With that being said, the team must trade Steve or Yao in the offseason. If Steve stays, surround him with uptempo transition players who can run the floor with him. Steve is trying to emulate Jason Kidd with the lob pass he's using all the time now. A player like Kenyon Martin would fit with Steve's game. I haven't seen enough of Emeka Okafor, but he sounds like a player similar to Kenyon. If Yao stays, he works best when the half-court has great spacing. This allows him to work down low without engaging in physical contact with too many defenders in the paint area. Spacing in the half-court offense is accomplished by having excellent shooters beyond the arc. There are options out there in this area. This has been discussed in prior threads. Like Doug Collins said, "the pieces don't fit". I'm just tired of seeing everyone for the most part shooting a bad percentage because the two main players on the court for the Rockets have games that just do not complement each other. Before the decade is over, I would like to see a well-oiled machine of the offense take the floor for the Rockets rather than this Three Stooges act that is being thrown out there for comical relief.
You assume Francis knows how to run an efficient fast break like Jason Kidd. What kind of players do complement steve. When you have role players you have to make them better. Is steve going to do that day in and day out. Steve is a great idividual talent but is not sutied to play controlled championship style basketball. THe last couple years the team has been built around great individual players instead of team players. THe last big free agent signing, big as in large contract, Taylor is also a great individual talent. Francis is going to be traded when his byc status is gone, make no doubt about it. In the last decade the the championship teams that didnt have Micheal Jordan were all built around big men, Hakeem, Shaq, and Duncan. Thats the winning formula for a championship team, not an uptempo free wheeling backcourt, but a slow half court game where your bigman pounds it in or passes to the open shooter.
OK no ones a fast break like Jason Kidd it's not skills its a vision that you cant coach to have. But Francis can run good fast breaks if he had sombody to run with him. But the Rockets dont seen to move to the open spots on the fast breaks. The problem is we need to become more of a full court. But we don't need to Trade Yao or Steve. If we just let somthing remain in tack for more than a year we would get somewhere. I know this is Yao and Steves second year togher but this is the second coach. So we stop making major changes and we will be ok.
