19.1 pts, 3.7 asts, 4.1 rebounds vs 21.4 pts, 6.9 asts, 6.2 rebounds hardly "similar." hill gets a big TO advantage (though he should with his lower ast numbers) and is shooting very well (51.4%) but those are not "similar." they are at least another level down.
Humbling week for SF. It'll make him strong, or kill him. Go, Stevie, get as strong as you are talented -- then you'll be THE MAN!
Bobcats have Okafor, Gerald wallace and I'll even go sofar as to add Brevin Knight. If the magic did not have steve then that means the trade didn't happen and they have TMac, A Healthy Hill (Who is playing great) Hedo Turkoglu, Dwight Howard, Juwon Howard and a nice center sub Pat Garrity. Now i don't know if the magic would have done this well if the trade never happened, but I highly doubt they would be a poor-man's Bobcats.
Uhh... Francis plays 3 more minutes per game, and has shot 100 more times than Hill. He also shoots a 100 more free throws, which is probably a + in SF3's favor, but when you factor that in, he really isn't averaging that much more in the ppg department.
I ment if Francis went them now with an injury I dont think the magics would have much power to compete at all....my opinion
Don't they usually put the smart players, coaches, and management in control? Thus Grant Hill and not Stevie Franchise... Someone in Orlando ought to see about getting Francis a visit from Dr. Phil or Nanny 911...
Antoine Walker is the best player on the Hawks, but does he call all the shots? Hell no. By the way, we can thank Francis for Moochie's horrendous contract. That's what his shot-calling got us.
ok, he's just almost doubling him in assists and 50% higher in rebounds, which if nothing should be a category hill wins. an 85% difference and 50% difference are not similar, they are landslides. ppg is obviously similar, both in number and when factoring in shot attempts. turnovers are also similar when factoring in number of assists and overall ballhandling (fg, ft, and ast). hill's biggest advantage is shooting percentage. francis owns him in asts and rebounds. something tells me hardly anybody would say hill is better than francis be they non-rocket fan or espn or nba analyst.
This is the first time we've ever heard anything about this, so I question it - in fact Hill was quoted publically as offering high-praise for Cuttino and Steve ... though as I said then, what would one expect a player to say when asked about a teammate publically? I'd want to hear it from someone else other than Mitch Lawrence/NY Daily News alone. I would tend to think the Orlando Sentinel would write about this at some point.
Come guys, its a tabloid. You wonder why some people call your criticism hatred, and yet you insuate things like Francis influenced Moochies stupid ass contract. The Rockets probably overpaid Moochie by three times what he would have gotten on the open market. I don't care if he lobbied to keep Moochie here or not, that ain't Francis's fault. And if you even wonder if it is or not, then you are a hater my friend and not merely a critic. This thread proves to me one thing about people in general, people just believe what they want. If it some how justifies your beliefs, you'll accept it no matter how ridiculous it is.
Or, by the same token, if it doesn't justify your beliefs, you'll completely ignore it and blast anyone who believes it. I do think someone else needs to report this story to back it up. Not that Mitch Lawrence hasn't had his fair share of good stories, but it's so damning to causes like pgabriel's that we need a little more substance than this before we can truly laugh it up.
That's fair. I really was trying to avoid posting in this thread but I swear I just can't help it. What I was going to originally write is I don't know if Grant has so much influence on decisions regardless of Francis because you never know what game could be Grant's last.
I think Hill is better than Francis, but only because he plays the team game better. Steve is clearly a better athlete and much more of a warrior. A healthy hill is greater than a healthy Francis...IMHO..... Just an opinion, nothing more. DD
wasn't he the one that said something about the "houston guys" bringing a lot of toughness (or something positive) to the team? maybe it was all for show but i think that was his comment. now who knows, cuttino had been injured for probably greater than 50% of the season at that point so maybe he just got pissed once mobley got back and he lost shots but it still seems strange to think grant hill made this happen.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2994253 Deal adds by subtracting Maybe breakup of Francis, Mobley will work out better for both By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle So apparently Steve Francis found a reason to live. He was so shaken by the tragic trade of his backcourt partner and buddy Cuttino Mobley to the Kings that he said he did not know why he should get up in the morning. But we have seen over the years that sometimes for Francis the words don't come out quite right. It's always a sad thing when good sentences go bad. So Francis got over his heartache with 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in Detroit on Friday, mixing in one dunk-contest slam in which he bounced a pass to himself and took about five steps to go get it, and all kinds of trash talk. If he needs to distract himself from his troubles, he has Thursday's meeting with the Rockets to look forward to. But if all that does not work, Francis also could remind him that breaking up the Francis-Mobley combination might be the best thing for both of them. For the Magic, the reasons for the deal for Doug Christie were obvious. Francis was still leading fast breaks to Mobley 3-pointers, rather than layups. The Magic had little interest in defense, and even if Mobley has become an improved defender, it is not his top priority as it is Christie's. Hedo Turkoglu was about to chew into Mobley's minutes, which would not have gone over well with either Francis or Mobley. And Mobley was going to be a free agent, anyway. "There were storm clouds on the horizon," Magic GM John Weisbrod said. "Cuttino's minutes were going to go down and not up, and I'm not sure he would have been happy with playing 20-24 minutes a night. "He was definitely going to opt out, and whether he would have come back to us or gone somewhere else I don't know. Whether we would be willing to give a 30-year-old player a five- or six-year deal ... I'd be lying if I said the fact that he was becoming a free agent wasn't a factor in this." But Mobley and Francis should benefit even more. For Mobley, the potential upside is obvious. Mobley could choose to be a free agent next summer. That could earn him a heavy contract. But he could be out there competing for a contract with shooting guards Ray Allen, Michael Redd, Joe Johnson, Larry Hughes and Latrell Sprewell and point guards Gary Payton, Jeff McInnis, Antonio Daniels (if he opts out) and Damon Stoudamire all getting deals, perhaps in a rushed signing period after a lockout. Though the Kings have plenty of other scorers, Mobley might have a better chance to show that he has grown into a maturer scorer and determined defender than he was when he first became Francis' running mate. He had become a better catch-and-shoot guard in his last 1 1/2 seasons in Houston. In the Kings offense, he can show that. And he can do that with a better team. For Francis, the benefits might be subtler but no less important. As much as Mobley and Francis had long supported one another, they also could be enablers. Francis can be among the league's best players, rather than merely among its most exciting. But Francis and Mobley did not demand that of each other as much as they accepted each other's place in the league as sufficient. They considered one another brothers and as such, that does not have to change. But they will become better players out in the world -- particularly now that they have found that they could somehow go on.
Stupid trade by the Magic. Mobley had more value than Christie, and they pissed off one of their stars in the process. Cuttino was better than Christie, was younger, is a solid if undersized defensive player, and there's no way he leaves Orlando and Steve if they didn't trade him. I love Grant Hill's game, his personality, and the way he's battled back from his injury. But the odds are good that he reinjures the ankle at some point. I certainly wouldn't count on his continued presence in the lineup for years to come if I were in the Magic organization - they've been burned by his comebacks too many times before. This is a guy that they have been trying to convince to retire for the past couple of years. This season is really little short of miraculous for him. All this "Grant hill will still be able to get by on brains when his athleticism is gone" stuff presupposes that he'll still be playing in a couple years, which is far from a sure thing or even probable. I'd love to see him maintain health, but the odds aren't with him.
That statement says it all. He "can be" but he isn't. He hasn't been on the All NBA team yet and won't be until he learns to play smart, which is under control. Personally, his galaxy size ego and his showboating, playground instincts are his undoing. He may or may not overcome them. In the meantime he does what he does; he gets his points and makes the highlight reels. He works very hard to bolster his image. There is one aspect of Francis' game that is flawless; his self-marketing, third person references and all.
