way he wants to play. That could be very bad, and become very disruptive to the team.

Or...

Maybe he'll surprise us and the way he wants to play will be a very team oriented ball moving type of game and it will all work out.

 

Disagree. The players should put their egos aside and unless what the coach says is absolutely outrageous, they should never respond in the media. It can be argued that it is a legitimate motivation tool for a coach to use the media, but when a player talks back in the media, it is only about his ego.

I hope you are right.

 

None of those coaches had proven anything. JVG has always won, and has been to the finals.

Phil and Kobe disagreed. But they won. You can tell that they're not "best friends", but they both want nothing more than to win.

I DO think Steve wants to win badly... he's just come off looking really bad this week with these bizzaro situations.

But, I don't question his determination, and he's not the problem child that AI, Marburry, Rasheed, and Artest have been.

 

By SF saying this in public, I would believe what has happened were calculated moves by SF. He either wants to be traded or wants the coach fired. There is no other options.

 

I think Phil Jackson always sided with Shaq.

 

Regardless of what context this was said in, Steve Francis has openly challenged coach. He said he'll play the way he wants to, not the way he is coached. Nothing good can come from this.

 

The problem is that we do not have a 20-10 player on the team. Yao is only a 16-8 player and inconsistent.

 

Yea, I probably should have edited that part, because I know that JVG only says this stuff to fire up his team... and the vast majority of them will be quiet.

But... if somebody has to speak up, its Francis by default. He knows he can speak up... and... get away with it, because he feels he's earned that right as a team leader (sic) and franchise max player.

Anybody else speaks up, and they're shipped out... that's why they don't.

Francis also DOES have a big ego. That's no suprise to anybody. Are we telling a guy who FEEDS off his confidence to just be quiet, and quell his ego?

I actually feel that Francis plays better when he is ANGRY, and really wants to prove himself. We've seen it every time he played in Vancouver. We also saw it on national TV against the Lakers the last couple of years.

They'll ride this out the next couple of weeks, play fabulous as a result, and then they'll be happy.

Then the cycle will reset itself, just like the Matrix...(whoops, a spoiler!)

 

1) Until the issue which resulted in a suspenion,. JVG had only leveled harsh criticism in the media towards the team at large. When he was specific about certain players, it was almost always in their defense, or mild at most criticism coupled with praise.

2) When talking about the action which caused the suspension, other than legal matters like drugs, etc., teams always reveal the nature of the offense, in part because if they donlt speculation escalates about it being drugs, legal issues, etc.

I really, really don't get this innane criticism of JVG as a means of deflecting the focus on what Francis did, or the even sillier rationale that JVG was wrong not to schedule the team around the Super Bowl. To me, those arguments have been more bizzare and unexpected than the actions which inspired them.

I'm not the world's biggest JVG fan, but please...this is getting childish.

 

I'm not saying Van Gundy is siding with Yao, but the statement made by saying Kobe had arguments with Phil was no big deal. It's no big deal because Phil had Shaq. If the guy who makes the most money was ordained the franchise is having problems with the coach, the usual result is an exodus by the coach. MJ kicked one out too before he settled for Phil Jackson. TMac kicked out Doc Rivers. Van Gundy doesn't have anyone to depend on except himself to make this team better. He knows his style of play, and he'll eventually instill it. It just might not be with this crew.