I know about a week ago, there was an article entailing a conversation between John Lucus & Stevie, where Lucas scribed MVP on piece of paper to let Francis know what he could become. With that said, was it me (and I am no professed reader of lips), or did anyone else see Francis mouth the letters....M-V-P when he was at the FT line? If so, if he is that commited....this should be a great season. Well, just wanted throw that out there.
M.V.P would be awesome for the franchise but my goal for him is 20+ppg(easy for him) and 10 apg( thats a challenge for steve) if he could do that playoffs baby! playoffs! ALL-NBA BABY! ALL-NBA!
That is a great first post FranCat - positive and benevolent. I totally agree with you and Lucas that SF is capable of being an MVP. I also believe the Rockets coaching staff has assured Steve that even with Eddie and Yao coming in and getting theirs that Steve is still the team leader and will be until he is gone. When I saw Steve's first dunk in his first Dunk Contest I knew that this dude had the sickest ability ever in a Rocket's Guard. Your post pumped me up dude!
Hes good enough, judging by his first game. I would rather like him to be concentrating on winning a Championship!
The way he played last night, thats MVP calibur. I liked what I saw. If he keeps that up (Which I know he will) and the fact that we will win 50+ games, Steve has to be an MVP candidate.
My team objective is top 4 in the West. If we do that and we win the division he would have to be considered. Of course to give us the best shot at all of this, his time has to be managed. 37 minutes is too much IMO. But Moochie was unavailable. I would like him to be no higher, in terms of average, than 32 minutes a game. Is this team competitive with Steve playing only 32 minutes? Absolutely! All it means is Moochie and, in some cases, Brown has to play 16 minutes. Piece of cake. What we want is SF to be absolutely dominant for those 32 minutes and we will have double digit leads regularly.
If he is healthy, there is no reason not to play him 35-40 minutes a game. He has averaged over 40 minutes the last two seasons. Most stars play about that much too.
As long as Shaq, Kobe, and Duncan are in the league (barring season long injuries), Steve won't be winning any MVP awards... About the minutes issue. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal, until I did a little math. Let's say Steve starts all 82 games. At 35 minutes per game, that's 2870 minutes. At 40 minutes per game, that's 3280 minutes. That's a difference of 410 minutes, which adds up to about 8.5 more games played that season. Now, this is by no means scientific, but it does suggest that those extra minutes do add up, and even a small rest can be beneficial. Of course, one year Wilt Chamberlain played every single minute of every single game, including overtime, and that didn't seem to slow him down.
I believe the quality of the minutes played and not number of minutes that is more critical. We start making a mistake when we say he should be able to do that and do this. My point all along is think outside the box. We want Wink to be not overworked and always primed even in those dreaded back to backs. The resistance to this idea should be minimal since I believe we have depth at the point guard spot.
With him being a PG, it is also going to take a strong showing by the team (like in the top 2 or 3 in the West). The one challenge tha I think he will have is him being thought of as an offensive player only, or a player who does not put out equally on both sides of the ball. He has all the ability and athletecism, but can turn that into results on the defensive end? Remains to be seen, and may be a hurdle between Steve and CONSIDERATION of an MVP award.
That pretty much sums it up... barring the Rockets having an incredible turn around this year and leading the Midwest division with Francis getting 23+ points and over 10 assists a game.
do you believe that Kobe is that much better than Steve? Cause I think that Shaq and Duncan pose a threat...but is Kobe really more of a candidate for MVP than Steve? I would like to take this moment to point out that Steve played that game effortless, it didnt even look like he was trying to dish out all those assits. I understand that it was "preseason" but Man that gives me an aspiration for greatness!
Being an MVP means your team needs you out there all the time and the team performs much better and wins when you play. Steve fits that category, when he was out the team cratered. He has to step up now and make his teammates much better (10+ assts.). The team must have a big turnaround and win and get to second round playoff standards like NJ did with Kidd. When Shaq is out the Lakers record is not nearly as good. That shows me Shaq is more of their MVP than Kobe. maybe someone can do a comparison of Steve out and Kobe/Shaq out vs. team wins. Kobe will have his chance to show if he deserves MVP consideration with Shaq out at the beginning of this year. I think he is an awesome player, but I don't think he is an MVP type player (yet)
Steve showed his MVP status last year. Just look at the record with him out of the lineup. We need that dude as much as the Lakers need Shaq.
To be a MVP: 1. Great Stats 2. On a good team I don't think anyone questions Stevie's ability to put up great numbers (gettign the assist numbers up still may be somewhat of a challenge). The tough part is the great team part. THe Rockets would have to exceed expectations (I agree the #4 seed in the West would be nice) I just don't think good numbers can do it alone. THere are too many good players on good teams (Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, Dirk, McGrady) who can match the numbers and still be on a good team. But it's a possibility! PS- I agree great 1st post!
