has anyone else noticed that rudy has stopped sitting francis for the first 6 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter? i can't express how much that used to frustrate me. probably as much as it elates me now to see steve in for the majority of the 4th. rudy, i admit it. i was wrong. you do have the ability to adapt. also, i must say that chicago game will probably be looked back upon 5-10 years from now as francis' career breakout game. it was the first game EVER where he actually did everything in his repertoire masterfully. i believe he will be the best pg in the nba in 2-3 years.
This guy is soo damn talented. He can get as many points as he wants. He does everything to win. He said that he doesnt care about rookie of the year award, the only thing he cares about is to make the playoffs. I like guys that want to win and do whatever they can to win. Francis is something special.
Right now people compare players to Jordan , when Francis retires people will be saying "that guy is Francis like" ... that is how good this kid is gonna be , no doubt about it . It will take the NBA a little wile to realize this and market him the way Jordan was but they eventually will. He is not going to be : Jordan Iseah .. sp ? Iverson Marburry sp? Cassell etc.......... Francis will be Francis , a name on his own and there won't be anyone else out there to compare him to....his own brand !
I was really impressed at what I saw last night. I was at the game(I live in Dallas). He looks to be a good leader as well. At one point when Dallas starting coming back, he huddled the team together as to regroup. He is everything one could want in a point guard(except the TO's). The only problem I see is that for some reason Rudy has a love affair with Dyce Brew. I don't understand it. He likes to shoot but picks the wrong time to shoot. I wish we would have kept Shaw to have a real backup.
As good as this kid is, and he is REALLY good. He is not even close to Jordan. I think Jordan averaged around 28pts a game his rookie year. Francis will be a good one, but comparing him to Jordan right now is ludicrous. Jordan's rookie stats below. http://nba.com/mjretirement/mj8485.html Year Team GS GP Min FG% 3pt FT 84-85 Chi 82 82 38.3 .515 .173 .845 OFF DEF TOT AST STL BLK PPG 2.0 4.5 6.5 5.9 2.39 0.84 28.2 Come on ...Francis can't touch these numbers. DaDakota [This message has been edited by DaDakota (edited January 18, 2000).]
DaDakota : No way am I comparing our guard to Jordan , yes , sometimes he does remind us of Jordan w/certain moves I have seen him make but so do other players , Air Canada for example , but let's put this question out in the open , do you think that Jordan would be averaging 28 pts per game in todays NBA? or lets do it reverse... do you think Francis would avg. the same when Jordan came into the watered down league back in 1984 ? actually this deserves a topic on its own...
How about we compare 8th year stats. Or how about first championship year stats. Comparing rookie stats I don't think is a good way to go about doing it.
Just a question for one of you with more knowledge then me on this, wasn't Jordan always a two guard or did he play point during his rookie year? I would think that learning the point would have a way of cutting down on your point total, if you are in it for the long haul.
JORDAN Year Team GS GP Min FG% 3pt FT 84-85 Chi 82 82 38.3 .515 .173 .845 OFF DEF TOT AST STL BLK PPG 2.0 4.5 6.5 5.9 2.39 0.84 28.2 Francis 1999-2000 S T A T I S T I C S REBOUNDS G GS MPG FGM-A FG% 3PM-A 3P% FTM-A FT% 34 34 35.4 216-487 .444 40-131 .305 131-170 .771 OFF DEF TOT APG STL BLK TO PF PTS PPG 2.1 2.6 4.8 6.9 53 11 137 98 603 17.7 Ranks 13th in the NBA in Assists Per Game (6.9) Ranks 19th in the NBA in Steals Per Game (1.56) Season/Career Highs NOT BAD IMO Esp for comparing Apples to Oranges Shooting Guards to point Guards Rocket River
Actually if you look at his rookie cards, a few of them labeled him as a Small Forward. But his first year in Chicago was basically MJ on an island, so he probably played all the positions. But what MJ did in his first year is one of the all time great rookie seasons. He came into a league with 24 teams and dominated like no other. Anyone who thinks the league was watered down in 84 doesn't have a clue.
were there any future hofs in jordan's way when he came out in 84? the past several games of late, we have seen francis unfettered and dominating. comparisons sometimes take away from the equation, but either way it's abundantly clear that francis will be a superstar. the fact that he plays point imo makes him all the more incredible. he seems to have 7 assists in the first half of every game. like someone before said: Steve Francis is the next Steve Francis.
If you were talking about Hak and Bark, it's not they were anywhere close to their primes. And it's not like he's played many games at all with those 2 legends this year. Mj is Mj and all comparison are for not. Steve is going to be a really good Steve though.
Achebe, How about Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale. Moses Malone, Doctor J......etc..etc. There was plenty of talent in the NBA when Jordan came out. DaDakota
I really like the way Rudy is using Francis finally.Steve might actually have the chance to become the only player other than Tiny Archibald to lead the league in scoring and assists one day.....although it's a longshot.Stevie's all about titles...good to see Rudy coming around!
DaDakota: I was talking about on his own team. DaMan: Dream and Barkley haven't been around for sure... but those first 14~ games had something to do w/ Francis' scoring average at being only 17-20 ppg it seems like in the past 3-4 games, he's been in the 26+ range. I realize this is all moot (and that we all love Stevie)... but watch Stevie talk to people, watch him shoot the j after he breaks his man down, watch him shoot a solid 3. Watch him posterize the big man. When was the last time a point guard was this damn good in his rookie year? I know Iverson played a pg in his rookie year, but like Francis3 said earlier "he puts up 30 shots and makes 9 of them.". Is there some statistician who can make an efficacy rating for pgs in their rookie years?
Juan , I totally agree w/you too bud but as DaDakota said , that's all we can do for now ! Stayed tune , it's a work in progress .
I'm a little bit tired of everyone not giving Allen Iverson more credit for the basketball player that he is. There was a very good reason why he was considered an MVP candidate last year and guiding his team to the 2nd round of the playoffs. His lifetime FG% is .428 which is much better than Cuttino Mobley can do. His career averages are 6.1 APG, 4.1 RPG, 2.15 SPG, and 24.6 PPG. A career .329 3P%. For a guy who supposed is a selfish player, he still manages to dish out 6.1 games per contest. And since he's been an exclusive 2 guard(Since 98-99), he's averaged 4.6 APG which is very which is almost tops for all 2 guards(compare that to Mobley who made the same transition from 1 to 2 yet manages only 3.1 APG and you'll understand the kind of playmaking ability Iverson has) As a rookie, he averaged 23.5 ppg, 7.5 APG, 4.1 RPG, and 2.07 SPG. Those are outstanding rookie numbers, and dare I say, better than Francis' numbers. Even if his .428 FG% isn't good enough for all the detractors out there, Iverson has the uncanny ability to get to the freethrow line to the tune of an unfathomable 7.98 times a game over his career. To give you an idea of how great that figure is, you can compare it to Jordan's lifetime average over 8.74 free throw attempts a game. Hell Iverson almost matches MJ and the entire NBA doesn't even like this man enough to give him the favorable calls. (Also I have a bone to pick about the detractors of MJ who said he only scored a lot because he jacked up so many shots. The guy has a lifetime FG% of .506!) I really can't understate the value of a player who can consistently get to the free throw line, even if it frustrates the hell out of opposing teams and their fans(David Robinson and Karl Malone always drive me mad!). This is a man that scored 40 or more points in 5 straight games in his rookie year!!! And don't tell me, Steve Francis could do that too if he wasn't so unselfish. I don't think MJ ever performed that feat. Besides, dealing with hypotheticals is hopeless. Also, Iverson managed his mammoth rookie scoring season while averaging more APG than Steve Francis, so he must be doing something right! "Dream and Barkley haven't been around for sure... but those first 14~ games had something to do w/ Francis' scoring average at being only 17-20 ppg" Um...Steve Francis had a higher scoring average in the month of November than he did in the month of December. Hakeem played 13 games that month. Barkley played the whole month of November. Explain me this theory on how Francis would have scored more if it were not for Barkley and Hak on the same team. Why didn't Steve Francis' numbers take off when both of the Hall of Famers went out of the lineup in December? You can't! Hell I've been a huge Steve Francis fan since his first game at Maryland. I know how good he is and how good he can be. But what makes a great player is longevity and consistency. Maybe one day he'll achieve both and I'm banking that he will. (I'm sure some posters have noticed a long term trend with my posts since last February. I try not to let the overhyping of Rocket players get out of hand, i.e. Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Sam Mack, Othella Harrington, Cuttino Mobley, Rodrick Rhodes. I know us die hard fans want to see the best aspects of our players. But more times than not, we make out our players to be more than they actually are. Horry never became a star that fans expected. Cassell isn't quite a star, even though some people might object. Harrington is still not going to ever be an All-Star player as some fans have predicted. Rodrick Rhodes is too big of a joke to talk about. Sam Mack is still a one dimensional scrub who can't outplay Shandon Anderson. With Cuttino, the jury is still out. Fanatical cheering of the home team is more than encouraged. I just want us Rockets fans to the most objective and educated fans possible, without the extreme forms of biased homerism to cloud our perceptions) [This message has been edited by Da Man (edited January 19, 2000).]
Da Man You Prop up Iverson but degrade what Sam Cassel is doing this Year? Everytime I look up it seems Sam has a Double Double [Points and Assists] going [including a 18 assist night] I like Iverson's game but it is a bit selfish. He hits some Astounding shots but honestly .. . they are shots he should not have took any way. [Triple teamed in the corner shots that fall . . shows talent but d*mn it give it up for the easy dunk (hence forth to be known as KOBE-ITIS) ] I think Iverson's TEAM Mentality is no where NEAR as strong as Francis. If Iverson and hughes are all alone on a break . . .Don't look for Iverson to give the ball up. In trying to keep the OVERHYPE about rocket players down . .. make sure the OVERHYPE about other Players stay at that same level Rocket River You can't prop up Iverson by Down playing Francis.
