Hell yeah. Francis is da man. As is Yao and Mobley and Griffin and TMo... I'd take Francis over Nash or Parker any day. Whoever says otherwise... get off this site.
Are you serious, ZRB? If so, can you enlighten me a little bit. I have been lurking on this site for quite some time and really like reading your posts. I have to say I don't know much about Francis's game. The first time I watched Francis playing was on last year's all-star game and he was so out-of-sync with other players that I got the impression he really didn't belong to the all-star event and was wondering how he got in in the first place. I have watched a few Rocket's game this year (even drove once to Houston to watch a game) and started to know more about Rockets and Steve. To me, Steve is not at all the player a lot of posters here hyped him to be. For one thing, when Steve Francis drives to the hole, he never knows he has other options which is a must-have-skill for a short guard. The only thing I can think that might be to Francis's advantage is he can get his shot whenever he wants due to his God-given athletic ability, however Nash can almost get as a good shot by stopping and popping. Both suck in defense. Somehow I got the feeling that Francis is not even in Nash's league in my opinion. Did I miss something here? Shrimpie
Best Pure PG? Steve Nash, Hands down. Second Best? Van Exel Best Guard? Steve Francis Second Best? Cuttino Mobley
Nash is the best PG in Texas, because he is the smartest one. He sets the table for his teams success. Nash is the main reason for Dallas' great start. Nash is really really good. DaDakota
The difference between Nash and Francis is that Nash never has to face a double team, as he is surrounded by quality shooters. The Mavs also run a different offense, with players moving without the ball, freeing themselves up for easy shots. Despite all that, Nash only averages an assist-and-a-half more than Francis. Steve Francis can create his own shot despite a double team, he can finish above the rim, he gets to the line, and does a great job of setting up plays. He doesn't get a lot of assists because his initial pass is usually swung to another player for the shot. In addition to this, Francis hustles all over the court (as evidenced by his clutch steal and timeout in OT tonight), and is perfectly willing to take punishment. The guy is a warrior, and a brilliant rebounder for his size. Yes, sometimes he has off games where he will make mistakes leading to turnovers, but who doesn't? If you were to ask any GM who they would rather have, Francis or Nash, they would all say Francis. Nash could NEVER lead a team without Nowitski or Finley. This guy was CRAP until he had good shooters to pass to. Suddenly, because he can hit an open three, he is supposed to be better than Francis? Only four players have ever averaged 15-5-5 for their first three years, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and Grant Hill. That is elite company. Steve does not have to average 10 assists for this team to be successful. The offense simply doesn't work that way. If Rudy were to put Steve into a Cavaliers-type offense, where shooters are constantly freeing themselves via screens, I'm sure he could average 10 assists like everyone's hero, Andre Miller. But did that system work for Cleveland? Hardly. And one more thing: Anyone who thinks Steve shoots too much is stupid. Gary Payton, the league-leader in assists, averages 19 shots per game. Steve averages 18. His shooting has nothing to do his ability to set teammates up. The only thing this team needs to do is go back to playing tough defense, and get Yao more involved. Steve knows that giving some of the load to Yao will make his life easier. He has done a fine job of getting him the ball, with this game as an exception. This is only going to get better as the season goes on. The Rockets have a lot of talent, but have yet to find their chemistry. That will change as Steve gets used to having better players around. Remember last year? Steve was surrounded by the likes of Terrence Morris and Dan Langhi as a first unit. He was used to taking over games. You can't just suddenly toss in ton of talented players, and expect everything to click right away. It will take at least a few more weeks.
Nash can be better as a PG, but Franchise is absolutely better as aguard. No way to trade Steve for nash. I don't know how come u can come up with the thought on trading steve for nash, it's just too ridiculous.
damn good post zrb. nash is the best pure pg in texas but if you'd rather have him or even tony freakin' parker then francis than you are a complete moron. sorry. tony parker? is that a joke.
I will keep on throwing my 2 cents here. In Chinese, this is called throwing a brick so someone else can throw a diamond. I agree that Francis can get a good shot when double-teamed, but the question is why not simply pass the ball to an open man. Passing the ball to an open teammate is equivalent to getting a good shot when being double-teamed (which Nash can do). So I don't know if we can use this to say that Francis is a better PG. Besides, as good as Steve is, I don't see any team using a double-team strategy on him. Most of the time, Francis got himself into a double-team all by himself, not the opponent sending a second guy to help. Francis's 15/5/5 is pretty impressive in statistics, but considering what Rockets has done in the past few years, I don't think that says much. Don't forget Mo Taylor used to have very impressive numbers too. I have to say I admire Steve's rebounding ability which Nash can never do. The flip side of the coin is Rockets relies a point guard too much to rebound, and that hinders its fast break abilities. All in all, I am still not convinced that Francis is a better PG, or a better player for that matter, than Nash. I don't think we can plainly claim that ANY GM would take Francis over Nash (anyone really believes that Dallas would trave Nash for Francis?). Again, just my brick, I hope to see some diamonds. Shrimpie
Despite all that, Nash only averages an assist-and-a-half more than Francis. Nash only averages 33 minutes/game while Francis plays more than 42 minutes/game. Here is the Statistics per 48 minutes for this season Nash: 10.7 Assists, 27.2 Pts, 2.62 Assists Per Turnover , 48% FG, 42.2% 3P%, 92.2% FT Francis: 6.79 Assists, 26.9 Pts, 1.62 Assist Per Turnover, 43.8% FG, 36.5% 3P%, 79.1% FT You can see Nash beats Francis in EVERY CATEGORY except rebound. I hadn't realized How good Nash is even before this post.
Sorry shrimpie, no diamonds here for you. I cant chime in with anything better than to thank ZRb for sayin it all for me. Good job mate.
Dude is asking a bunch of Francis fans (some more passionate than others) if the Rocks should trade Francis for Nash of all people. That's like asking an Oilers fan if they should trade Earl Campbell for Tony Dorsett. And just so happens, he asks this after a game in which everyone is (once again) whining about Yao Ming not getting 50 attempts from the field. You do the math. I'm done venting, I won't be responding to threads like this anymore. ZRB, thanks for salvaging this "thread", yours is the only post with logic.
