He did have a career high assists per game average for that season. 7.0 assists per game. Of course his TOs also increased some so the his A/TO ratio didn't improve all that much, but it shows that he will pass more when the right people are there. Whether he would pass enough for Adelman's offense is anybody's guess.
thes best analogy for Francis is someone said he's like that really hot girlfriend you dated for a while then had a bitter break up. Fast Forward five years and she's been married and had a kid with her new boyfriend. You meet up by chance one day and find out she's single again. And for that brief moment, all you remember is the fact she was once your girlfriend. you ignore why you broke up and the fact she's gained 20 pounds and isn't as hot as she use to be.
Well... I might still try her out a little bit, as long as it doesn't go over my salary cap... or I'll just let her sit on the bench, while she watches my other five girlfriends play on the court.
My apologies but Steve is definitely better than Mike James. I've watched Mike James and the one thing he does better than Steve is play D without a doubt. However, he has the same tendencies and scores/finishes at a lesser pace than Steve and they are both 31. I would take Steve all day. Mike James is Ron Artest jr., watch it happen
You mentioned in the other thread you coached at Fonde.... so have you had personal experience with Mike? His media interview strike me as a little strange, but what's he like in person (assuming you know)?
Look, I'm no MJ lover or supporter, but don't you think it's a bit harsh comparing him to Artest? Perhaps you known him personally but from this fan's perspective it's hard for me to compare him to Artest. I'm a Pacers fan from their ABA days and I resent what Artest did to them more than any ex-Pacer in history. MJ is a flake but his personality defects aren't nearly that destructive. Comparing SF and MJ, which player is more likely to fit themselves in a team role dominated by two stars? SF still fancies himself as better than he really is. He still makes very bad decisions with the ball, repeatedly sometimes, and makes you wonder what's going on inside. Talent-wise, of course he has more than MJ, but that isn't all there is to it. His career stats are good. When it comes to stats, SF reminds me of Zach Randolph in the sense that their stats come at the expense of other players because they dominate the ball and stagnate the offense. This causes other players to stand and watch, instead of hustling to get open, because they KNOW the ball isn't coming to them. MJ isn't exactly Steve Nash, but he needs the ball a lot less to be content. You can't teach an old dog new tricks and SF is an old dog at 31.
What do you think about the player named Stephon Marbury? Will you have nightmares if Starbury were on your team? Isiah prefered Starbury over Stevie. Can you imagine that?
how can anyone call stevie immature compared to mike james. i like mikes james and think he was great but calling stevie immature? do you remember game 7 where mike james had to be restrained and embarassed the rockets while yelling at keith jones?
Do you know why Isiah preferred Marbury over Steve? Isiah said that they didn't work together on the court and Steve volunteered to be benched. Steve didn't out right deny it, but when asked, he just responded with, "He said that?" A lot of Knicks fans think Steve was benched because Isiah didn't want to admit that Francis (who Larry Brown brought in) was a better fit with Jamal Crawford and the others than Marbury (who Isiah brought in). I'm not saying it's true, I'm just saying that's what the Knicks fans think, and they're alot closer to the situation. http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/knicks/archives/2006/11/isiah_ready_to.html http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/knicks/archives/2006/11/changeup_back_t.html
The "Francis love fest" is because as of right now Rafer Alston will be getting major minutes at point guard. Mike James might also get more than 20-25 minutes or so. It might be a 30/18 balance or 28-20 or 24-24 or 26-22 something like that right now. Well that doesn't exactly jump out as a legit point guard rotation if you are talking 2nd round or WCFs level competition. Well Mike James is basically good enough as a backup playing 20-25 minutes, backing up the 1 and some 2 on a team that wants to win the title. A very similar role to what he had in Detroit. He is not good enough to start on a team that wants to win a title. Rafer Alston should greatly improve under Adelman but he's not even close to being good enough to be the starter if the Rockets want a championship. In fact he's not even good enough to be the backup on a team that wants to win a championship. Aaron Brooks is 5-11 3/4 in shoes 160 pounds, meaning he's going to have a real hard time on defense against Parker/Deron/Baron/Nash etc. - he will have the same issue Iverson has, he will need someone else to guard the big point guard for him, which leaves the SG UNDERSIZED. Are the Rockets going to be using a Brooks/Head back court combo in the playoffs? Or Brooks/James? Come on now. Also Brooks is a rookie. Don't expect the team to go far in the playoffs playing a rookie point guard, it just isn't realistic. Steve Francis is the ONLY one amongst the four that has the talent and ability to man the starting spot on a team that is competing deep in the Western Conference playoffs. Is he Davis, Nash, Bibby, Parker, Terry, etc? Not lately, but he's STILL a hell of a lot closer to that level than Mike James or Rafer Alston. A lot of people seem to think Mike James is comparable to Francis, how in the world this opinion forms is beyond me, James isn't in Francis' league regardless of what some Rockets fans think of him. And by then adding Francis, Rafer Alston becomes a good trade asset. He could certainly be dealt somewhere for something. So many people seem happy with James/Alston/Brooks.............. well maybe it gets the Rockets to the 2nd round, but it's not good enough to go further than that, and if Yao or McGrady have more injury problems (a good possibility) there's still a good chance the team gets a real tough first round opponent, and in that case it still might not be enough to get past round 1. The point guard spot STILL has to be upgraded IMO and that is not me just wanting Francis. I just think the team isn't strong enough at that spot, since Francis seems the only available starting point guard then he should be the target. And I am dismayed that so many people think Francis is a backup, not at all, he's still very much a starting NBA point guard, in fact that's exactly what he is, a starting NBA point guard. Right now the Rockets do not actually have a starting NBA point guard, therefore it would make sense that a lot of people want Francis.
BBall Sci - I actually enjoy some of your threads/posts and agree with many points you raise. I'm rather stunned at your Pro-Francis position. Francis is the death of ball movement, offensive flow, player movement. If I read Adelman correctly, he would rather resign than have to try to work with Francis. That's an exaggeration, but I think he'll have strong objections to it. One might say that Bibby was very offensive minded, as was Bobby Jax. But relative to SF, they both made quick decisions and shot consistently from the perimeter. I don't think they have a Hollinger or other stat on "DPT" -- dribbles per touch -- but I am fairly sure that Francis is a Hall of Famer in that category. I like his determination and heart, but he is a bball idiot. Pick and roll is a wasted effort with him. He dribbles around the pick, lets the defense recover as he goes between the legs a few times. SF3 will then feint, dribble, hesitate, thereby allowing the entire defense to re-set, check their shoe laces, tuck in their shirts, fix their hairdo's, and text message their Fav 5, before hoisting up a prayer.
Well put... and you didn't even mention that Francis' defense is not an improvement over MJ (or even RA, but that one may be debatable).
I'm not gonna sit here and argue francis should or shouldn't be here. just some of the things said are way off base. francis was required to iso in the rudy days. that was the offense. if you watched francis in any of the ny days or even just the last days with jvg, you know the offense wasn't francis come down and dribble away. its a nice way to rip in him, and it makes it sound like you know basketball, but its basically a lie or ill informed opinion after the rudy days.
I saw Stevie Francis with the Devil! I saw Jeff Van Gundy with the Devil! I saw Scottie Pippen with the Devil! Quick, lets tie a boulder around Franchise and see if he can swim.
It is an improvement, but it's not all that different from James'. Go to www.82games.com and look up Francis' and James' numbers for the last two or three seasons. What you should be looking at are "defense: points per 100 possessions" and "total rebounding" in on/off court stats and "block rating" under player stats. For the past two seasons, when James is on the court, opponents tend to score more, whereas the opposite is true with Francis. Francis' rebounding and block numbers are also higher. I wouldn't say Francis is a much better defender than James, but Francis' ineptness on defense is grossly blown out of proportion in most people's minds. P.S. If you look at the shot selection/clock usage stats, you can see that Francis still dribbles quite a bit, but I'm hoping that it's more of a result of coaching and carrying the burden of being the primary scoring threat that's keeping those numbers up. In our offense he wouldn't need to score or create shots for others as much. His scoring is basically dribble, dribble, fake out defender, drive to the hoop then score, draw a foul on the way or dish out when the defense collapses in.
"Required to iso" is different from dribbling out the clock. Iso means spread the floor, make a decisive move and take a shot or make a play. Hell, they isoed for Clyde all the time. We currently iso for Tmac. All too often, SF3 iso resulted in dribble, dribble, hesitate, dribble, dribble, turnover or heave ho. Not every touch, not every possession, but in a percentage of his touches that exceeds the vast majority of NBA guards, and that is glaring to almost everyone. Before you get your panties in a wad and declaring that others know little basketball, make a salient point. There are many points on which reasonable minds and fans can disagree. The FACT that SF3 is a dribblemaniac is not a point of reasonable disagreement. I did see Francis under JVG. He did dribble a little less. I give him credit for that modest improvement. But even considering that improvement, he still dribbled too much. He was never, ever comfortable with PNR plays, except the 1 lob a game to Cato. Even JVG himself recently (while on air with Matt J) said, in the nicest PC way possible, that Francis "had trouble" with dribbling too much. It was obvious to anyone listening that if you gave Van Gundy some sodium penathol, he would have ripped Francis to shreds about the dribbling. Oh, right, we shouldn't listen to the comments of his former coach. We're just making stuff up. All the times he dribbled out the shot clock were the fault of an iso offense.
All good teams iso their stars; it's called getting the ball to your best player and letting him create opportunities. There's a difference between "iso" and dribbling without purpose. You really think the coach told him to dribble out the clock everytime? Drexler was iso'd also, did he do it that way? Did Bryant?
some of you guys are really really dense. Our PG position is not set, no way near perfect or at least can go head to head with other power PGs in the West. mike james is an upgrade, but he is not the answer to our PG problem. he solved some of the issues we had, and closing on the gap. Think about it James.Alston, brooks, JL3... think this PG line of PGs can compete with the rest? Now, What is with the SF love fest? first we got holes to fill with limited cap room, plus lack of trade asset that can land a good starter PG. SF was brought out so he can come cheap to us like finley to Spurs. SF is not the answer, but he is another piece that can close our gap a bit more. not to mention we have another issue to addr in other positions.
