Here an article about the Jazz: http://www.sportsline.com/nba/powerrankings/ I like this part about Harpring: Besides, the grumpy old men are being fortified by the young and talented legs of Matt Harpring and Andrei Kirilenko on both ends of the floor. The insertion of Harpring (signed as free agent over the summer) into the starting lineup parallels the present streak. He didn't fit in at first because he was used to playing with guys who didn't pass the ball, so he had become selfish. Once he realized the ball comes back if you pass and cut with Utah, it all fell into place. He had consecutive career-highs of 30 and 33 points. Maybe Mobley, Francis and most of the Rockets should read this.
francis is alot better than stockton and everyone knows it. stockton is a good player but hes not better than francis
i would have to say that stevie is better right now. and field goal % doesnt matter that much. look at Iverson his % is low but his team still wins
yes francis is better and will always will be better and i do agree with you about iverson and his team
1) Comparing a 25 year old Francis with a 40 year old Stockton is not fair due to the fact that Stockton is way past his prime. 2) Compare Francis with say, a 28 or even 32 year old Stockton. Id pick Stockton in a heart beat if the surrounding talent is equal. 3) If you seriously think that Steve Francis is better now than Stockton has ever been, then you are being dishonest with yourself.
i would argue that leadership and the ability to maximize your teams talent is a lot more important than individual scoring. if stockton is unable to score like steve through one on one play but instead is capable of generating a high percentage of high % fgs, then thats just as effective if not more so. stockton is a leader, steve is not. everyone seems to think that steve is a special player but really what does he do well? he scores well. thats his thing. and the league has had dozens of scoring point/combo guards from the past decade. im sure the fans from those teams considered their guy to be a special superstar talent too, but only stockton and payton(and maybe tim hardaway) have played the point guard position for a sustained period on their way to the hall of fame. i bet bobby jackson could come close to steve stats if he had free reign. to illustrate my point im going to just name a bunch of guys off the top of my head who i feel were able to excel on offense from the point guard position. this list will be limited to guys i have seen play from the past decade. feel free to add to it. baron davis, kenny anderson, tim hardaway, jason kidd, gary payton, steve nash, chris jackson, anfernee hardaway, kevin johnson, rod strickland, sam cassel, mike bibby, terrel brandon, mark price, et. al. so again, steve francis is really not that rare a talent. there will be more of him soon. tj ford, dujuan wagner, lebron james. for the rockets, ming is a unique player, steve is not.
a few more: stephon marbury, jason williams, probably jay williams in 3 years, jason terry, allen iverson, bobby hurley....jk
how is it possible that in a good clean Francis bash thread somebody find a way to bring Yao Ming up.ik like Yao Ming but i'm getting tired of the only Yao Ming fans.and not rockets fans. francis is alot better than most of these guys.maybe than al of them,maybe Kidd and payton are better,but they have reached there prime and Francis stil isn't in his prime
