It wasn't just Yao's rookie season. Steve has a habit of ignoring the low post. The Orlando fans were complaining about Steve ignoring Dwight Howard in the post, too. The Orlando GM traded away Mobley and hoped that Steve would pass more to Howard. When that didn't happen, Steve was sent to the Knicks.
Really? Disregarding the last couple of big games Dwight has put up... he hasn't really been a dominant/demanding offensive player... infact most of Dwights points would come off dunks, lay-ups and hustle plays rather then plays run for him cause he didn't come into the league with a great low-post package and he sure doesn't have a 15-20foot jumper. Francis was traded because they thought Jameer Nelson was going to be an all-star point guard and the start of a new younger foundation as the Howard/Nelson duo. If you look back at the season Mobley and Francis had together in Orlando... they were headed for the play-offs until that bone-head GM (some NHL guy) decided Doug Cristie was a better option for us (even though Jackie Cristie basically barred him from playing there). Things fell apart from there onward. Steve with the Knicks? The Knicks were going nowhere without him before... and their going nowhere now... With Marbury, Q-Rich and J-Crawf you have some of the leauges worst shooting ball hoggs out there barring Rafer and Mike James. Call me a Francis fan... but I was a fan of this team long before Francis came along.... I want whats best for this team!
The difference is... he's getting paid to coach.... we fans are PAYING to watch this garbage and demand our moneys worth.... so hush all you like but I will say/chant/cheer/yell/rant all I can until I can't anymore... thank you....
The stupidest part of this whole thing from Rick is this. Once TMac goes down. The Team is about to lose to the LAKERS people. I dont care if we dont have TMac or Yao the Rox should be well equipped to take out a team like the Lakers with one of our stars down. The rest of their team is a joke outside of Lamar Odom. HOW when your about to lose, things aren't going your way, you have the Mavs, Spurs, and Suns coming up and you just lost TMac for the game can you not just NUT up and put Francis in? Look at what he might be able to do? He definately isn't "out of shape" so we can establish those are just lies. Steve Never got anykind of chance in preseason to get any run with the starters. James did, Alston did. How can your guard play be this miserable..atrocious...terrible, can you not throw out Francis to AT VERY LEAST SEE IF YOU CANT SALVAGE THIS GAME AGAINST THE LAKERS??? Thats would of been at least being about the team. Which, if Rick plays Luther, James, Alston, and Snyder all ahead of Francis, Rick isn't thinking about the Team anymore. Its about dominating will. I was Completely happy to get Rick as coach when the season started. I couldnt wait to see what he could get done for this team. Now, he has us playing the exact same ball, with the same 5 getting the same results. 9 games in Rick and you get a Giant "YOU SUCK".
anybody catch the postgame where matt bullard was discussing how Dean Cooper (VP of player personnel) said that Steve has been working out and getting in shape..then Matt went on to say we should see Steve in the next few games..not sure if I can believe it, but sure felt good to hear it.
okay this is the last time I will respond... because you all aren't logical in your Steve love. The team that Rick put on the floor, brought us back and kept us in the game. How do the fans reward them? Yelling for Francis. I am not going to disagree that Rafer's starting job is on the line. It absolutely is, the guy is shooting horribly, but if the coach thinks he has a better chance to win with one player on the court why would he ever submit to the ranting and yelling of a drunk crowd? Do you think that suddenly he's going to be like "Oh, I forgot all about Francis. Thank you so much for chanting for him so I remembered he was sitting on the end of the bench" and send him to the table? Just because you think Francis is the savior doesn't mean its truth.
I heard others mention that Steve didn't even have his uniform on under his warm ups after the game. If that is true, maybe Rick did ask him to go in, found out he wasn't in uniform and said never mind then... I find it unlikely to believe he had permission not to dress in uniform considering that if Rick had ZERO intention of playing him regardless of the situation they could just put him on inactive duty. Chances are good that Francis assumed he wouldn't play and killed his own opportunity to get in the game by not dressing which would rightfully piss off any coach. As for the continued Rafer hate, it's really amusing. Mike James shoots 2-10 with 3 turn over and zero assists, Battier is 3-9, Bonzi is 7-19 and misses 5 free throws, Yao is 6-18 and misses 6 free throws and it is Rafer with 5-13, 7 assist, 2 turn overs, 2 rebounds and 1 steal that lost us the game I expect Francis will get a chance over the next week to do something if he doesn't blow it. I just don't expect alot from a player who was riding the bench of the last 2 eastern conference lottery teams, who was paid $30 million to NOT play for lottery bound Portland, and who played himself completely out of the rotation on this team were PG is obviously our weakest position.
why is everyone in here without the patient. you have to give rick some times to test the team. remember we are want to win the playoff now, off course regular season is important ,but look back last year, we have home-court, still lose. so, new coach is coming, people know him as offense mind coach, his team is balance team, but he has 2 superstar now, is new to him. he is testing the team. i can see him know TMC better. for yao, he seems want to test yao to the limit so that can find out how to use yao better, that is why yao is minutes are higher for now. yao seems ok to play around 38 mins now, that is good news for us which we may not think so last season. so for rafer, it is still early season, as i post before, he is only pure PG for rick now, MJ AND SF are both offense mind PG, when, yao and TMC need to take most of shot, we can't allow MJ or SF play more time to grab the shots for YAO AND TMC. beside that, i could imagine, play rafer more time, may increase in trade vaule at mid-season i can see rick find the hard time coach rox now, only because he has 2 guys can take over the game, but he doesn't know who is better. he used to coach with one star plus 4,5 skill players, so move the ball, take the best shot which he can't play in rox. he doesn't have that power to make one of two unhappy. i can assume he would like TMC to be the man, but with importance of yao, i mean his "back up system" plus he has proved himself. therefore, he can only try to find the better system, maybe for now? just fast jvg system.
rafer was shooting well above his capabilities last season. Hence i'm not really trill at the "law of average" as that would meant rafer shooting even worst. Anyway, 9 games in, certainly something is not clicking in the team as evident in the last 3 games, why not try out something new, just to see how it works out. We lost 2 games in a row, and rafer have his 9th bad game in a row, while james is bad at the last 3-4 games. Anyway, who is the final 5 people on the court, as i'm shock to see that rafer alston is still on the floor when we need a 3. And how did scola play? his fouls & turnovers have gone down, but what about his overall play?
I just don't know why, for some reason, this kind of bullS**t is posted here. If you really want Steve to play, you can just let him put the F***ing uniform on during any time out!
IF that is true (not even confirmed), it isn't about the logistics of actually putting on his uniform. Yes, he could put on his uni in about 15 seconds. Its about the attitude that would reflect IF he wasn't wearing his uniform.
no, but it will remind his sorry Burger-King looking a$$ that the fans actually have eyes and those eyes are bleeding from watching Rafer break the rims with his bricks and Luther getting burned everytime on D.
no worries fellas....law of averages and stuff. rafer and battier will both end up competing in the 3-pt shootout and rafer will be competin in the point guard skills competetion at the allstar game this year once that law of averages kicks in. just be patient!
Lost in this is the fact that Rick didn't even think of Trying Francis out, once Tmac goes down. Meaning that: He Knew that the Guards would still not be able to hit jack, and he still went with them. He didn't care to try something to sway the game and hope to win it. Once you realize that you need something more, something to get you over the hump, then he should of called on Steve. If not just for this game. Instead he is being a complete tool about it and is NOT to the benefit of this team. Once again it is NOT about Steve Francis. If it was Hammamma Balabbabbaa with the same skill set as Steve I would be screaming for him. How can ANYONE justify Head, Snyder, James, Alston all over Steve at this point? Its ludicrous, complete garbage, and the head coach should be held completely responsible. RA: "Damn it here comes those We want Steve chants again, Im not going to play him. What if the team does fare better? Then Im going to have to play him more and look like a tool in the process. If he sucks then Im right and he can rot on the bench like he already has. Fudge it. We should of lost 3 in a row and 4 out of our last 5, but Im not letting Francis up." Newsflash Ricky....Dallas, Phoenix, and the Spurs are coming up. Just because TMac is out, I still believe this team can win some of those games. Get your head out of your ass and do your job. FANS UNITE!!!
