It's good that Francis acknowledged that his game as of late as been in his words "embarrassing" He knows he's capable of so much more. He just needs to get it together. He's supposed to be our 3rd main scorer while Bonzi is our 6th man. Get it together Steve! 15 5 5 is all we ask of ya.
I followed S. Francis all last year with the Knicks. I watched his games and I know he can play a lot better than what he has shown. I don't understand why his shooting percentage is down so much unless it was all that partying on his boat over the summer at Lake Conroe. He needs to get it together fast. I mean in two season with the Knicks his stats were: Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 05-06 NYK 24 15 27.5 0.442 0.538 0.761 0.6 2.4 3.0 3.5 1.0 0.2 2.42 2.60 10.8 06-07 NYK 44 30 28.1 0.408 0.378 0.829 0.8 2.8 3.6 3.9 0.9 0.3 2.27 2.90 11.3 07-08 HOU 10 3 19.9 0.333 0.235 0.565 0.8 1.5 2.3 3.0 0.9 0.5 1.40 2.50 5.5 I'm looking at these numbers and thinking..how in the world can his stats have fallen off so badly in one summer? Granted his minutes have fallen off but look at the difference in shooting percentages. NY he was shooting at over 40 percent from 2 pt range. His 3 ptrs were at 38 percent last year and 54 percent the year before. Free throws were at 83 percent last year. Rockets, he's shooting 33% from 2 pt range, 23.5% from the 3 point line and his free throws are only 56.5%. Like what!!?
It can't be the Adelman system that's slowing him down and he can't age that much over one summer. So the next obvious question is: IS STEVIE HURT?
Something is absolutely wrong with Francis. The most telling statistic is his free throws. How do you go from leading the league in free throw percentage to what he's shooting this year from the line? The free throw percentage also correlates well with overall shooting percentage. Francis's shot is broken but then so is everyone eles's. Mike James stats below. Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 05-06 TOR 79 79 37.0 0.469 0.442 0.837 0.6 2.7 3.3 5.8 0.9 0.0 2.61 2.70 20.3 06-07 MIN 82 65 25.2 0.422 0.372 0.837 0.3 1.7 2.0 3.6 0.7 0.1 1.57 2.10 10.1 07-08 HOU 23 1 19.6 0.364 0.324 0.763 0.4 1.5 1.9 1.9 0.7 0.1 1.09 1.60 8.4 Mike's FG percentage has gone from .422 to .364. His 3P% has dropped from .372 to .353. His FT's have also dropped from .837 to .763. Unbelievable. Now look at Rafer Alston: Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 05-06 HOU 63 63 38.6 0.379 0.327 0.692 0.6 3.5 4.0 6.7 1.6 0.2 2.49 3.10 12.1 06-07 HOU 82 82 37.1 0.375 0.363 0.734 0.4 3.1 3.4 5.4 1.6 0.1 2.07 2.40 13.3 07-08 HOU 21 21 30.2 0.383 0.277 0.583 0.3 2.9 3.2 4.9 1.2 0.1 1.52 1.40 8.6 Rafers FG percentage has actually gone up a little bit but his 3 ptrs have really fallen from .363 to .277 this year. His Free Throws are incredibly bad for a guard. He's gone from being a 73% free throw shooter to a 58% free throw shooter.
I know our guards' shooting has been terrible but I didn't realize they were these bad. We are already 22 games into the season and if these guys are going to regain their shooting touch, they'd better start doing it soon.
So now the obvious question is, what causing all our guards shooting to fall so much? The free throw percentage is a pretty good indicator that it's mental. Either that or they need to practice their shooting a whole lot more.
It is also this trend between three veteran guards that does not make me feel that Brooks will do any better. But who knows, he may suprise us.
Does there exist an logical explanation to this horrid shooting by our guards or are they just going through a collective slump? It's really hard to analyze the situation when you have to factor in so many new elements. I just hope that Adelman has a solution worked out already.
his performance ...to and to...missing and missing.. it seems that.. he grew old like a 40yrs old man in one summer. i was disappointed ! did sf3 only a "fomar" all-star? where is our sf3
Well he is in a good position now to get himself out of this shooting slump, because he is being left wide open on plenty of occasions. He just needs to forget passing to yao/tmac, and take the shots, evently they are gonna fall.
He knows that he isn't playing like he should play, hence he said that he was downright embarrassed. He's in a slump. I've been disappointed with him lately especially when I went nuts when he started getting injected into the starting lineup. I thought that this was Steve's chance to prove he still has it and he flopped. He knows he has to get it together,he's on the team where he wanted to be,he's in the city where he wants to be,he's got a crapload of buyout money. Now go out there and play. I'm staying optimistic about it because the worst should be behind us. Once Steve gets it clickin' to help T-Mac and Yao the wins will come pourin in and we will be a threat like we were on paper at the beginning of the season when we made all the acquisitions.
i have to give it to you francis fans. yall sure are optimistic. the worst is behind us? thats funny. the worst will be when francis finally gets traded...or maybe the best. as soon as we acquired Francis, i kept saying that people who expected him to be a major contributor would be severely dissapointed, yet people laughed and bashed me for being a hater. well, francis has blown every opportunity he's had, and he's been a huge dissapointment to everyone. im not the type to say, "i told you so", but DAMN it feels good being right.
alright i did predict james to be a good piece for this team, and for the most part he has been. unfortunately he's fallen off hard and if anyone's in adelman's doghouse it's him. he wouldve fit much better with van gundy than adelman that's for sure.
