[Florida Today] Francis ready to run with Magic

steve dont look to happy in them pics

 

Screw Francis. I'm tired of his whiny ass and it's coming from Orlando now! Let him run the team like he wants to, and we'll see who'll end up in the playoffs at the end of the season.

 

I hear Ya Pimp. Steve was a RUN & GuNNER. Run & Gun for 23 seconds, then shoot a fadeaway jumper from 17ft.

 

Rockets 2004: Game Action & Roster Moves
Anything and everything about the Houston Rockets. Your comments from last night's game, potential roster moves, player quotes and pictures. Hell, the slower people in the group can even talk about ex-Rocket Tracy Murray.

 

I think when they talk about him being a "runner" they must have been talking about that annoying little hop run thing he likes to do while bringing the ball up the court.

No harm no foul.

Good luck Steve, Cat and Cato.

 

These Orlando Magic articles start to make Chad Ford look like a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Let's count on how many things they totally missed.

1. Francis's age is 27 instead of 24.

2. Francis is never known for run-and-gun. In fact, it takes him almost 8 seconds to bring the ball over half court 90% of time, another 16 seconds almost to dribble to the ball out of clock. On any rare fast break chances, he blew those easy 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 more than 75% of the time.

3. Francis certainly does not look happy in those pictures. Can't they at least some pictures that show Francis' fire and determination?

Ouch!

 

it is all francis in orlando so they are just pluggin' for the home crowd!

 

what was he whining about again? jeez man he's gone let it go. it's amazing/shocking how so many people dislike a guy so much, almost to a hatred level, when he seriously busted his ass for this franchise. i mean he didn't always make the right plays but he had alot of heart.

 

I wish Stevie well and I hope he finally "gets it" and plays smarter basketball, I really do. But....

That comment by Davis about Steve cutting his turnovers by running a more up tempo game is either Magic propaganda or evidence that Davis has never seen Steve's decision making abilities on fast breaks, with numbers in his favor, much less in a fast paced game with even numbers.

 

I love those guys, and I hope the Rocks meet Orlando in the finals.
Give them some love when they come to Houston. Competition can be classy.

 

If Franchise wants to win as badly as he says he wants to he should join the And1 Tour, cuz any team with a guy like that turning it over time after time has no shot at winning a title. That's why I was so ecstatic we got rid of him. I know he busted his ass while he was here, and at times I really enjoyed watching him, but the more I saw him play, the more obvious it became. I wish him well, but that doesn't mean I don't have to be realistic about his chances of actually winning the ultimate prize. His chances are extremely slim. In fact the only way he'll ever win is if he latches on somewhere as the 3rd or 4th option like Payton tried to do last year.

 

I think Steve will play great in Orlando. Let's hope that this season proves the trade to be a win-win situation.

 

thats really not supposed to be the point of the story... the point was more along the lines of who is willing to actually work with their team during practice and actually attempt to get some chemistry and work together better. I can assure you that t-mac wont be pulling any of those stunts in houston.. JVG wont take it.

 

steve francis looks terrible. he looks mad and he looks like he wants to be traded again.

 

I think Steve will put up good numbers, but his team will be lucky to get the 8th or 7th seed in the east. They have no big men, unless Howard is a beast from the start, and their bench is worse than ours is(which is saying a lot). A healthy Grant Hill could change everything, but that's like saying Yao's going to get his 37 inch vertical back. It ain't happenin'.

 

The team is really suited for him to prosper.

The Team looks kind of like this now:

Francis Jameer Nelson
Cuttino Mobley DeShawn Stevenson
Pat Garrity ?!?!
Tony Battie Howard
Cato Battie

Battie and Cato are rebounders and shot blockers that will get outlet passes. Then its the Francis/Cuttino show with Garrity waiting on the wings for open looks.

This reminds me of the Pre-Yao rockets w/o the post presence that Olajuwon brought in 2001 and MoTaylor brought later on.

They really have no one inside and it will be up to Francis and Cuttino to create. With that team I could see Francis and Cuttino being the highest scoring 1-2 combo in the league. But whether they'll win many games is another story.

If Hill comes back strong they could be very dangerous in that Hill is a superior ball-handler and passer. He could control the offense while francis and mobley cut like mad.

Another positive would be if the #1 pick has a good year and takes some defensive pressure off the front court b/c they look like mush aside from Alley-Oops offensively in the front.

Francis played so hard for this team and for his hard work and dedication and that of Mobley, we were able to trade for the League's best young scorer/player. All this hate for the guy is wrong.

I wish him the best. How much do you wanna bet he dunks on Yao? Watching 6'3 Francis over Yao would be a sight though.

 

I agree, Orlando is going nowhere in the East; in fact, with Shaq in Miami, they are going nowhere in Florida. More .500 basketball for Francis and Co. Mark it down, 35 wins will be a surprise. If they had a pre-injury Hill, well, things would be very different, playoffs would be a virtual certainty.

 

While we weren't great, anybody remember how we did with Shandon Anderson, Mobley and Steve in the game at the same time? We definitely have a couple of pretty good fast breaks a game and that's when we started doing the 3 guards thing. Except we then started usign moochie

 

I actually think the Magic could use Mo Taylor. They need someone who can score in the frontcourt without taking control away from the backcourt. Mo Taylor's one of the few big man scorers compatible with Steve and Cat available. The Magic would never trade for Taylor though.

 

Turkoglu is the SF for the Magic.