1. b-ball IQ 2. leadership 3. unselfishness 4. ability to make others better 5. last second shot making
Not intended as bashing, but you do realize that Francis is averaging fewer mpg this season that his last two under RT?
Actually, no, I didn't. Didn't check the stats - my impression from watching was just wrong. And JVG does run a very small rotation... thanks for letting me know.
Yeah, dribbling is not Steve's greatest strength. He is among the quickest players in the league but he doesn't know how to use his dribble to consistently blow by defenders. He needs to learn to use his crossover with a hestitation move like Marbury. I think part of his dribbling problems is because of the size of his hands. I don't think that he could even palm the basketball.
haven - http://www.nba.com/playerfile/steve_francis/index.html?nav=page I agree that Francis plays waaaayyyy too many minutes, but I thought the same thing under Rudy.
definately his endurance. He plays alot of minutes with alot of intensity. Never see him let up and not give max effort. he is also underrated as a good representative of the Rockets, does alot of commercials and generally really promotes the team. He also has a pretty good attitude and sets a good example taking up for his team. I definately think he is overated as a star in the league, unfortunately he doesn't measure up to top tier players; McGrady, Duncan, Garnett, Shaq, Kobe, J. O'Neal, he just doesn't have a dominating game. He is alot like Baron Davis, alot of talent and almost a dominating player.
Rebounding, he is outstanding for some one his size. He is probably one of the strongest and most durable PG's. On the negative side, I think his hard-headedness and egotism are underrated. I think is more clever than people think, and I believe he has an "agenda" behind what he says and does. Just perceptions from four and one half years of media and on-court observations. I do not know him personally, so I may be way off. As to his basketball skills, my analysis has been posted frequently and is dead on. EVERY assessement I have made of his game will be vindicated eventually. He is being forced to play "organized" basketball for the first time in his life and you can see how hard it is for him in a "system." He is a "free-style," streetball, iso, kind of guy and his game is being "greatly hampered" by JVG's system and zone defences.
LOL. 'Single handedly'? Hakeem played his last productive year and MoT had his best Pro year in that 45 win season...and we had this big Chinese dude in that 43 win season ...maybe you've heard of him.
Nothing really. He's respected as an excellent PG rebounder. His crossover is overrated. Too many dribbles that hardly fake anyone out. And often, when he actually does fake someone out, he'll switch back to the other side so the defender hasn't really lost much ground. It's as if his crossover is mechanical/pre-determined and not based on the reaction on what the actual defender is doing. Dribble through your legs all you want....give me Paul Pierce's basic left-to-right/right-to-left/spin move and to the hole any day over Steve's ****.
Surely he is sooooooooo overratted. I mean look it all those people apreciating steve on the thread list!! Isnt it wonderful.
a) playmaking. i'm not sure what people consider playmaking, but i always hear this as something steve is horrible at. and yet, he creates off the dribble very well and he drives in and kicks out to teammates very well. he's actually made passes this year on drives that i don't remember him making before. especially driving down the right side of the lane and hitting a guy on the left wing. from reading this board, you would think steve just randomly lobs the ball in the air and six times a game a guy just happens to catch it and make a shot. his ability to essentially make a play on his own, whether it be getting his own shot, driving in and drawing a foul, or driving in and hitting an open teammate is far underrated i believe (even with the turnovers). b) rebounding. people do acknowledge steve as a good rebounder but often times it comes with the corollary (pretend i used that word right) that he just takes it away from big men or should be getting out on the break. however, he seems to be better at getting rebounds in the mix of things than any guard i've ever seen. the type of rebounds that if he doesn't get them, the other team is going to get them. look at the SA game. not only did he have the rebound and pass to ming at the end, but he also had a rebound earlier where he essentially boxed out turkoglu, a much taller guy and good rebounder, and went up and got the rebound. he fell down when he got it and hedo tied him up, but how many guards are going to get that rebound? pretty much none. his jumping ability on rebounds is just amazing. plus he's good for chasing down offensive rebounds or chasing down the D rebounds after the ball has bounced away from the pack and he has to beat someone to the ball. c) endurance. even though i knew he, and cuttino, played a ton under rudy, i would've thought it was more this season anyway. maybe it's just that his big minutes seem to come in bunches or something. remember when we traded mooch and only had wilks? i swear, it was like wilks came in for 2 minutes in the 2nd quarter, stood over to the side so as not to mess anything up, and then steve played the rest of the game. and that went on for about 6 or 7 games. and then of course he just played 48 against the spurs. maybe rudy was just more consistent. either way, he plays far too many minutes. if his backups weren't always big sacks of crap, maybe that would change one day (and yes, mark jackson is a sack of crap. he gets some assists every once in a while but he's a 38 year old temp who we're just trying to get by with). d) hustle/effort. only cuttino could be said to outhustle steve on this team, and losing to cuttino in hustle is nothing to be ashamed of. steve runs around damn near the whole game, and as haven mentioned, is involved in so much of our offense while playing so many minutes, and yet he is still in there fighting for rebounds the entire game or getting on the break when we're making comebacks.
Nothing. Steve Francis and underrated should never be used in the same sentence, except to point out that Steve Francis is not underrated.
Steve is rich in basketball skills. He just doesn't know how and when to use them. He's having a hard to time to decide whether to shoot or pass the ball. That's why a lot of times his pass is getting intercepted.
his cross-over isn't overrated, if you think his cross-over is overrated then try guarding him. What I think is underrated or taking for granted is his rebounding and athleticism.
Then how come Steve did'nt used the crossover against the spurs on the last possesion with 10 seconds left and the defender was Robert Horry? I don't get it!!
the fact that he sells a lot of jerseys, he's a cash cow regardless of the fact that he's never gone to the playoffs. also his ability to break the many stereotypes of a point guard, to do what a point guard is traditionally not supposed to, or not able, to do (dunk, rebound, jump high) he brings a lot of people to games, in and out of town. his determination in big games. he may play down to "lesser" opponents, but he definetly plays up to better opponents.
