its funny that people think they knew more about steve than adelman did. like adelman was like "man this guy has a low bballiq, i had no idea, never seen him play before". seriously, i hope he wasn't pouting and took the game off. we'll see.
I've been disappointed in Steve. The things he says to the media... he says some of the right things but then follows it up with quotes like (and I'm paraphrasing here) "I'm just going to keep playing the way I play and doing what I've done my entire career." Well Steve, you haven't had much success with that approach in recent years. Perhaps it's time to do something differently? I was really hoping he would turn his career around now that he's back in Houston. I think it's relatively safe to say that if he can't do it here, he can't do it. Which brings me to this question: What will the legacy of Steve Francis be? A three-time All-Star is really just a flash in the pan. How many players have had a few good years only to be forgotten? Shawn Kemp was absolutely dominant for a few years and a lot of younger fans have no idea who Shawn Kemp is. I'm thinking it's safe to say Francis's jersey will not be hanging from our rafters and the hall of fame may be out of the question.
Your attitude pretty much seems to reflect Steve's. Since day one he's said things like, 'It's not in my hands, there's nothing I can do,' and just lay there on the ground like a petulant child. Does he really think RA wants him to fail? RA doesn't even know him. He came in with a clean slate, and hasn't been good enough. If he had any brains at all, and from following him for years, it's very obvious he doesn't, he would just work hard and let the starting or backup job fall into his lap as Rafer spirals downward. He's been playing the victim card, but this time it's not even a plausible strategy. At least Bonzi had a little support from the JVG haters. Adelman is and has always been a players coach, and if you can't get along with him, you're pretty much hopeless.
I fully believe that when Steve was at his press conference, he had the understanding or expectation that a starting job and premier role was his, and that Rafer was not going to be on the team come October. Honestly, this is what many of us here thought too. October comes, and it appears to me that Steve was caught off guard that he had to win the job, that he had 4 (Brooks, Head, James, Alston) guys gunning hard for it, and that Adelman's offense asked the players to fit their games into the system rather than the other way around. Steve finds himself struggling to play without the ball, Steve finds himself being outplayed in practice by guys that he may not necessarily believe are as good as he is, and crash. Steve finds himself at the back of the line, is embarrassed and upset, and shuts down instead of stepping up. I've found it to be deafeningly loud that Steve's line throughout these DNPs has been "I just have to wait" as opposed to "I have to work my tail off until I can get where I want to be on this team" Evan
as poorly as rafer has player i cant believe steve cant even get a chance at all. steve must be terrible in practice or something, or not putting in enough effort to getting in shape. rafer just sucks and i cant imagine steve playing any worse than him.
I'm sure Adelman was aware of Francis' reputation and had seen him play what he might've not realized was how low Francis' BBall IQ is and how much Francis might've struggled to understand Adelman's system.
Well......c'est la vie. He had opportunities and still has opportunities to get on the court. Get it together or get gone Stevie.
It tells me that SF came in expecting to start and contribute, but did nothing in the offseason to earn it. If he is in Adleman's doghouse, he more than likely put himself there rather than Adleman having some pre-disposed notion to bench him.
Wow. You choose not to believe he is out of shape because 3-4 months ago he was starting. Did you forget what Bonzi did to the Spurs a few months before he joined us fat and out of shape? It only takes a few months of being lazy to get out of shape. First, Francis hasn't been a consistent starter in several years. That being the case, it's kind of silly to say he's used to starting. It's even sillier to say he can still start when you have absolutely no proof to support that claim. All we have to go on is the preseason and he looked terrible in the preseason. And so far as coming here to help the team - he can help the team more if he does what the coach says - and if he were doing that then these mysterious personal reasons you believe are the problem wouldn't exist would they? Further, you claim there is no way that he'll even get to play, but again, if he was in shape, playing well and listening to the coach (who is constantly described as a players coach) then that wouldn't be the case. I might add that I think it's ridiculous when people think a coach would keep a better player on the bench just because he doesn't like the guy. You guys realize that coaches jobs are a whole lot less secure than players and that they need to take advantage of every asset they have and collect every win they can to keep their job secure, right? Well, first of all we have only lost ONE game and it was on the road against a 67 game winner. I think it's safe to say there is no shame in that. As for what it tells me, it tells me Francis has played so poorly that he's behind Alston, James and Head in the rotation. I wish it weren't so. I'm a Francis fan too, but I just don't buy this conspiracy crap. I feel confident that Adelman would play Francis if he thought Francis could give us a better chance of winning.
Steve is acting like a guy who just got a $30 million dollar buyout. He has settled and is no longer working hard. His career is at the crossroads, does he do what Bonzi did, and get back in shape to contribute, or does he remain satisfied and find his way out of the league within 3 years. It is ALL on Steve. And ....the worst thing is that we could REALLY use an in shape Francis right now. DD
I was too. I had expectations of a focused Stevie. I read in the media last year that Steve was crying after a game of sitting on the bench. He was crying because he saw this as his prime years and they were wasting away on the pine. Now I am old school about man crying. I am not totally against it but I believe it should be limited to the most serious things in life, like the death of someone you love. And certainly not because you're being benched. If you are not getting minutes do something about it, don't cry about it. That being said I thought Steve's crying incident was a sign he was ready to come around and do whatever it took to be a player in this league. I thought maybe his New york experience opened his eyes and made him see he is in the latter stages of his prime and if he wants to do something he better do it now. It seems I was wrong and perhaps Stevie still has some more crying to do before he grows up. I hope he went home and cried and figures out a way to grow up and work with a renewed attitude. I hope but I am not holding my breath.
That's what a lot of people aren't realizing, is that it IS on Steve. I'm tired of people not holding him accountable to being out of shape coming into camp and not earning his minutes. That BS about him going to Louisiana to work out was propagnda put out there by SF's camp. The proof is in the pudding, and if I were him, I'd be embarrassed and ashamed that I let Rafer Alston beat me out of my playing time.
if steve isn't back for the next game its going to be very telling. the only thing that doesn't make this look extremely bad is that adelman said it was excused. but that doesn't even really mean anything.
I still like Stevie and hope he can turn things around, but he has expected special treatment from the moment he signed: • In a radio interview this summer, he said he better be starting and Bobby Jackson couldn’t hold his jock strap; • He reports to camp out of shape • During summer practices, he was complaining Yao and TMac were getting all the call, and then said he was just complaining to work the officials; • When coach asked him if he wanted to play, he said let the younger guys play like he didn’t have anything to prove or work on; • During preseason games, he kept turning the ball over, but wouldn’t hustle on defense; • He hasn’t shown determination to adapt to Adleman’s system, instead saying he’ll keep playing the way he’s been playing. He may have taken less money than he could have gotten for other clubs, but whatever people were willing to pay him was only a fraction of the $30+ million he’s being paid to have his contract bought out. He also got a new shoe contract with a Chinese shoe company that he would not have gotten if he didn’t sign. Stevie was a great scorer for a number of years, but the only time I really saw him become a complete player was when JVG was kicking him in the butt to hustle on defense and make smarter decisions passing. If we put him in right now, he’d probably just keep turning the ball over and then complain that it was because he wasn’t getting enough minutes, but if he’s not willing to get in shape on his own then why should the team sacrifice its record. If Francis would get his act together, we could really use someone that can create their own shot if he’d focus his energy on running the offense and hustling on defense. I hope he turns things around because we need his talent, but I just don’t see it happening right now. If it doesn’t work out, I hope he’ll want to be traded to somewhere else that he can play in return for a solid backup pass-first point guard.
Ok, first of all, what did he do? Put fans in the stands? yes and no. Win a playoff series? no. Remember, he did not even lead the Terrapins to the NCAA championship that happened the year after he left. It took Juan Dixon and Steve Blake to get it done! The reason fan support waned so bad was we almost lost the Rockets 99 to 2000 plus, we almost lost the Astros and we had just lost the Oilers a few years previous so yes, fan support was bordering on apathy here. Francis claims he was the hero that saved this franchise again perhaps but likely no. For all SF's strengths and for his incredible athletic ability, he sure has many glaring weaknesses STILL. SF has gotten multiple chances to do something yet, it seems like he resembles more a spoiled brat plus, he wants it ALL but does not want to put in the work to get it done! It's truly unfortunate but, he better get his act together and quick or he'll be out of the league because no one will take another chance on him after this. HELLO, we're 6-1! Francis needs us more than we need Francis. We did him a favor. Portland bought out his contract because they did not want him to contaminate their chemistry. The Rox stepped in and gave him another chance and he has basically done nothing with it up to this point. Steve is Steve's own worst enemy and he has no one to blame but himself. If he was showing anything, any initiative at all I am certain Adelman would have him out on the court. We thought and were told by Stevie he was ready to turn over a new leaf and do what it takes to help win a championship. Stop whining, Steve get off your ASS and prove us wrong or hit the road and don't let the door hit you in the ASS on the way out. Grow up!
QFT. I remember how I was looking forward to Steve playing for us, then watching that Memphis preseason game and realizing that this guy needed to be buried deeeep on the bench. I'd rather have Aaron Brooks getting minutes at this point. It's sad how the Blazers are looking like geniuses now for buying out Stevie. I'm still holding out hope that he comes around, but he really has been a disappointment. I'm still not too alarmed about our backcourt situation, though. I think Mike James is just going through a mini slump and he should be back in form by the next one or two games. Rafer will eventually come around - we know he's a career 37% three point shooter, so even this is below par for him. And with our bench depth, knowing that we don't have to depend on Rafer for scoring, I can still live with his field goal percentage as long as he keeps running the offense well and not turning the ball over. I certainly thought that Francis could perhaps start to take away Luther Head's minutes, but man, what a waste.
Steve hasn't worked out. Probably won't. I don't see him humble and hungry. More like 'I'm still the franchise' and 'stuffed'
