So Should he get the same amount of time to prove himself not a quick 5 min and he does bad, but 6-9 games to see what he is made of
Well, when RA is ready to put Francis into the game I dont think he will yank him if he turns the ball over a couple times.
Surprisingly, Francis is doing everything right by being patient and sticking with the team. He is well aware of the fact that his time will come one way or the other. Adelman will find a reason to play him at some point, likely in the near future. It will be up to Francis to carve out a legit role and keep it. If there is one thing that Steve clearly does remarkably better than Alston, James and Head, it is drive to the basket with aggression. WE SHOT 6 FREE THROWS TONIGHT!!! I REPEAT, 6 FREE THROWS!!! Francis may be wild at times but at least he is WILLING to go inside when his jump shot isn't falling instead of continuing to launch shots. The exact opposite is true for Mr. Alston, Mr. James and Mr. Head. Those guys simply aren't wired to take it strong to the rack. See Ginobili. See Parker. See Nowitzki. See Howard. These guys are multi-dimensional offensive players. They balance outside shooting with drives to the basket. They take the basketball into traffic and can get to the free throw line. So can Steve Francis. Nobody should be able to argue against this fact. Francis would get more FTs than Alston, James and Head combined if he played the same amount of minutes as one of them. How many times have you seen Head drive hard and get FTs during his entire 3-year NBA career?? How about Alston? James is a little better, but not by much. When shots aren't falling, good players on good teams find ways to get to the line instead of jacking up shot after shot. Francis can definitely help us improve in this area. He will get his chance.
If Adelman was giving playing time based on ability to penetrate and get to the FT line, Francis would have been starting. Steve's problem is not scoring.
Good point. I still feel that, despite Rick's expectations and Steve's deficiencies, the team would benefit by playing Francis. He brings us a different offensive dimension that is unavailable by virtue of Alston, James or Head. Currently, this team does not appear to have great passing ability outside of a few players so we should not expect to play ideally under Adelman. We either need to go find new players for this system or get more guards in the rotation that can drive to the hoop to compliment the shooters. McGrady does not consistently do this over the course of the season. I love Mac's game but he is much less aggressive than "before the back". He has a silky smooth style of play at this point of his career. Steve is still tough and willing to get dirty. I think they would make a 'better-than-expected" combo in the backcourt. Adding Steve to the rotation would give us at least a couple of guards/swingmen that consistently drive hard to the basket. Slashers like him and Wells would be nice compliments to pure shooters like McGrady and Battier.
Wow...it's not even close! 879 93 Scola was awesome tonight. Rafer can't shoot. MJ seems out of control at times....why not try our old franchise?
I dunno, Francis was turnover prone his entire career. I don't think that will change. Interestingly enough, last year his turnovers were 2.27 TO's per game which by the way is a career best. Every single year Francis has dropped his turnovers from a high of 3.97 TO's per game. Now the only reason I can think of benching Franchise is that in Adleman's offense, Francis passes the ball to the wrong place and turns it over or runs to the wrong area. Once he gets that part down, then he'll play. The other reason is that preseason Technical. I don't know what he said or did but that technical in practice means something. Who gets a "T" in a practice session?
Lovie Smith - Head Coach Chicago Bears "Rex Grossman is my guy" Rick Adleman - Head Coach Houston Rockets "Rafer Alston is my guy" It took Lovie Smith half the season and a losing record before he benched Grossman and put Brian Griese in at QB. What will it take Adleman to play Francis??? A 5 game slide? 10 games? Losing half the season???
Now, i didnt read the whole thread, but someone refresh my memory....... Didnt we trade steve francis for tracy mcgrady? I know there were others involved, but the big talents involved were tracy and steve. now that we now have both players, and one of them is injured, shouldnt we damn near automatically play the other? we made it just as far into the playoffs with steve as we did tracy
I didn't really read the thread, but I don't see how you can answer no... We can't say anything about Francis yet. He may be a washed up scrub, he may be a sleeping all star, or he may be a quality role player -- we just don't know. We've seen so little of him that not taking a look, however big or small it may be, really shouldn't be a fan option.
Going for 1000 votes. Good sample. The crowd has spoken. It is too weird. It is not like Steve is an unknown or Rafer, Head and James are playing lights out. Why not let the fans see if Steve can play or not? Most of us will just not believe he cannot play without seeing him some.
And all of those votes mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Adelman plays who he thinks gives the best chance to execute the offense and win games. At this time, Francis is not one of the players he feels can do that. Its really quite simple.
Yeah, but Phil Jackson or Gregg Poppovich doesnt listen to the fans about rotation issues with their own team. Nobody does. Its absolutely ludicrous to think fan input has any effect on the gametime decisions made on the bench. Fan input on all-star game is a bone thrown because its the friggin all star game. Who chooses the reserves??? People who know the game, like coaches.
Eh...Fans buy the tickets......no fans...no show. Simple as that... just realize that the NBA is not for the players its for OUR entertainment...nothing else. nothing more.
NBA is in business to make money. Winning brings more fans than playing "fan favorites." Front office wants to win. Coach wants to win. Therefore all decisions are made with that in mind. And the Rockets games will still sell out to the many fans that understand why Steve isnt playing. Yet.
