[ch 2 video] Francis interview: "I definately didn't come here not to play at all."

^ yea and management never gave him the talent to work with?

did u know joe torre had a sub. 500 career coaching record b4 coming to the yanks

it's VERY easy to win w/ talent. let's see what he can do w/ the nationals or something or devil rays

 

I'm disappointed this kind of stuff is coming up with SF so early. At the least it could have waited until after the season started. It appears he and Adelman aren't communicating very well, which is a bad sign. Adelman's comment that SF didn't report to camp in as good a shape as the other players is very troubling to me.

How can someone take Tracy's words and say he was backing up SF instead of Adelman? He did no such thing.

I'm not quite ready to bury SF like so many of you, but this video is the first step for me. Adelman's comment about SF not being in shape was a real downer. I'm a lot less hopeful now. If SF doesn't work hard to get it together, both sides need to end this mistake.

When it comes to duplication between the guards, SF & MJ are two COMPLETELY different players on both ends of the floor. MJ & Luther are much more similar. At the moment, MJ is far ahead of Luther in most everything except they are roughly equal at shooting open 3 pointers. To say Luther's outside shooting is "way better" isn't backed up by history.

 

Althought im happy hes here i think even he knows that if he really wanted to play he shouldve went to the clippers or the heat

 

1. I hope Steve Francis 2007 is more like Juwan Howard 2006 than Bonzi Wells 2006, but there are indeed some similarities to the Bonzi situation, at least at the start.

Both Steve and Bonzi are talented, we fans were excited about both. However, both of them came into camp thinking their talent alone could carry him. Both these guys thought of themselves as better than they truely were-- they are good, but not good enough to not do their homework. Steve had his "Bobby Jackson can't hold my jockstrap" attitude. Bonzi had his "It's just basketball" talk.

And what happened? Both of these guys lost minutes as a primary instand offense 2 guard to the same guy: diligent little Luther Head.


2. It's funny, you know... that people thought of Adelman as the anti-Gundy when he was first hired. He wouldn't have no problem with any head cases, he'll play all the most talented guys and made them great. He won't make anyone fit into his rigid system. He would sit Rafer Alston and reduce Battier and Chucks's minutes because they were Gundy guys and not Adelman-type players.

As it turns out, Rick may be nicer about it, but he's looking more like Jeff every day. You still gotta work your ass off to earn playing time. You still gotta fit into the system. You still gotta have high basketball IQ and be a professional. You still will have guys who aren't happy at all about sitting.


3. I wonder where Les Alexander stands on this. He was not happy that Jeff didn't make better use of Bonzi and perhaps Spanoulis. I wonder what he thinks of Rick not making use of his high profile marketable offseason acquisition that fans love?

 

See, the thing is, he does NOT have superstar talent. Even at the height of his career here in Houston, he did not have it.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that he's a no-talent scrub. He has mad talent. But his game is flawed. That isn't a big knock. Very few players have no flaws in their games. Francis is not one of them. His talent, as much as it is, does not give him what it take to be a superstar.

What he doesn't have, simply put, is the ability to make quick and accurate decisions on the court. That ability doesn't always show in numbers. But it is necessary for a player to be a franchise superstar type player, especially when his position is PG.

 

I've been a longtime Steve fan, and I thought he was looking to turn over a new leaf. He wants to, but in his Steve-like way.

His comments are pretty damn disappointing, and it's probably why after all these years in the league, it's still isn't decided if he's best as a 1 or 2.

 

what we talking about here? Were talking about practice, not the game not the game but practice.

 

My gut feeling is that Rafer is going to play alot more like last night than he did in the beginning of the pre-season. With that, Francis will be able to make his way into the rotation.

I at least want to see Francis play some meaningful minutes in the Regular season before I pass judgement on whether or not he fits in.

Keep your head up Steve!

 

BTW, according to Adelman in this interview, the Spurs game did give us an idea what the regular rotation is going to be, at least at the start of the season.

There were 8 players who played at least 20 minutes:
Scola
McGrady
Battier
Yao
James
Hayes
Alston
Wells
and Head with close to 20 minutes.

That's your 9-man rotation right there.

Yao will be primarily backed up by Scola, with Mutombo playing spot minutes.
Scola and Hayes will share the PF minutes.
Head and Wells share the backup 2, with Wells and McGrady backing up the 3.
Alston and James will share the PG minutes.

 

Don't worry. Right now, even Yao does not fit in the new system. One or two weeks into the regular season, we can see something real.

 

LOL criminy sakes, that wasn't the point of my post. My point was that there is as much of a chance of Steve Francis asking JVG for advice to get his career back in gear as the Yankees asking Torre back...sheesh

BTW, the Yankees weren't doing much before Torre took over...

 

i guess you didnt understand the original statement i made about jvg being SF personal coach was a joke!

It's understandable though since people say much more silly things on here, but actually mean it!

 

first, i SAY here clearly sf did not play very well in preseason games. Will he become better? I don't know. but one thing for sure is he definitely can make things happen from no where when a game is online.

now let's talk about rafer. he is what he is. he is not better than last year and no worse than last year. he did have some great passes in a couple of preseason games. I watched all 82 games last year. he did those passes too. these passes did not prevent rox from being kicked out in first round. he can't penetrate and he is a streaky shooter. last nite game vs spurs is an indication. in first couple of preseason games, he hit hight % 3pts. are you going to surprise he can do that? no. he did it last year too.

during off season, we try to get a penetrator in our backcourt and try to get rafer traded. by that time, we had a reason to do that because all of us think rafer is good at protect ball but can create for other players. now, we suddenly change our course. wow!!!! what a joke! he is going to be rox parker?

frankly speaking, i don't think we solve the problem at our backcourt.

at least, we keep mj and bonzi is total a different bonzi.

I really don't understand why we bought sf back after we traded for mj.

 

first, i SAY here clearly sf did not play very well in preseason games. Will he become better? I don't know. but one thing for sure is he definitely can make things happen from no where when a game is online.

now let's talk about rafer. he is what he is. he is not better than last year and no worse than last year. he did have some great passes in a couple of preseason games. I watched all 82 games last year. he did those passes too. these passes did not prevent rox from being kicked out in first round. he can't penetrate and he is a streaky shooter. last nite game vs spurs is an indication. in first couple of preseason games, he hit hight % 3pts. are you going to surprise he can do that? no. he did it last year too.

during off season, we try to get a penetrator in our backcourt and try to get rafer traded. by that time, we had a reason to do that because all of us think rafer is good at protect ball but can't create for other players. now, we suddenly change our course. wow!!!! what a joke! he is going to be rox parker?

frankly speaking, i don't think we solve the problem at our backcourt.

at least, we keep mj and bonzi is total a different bonzi.

I really don't understand why we bought sf back after we traded for mj.

Edited

 

I sorta knew you were joking...

 

Hmmm.... just got reminded of one thing.


Steve's Chinese shoe contract... how does that play into this scenario?

I presume it only lasts as long as he's Yao's teammate. I wonder if there's is a performance clause.

 

Because Rafer was so weak last year the Rockets wanted to get rid of him after SF came on board. They figured SF would fit in and he & MJ would give them a good PG rotation. Just watch Rafer play a few regular season games and it'll come to you.

Plus SF basically fell into their lap at the last minute for cheap. Morey used the term "longshot".

 

d'oh!

 

is deke still the oldest active player?

 

not Worries. . . .STEVE. . JUST GET READY FOR THE PLAYOFFs

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Steve Francis will be OUT ROBERT HORRY!

RINGS BABY . . . RINGS!@!!!!1