Francis cant defer to a post offensive big man. he needs a big man who can grab rebounds and get him more posessions. he needs someone to pass to for a dunk when he randomly picks up his dribble. Francis did well his first year in Orlando because all he did was feed dwight howard for dunks, but as soon as dwight improved and developed a post game, francis became useless and was ultimately traded. It seems like everyone here forgot why we traded him in the first place. The Rockets traded Francis because Gundy hated his lack of D and poor decision making, but the most important reason was because he made the offense stagnant and froze out Yao.
I think Stevie is better now. More mature. Ok occasionally you are gonna get the Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping PIng Ping Ping....Boink!! Oops outta bounds. But that's just Stevie LOL
You should check the facts before spewing your opinions. Francis' shots per game dropped each year with Yao at about the same amount that Yao's shots increased. And it's not like it was a small increase, Yao's shots and pts increased at about the same rate as the past few years. The only slow down in Yao's development seems to be during the Francis to T-Mac transition. So your claim that he froze out Yao is completely out of place. Obviouisly, the half court doesn't work to Francis' strengths, but that didn't stop him from carrying the Rockets to their first playoffs since Hakeem and Barkley did in 1999. Even with the half court offense Francis benefitted alot by having a big man down low, especially as Yao matured as an NBA center. That's why he was able to carry us to the playoffs his last year here. Simply put, Francis has worked in a system with a dominant big man. His last year here in Houston proves that. His D is also much less of a liability than some other players we've got on our squad right now.
Mike James are you serious, he had a chance to come back to Houston and he turned it down, so we would have to give up something to get him. ( Also, Don't forget about the stupid trade kicker) 2006-2007 Season Mike James Steve Francis 13.0 pts 21.2 pts 1.4 rebs 4.6 rebs 2.4 ast. 3.4 ast. Neither is a Free Agent so all this discussion may be for nothing, but my vote still goes for Franchise.
Man some of the passes Yao use to give to Steve and Mobley they were just breathetaking esp to Mobley Rocket River
Yeah I remember some of those. Mobley used to feed it to Yao, then run the baseline. Yao would either spin left and take a shot or do a blind over the shoulder pass to Mobley for an easy dunk. I really wished they ran that more.
