Is Ming worth the risk, all things considered yes. Would a trade work for us? Yes this is a draft that goes 12-15 deep and there are alot of potential NBA players going into the second round. But the thing that would help us the most this offseason is for Steve Francis to improve as a point guard. He needs to learn how to get other players the ball, quarterback and run the offense, make other players better aroung him. Steve has all the physical tools to do this. He can dribble, pass and see the floor with the best. But he does not have the court leadership of Jason Kidd or even Mike Bibby. We all want Steve to score, but until he learns to make His team better we are no better than a 2 guard playground team. How about Rudy sitting down with Steve and asking him to get to the next level as a POINT guard aka Magic Johnson, John Stockton, John Lucas etc. For Steve to become a great point guard will equal the development of our young players and future championships.
lets face it. steve gets under 7 asts per game for a reason. he is the go to guy, and he doesnt have anyone to pass to beyond cat. this summer we will bring in yao who should add an ast per game for steve, and with griff working on his post game steve should averageclose to 8 asts per game. as far as turnovers, steve averages 3.88. kidd averages 3.48. steve will have an easy target to complete his passes come october, so you can bet the to's will go down. next year steve will emerge as one of the top ten players in the league.
I agree with what you say as a possibility, but Steve has a win now attitude that I think causes him to leave out younger players. I remember moochie involving EG and TMo, but Steve all too often didn't give them the rock when they were open because of their inconsistancy. He will need to change some and get them involved especially as we add more young players. Steve needs to see us becoming a contender in 2-3 years. Get the young guys going.
John Lucas? Am I thinking of a completely different guy, or was John Lucas a 6'9 jump-shooting hall-of-fame power forward who played for the Knicks?
John Lucas I think you're confusing him with someone else... John Lucas was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 1976. He had some drug problems and was suspended for a while but came back afterwards. DANG!
He dosen't have anyone else to pass to because he dosen't pass to anyone else. Steve looks to Mobley first then himself second. He will let someone else finish the play, but he retains "creative controll". I agree with rhester, no real progress can come as a team untill everybody is involved. Look how much Cato's defense and especially rebounding improve when Francis gives him those alley oops passes. If Steve would do that for everybody he would have plenty of other people to pass to. At the end of the year Steve made passes for game winning shots to Griffin and Collier. That is a good step in my opinion. When we start playing as a team we will be hard to beat.
Think about this-- If Steve is a point guard, and he is. And he want s to be the best ever at the end of his career. What does he have to do. avg. 10.5 apg score 21 ppg reb 6pg make his team better win some championships I think the Rockets future rests on changes Steve needs to make as much as getting more good young players out of this draft.
This is the most important thing. Because this could be the fastest way, by gambling on Ming to get a Championship a year or 2 earlier to Houston again.
