Excuses or facts? 1. The Rockets are a young team. FACT - the Rockets are one of the youngest teams in the league. 2. Eddie Griffin is young and needs time to develop. FACT - Eddie Griffin is 20 years old, just 3 years ago he was playing high school ball. He will never be the superstar that the front office is hyping him as, but he will be a quality difference-maker once his game becomes more consistent. 3. The guards are too selfish. EXCUSE - The guards are not too selfish, they just don't have the experienced players around them yet. We expect that they should be hitting 75% of their shots. Francis FG% is 43%, and 3PT is 40%. Steve Nash has averages of 45% and 40%. Steve Nash is on a playoff team. Cuttino is also shooting 43%, Peja Stojakovic is shooting 46%. That's not a HUGE difference. 4. Rudy T is a terrible coach. EXCUSE - Rudy T is just like any other coach in this league -- no coach is going to win consistently without an experienced veteran team. And, I'm sorry, but 4 years in the league does not make ANYONE an experienced veteran. Kobe Bryant still makes boneheaded plays quite often - the difference is that he has Shaq, Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw, etc... to clean up his mess if he does act like a dummy. Neither Steve nor Cuttino or anyone else on this team has that luxury. 5. Yao is still learning the NBA game. FACT - Yao has played a grand total of 48 NBA games. The dude has never played a season this long in his life. It is going to take him more than one season to adjust to the NBA game to where he can become a consistent dominant force. 6. This is a new team that hasn't played together very long. FACT - Mo Taylor had one season with the Rockets before missing all of last year. Yao, Posey, Griffin, Terence Morris are all young players who have not been on this team very long and are just now getting solid playing time. The Rockets have had a revolving door the past three seasons and it is going to take some time for this team to develop chemistry and gel. Yes, I know you guys are probably all sick of me saying this over and over... But we really need to have some patience here. Count our blessings. We have one of only three coaches in the league right now that has EVER won an NBA championship. We just got the first pick in the draft and took probably one of the most coveted prospects since Tim Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon. We are over .500 at the all-star break for the first time since 1998. We are getting a new arena next year. We have one of the most talented, athletic, YOUNG teams in the league. The future is bright. So, let's get behind the team, friends. Thank you for your consideration.
You make good points. I'm sure most of them will get bashed, but, what can ya' do? One interesting thing I found when looking. Steve Francis has some pretty elite company when it comes to turnovers/game: Top 21: 1 Steve Francis 4.2 2 Kobe Bryant 3.8 3 G. Robinson 3.7 4 Ricky Davis 3.6 5 Jason Kidd 3.6 6 Paul Pierce 3.6 7 Allen Iverson 3.5 8 S. Marbury 3.4 9 Jalen Rose 3.3 10 A. Walker 3.2 11 Chris Webber 3.2 12 G. Arenas 3.2 13 Andre Miller 3.1 14 Jason Terry 3.1 15 Bonzi Wells 3.1 16 Tim Duncan 3.1 17 S. O'Neal 3.0 18 A. Hardaway 2.9 19 Baron Davis 2.9 20 J. Stackhouse 2.8 21 K. Garnett 2.8 Guess what nearly all of them have in common??? If you guessed that nearly all of them are the primary option of their respective offenses, you guessed correct. I hate the bonehead plays. They are annoying. But, using this statistic as a way to point to how horrible he really is with the ball is not the most effective argument.
Axeman: Don't you think that's just a little too rosey? I understand coming in on the "positive side" on any ONE of those individual issues. And you present decent arguments on all but one of them (#3 is a lost cause, imo). But when I see someone come in on the positive side on every one of those talking points about the Rockets, I think "unrealistic." Just like I would feel if you'd taken the negative position on every single one. Incidentally, I agree with you very much on #'s 1, 2, 5 and moderately on #6. I disagree on #3 and somewhat disagree on #4. I don't think Rudy's a terrible coach, but I think he's the wrong coach for this team for various reasons.
The problem with that list though is first, Francis is the worst there by a pretty big margin. The difference between #1 and #2 is also the difference between #2 and #8. As for Kidd, his assists are down this year, but he's still creating more than Francis by 2-3 assists per game. Kobe scores 28+ a game as a shooting guard with those turnovers, but even <I>then</I> he is averaging more assists per game than Francis. Sobering fact. Also, Francis has never had this high of turnovers. He's also never had this few assists per game. So as a playmaker, he's regressing - or at best one would have to admit he's not improving. With that said, I am not giving up on Francis and am willing to be patient with him. Mobley? That's another story.
Jeff, Turnovers per game or Assists per game simply in isolation dont mean much. A much truer definition of a PG is the Ast to TO ratio. In that list, I counted six PGs including Steve. Take a wild guess where Francis ranks in Ast to TO ratio among the PGs on that list: 1. Stephon Marbury 2.41 2. Baron Davis 2.39 3. Jason Kidd 2.31 4. Jason Terry 2.29 5. Andre Miller 2.22 6. Steve Francis 1.46 Interesting.... 1-5 are clumped pretty closely together, then there is a GIGANTIC drop off to that guy at #6. If anyone is curious, his backcourt mate is at 1.28. Gee, I wonder why this offense is so inconsistent? Hmmmm, gotta be the youth right?
MM & Clutch: Actually, I completely agree with all of what you both said. My point was that a lot of people simply cite the fact that Francis leads the league in turnovers. In a vaccuum, that is a misleading stat. The assist/to ratio is a much more effective stat to analyze and, for Steve, it isn't good.
How can you possibly have a good assist/TO ratio if your team is not hitting their shots?? Im not saying Steve doesnt make mistakes and bad judgement calls (i.e. the pass that cost us the game yesterday) but his play otherwise more than makes up for his mistakes. He knows who is firing and who is misfiring during the course of a game, if you make the passes and the team isn't hitting the shots there are no assists to tally. One of us needs to start watching this stat - everytime Steve passes to a shooter and the shot is missed...Id like to see what that number is. I guess my point is that it is not fair to blame the guards for being selfish if half the time they are the only ones who can score, and without them we would be nothing..... JB
i believe francis' high number of turnovers indicates he is trying to pass, and is not be selfish....but it is also an indication of decision making..ie pass to yao last night...cuttino...thats another story... since this is "positive" thread....cat's iso's have been more subdued since the dallas game...
You forgot that Mr TO' , J Will avg 2 to's vs 7 asst. Gilbert 2 guard arenas is even at 2:1. If Francis was throwing 8 asst vs those 4 to's, it would be an incredible difference to the offense.
Here's another one Axeman: FACT: Teams get UP to play the Rockets every night unlike any other teams save LA, Dallas, and Sac. The Rockets are treated by other teams like they are contenders, when they are far from. They are most likely going to get the other team's best game on any given night. The Rockets are receiving a tremendous amount of hype, courtesy of Yao Ming, and the other teams in the league want to show up Yao and the Rockets every time they play. This is NOT the situation that the Phoenixes, Utahs, and Minnesotas of the world find themselves in. The Rockets don't have the experience yet to take every team's best shot every night. Great points on the other stuff. I've been enjoying reading your realistic posts. They're definitely few and far between around here.
When 99% of the people are saying that Houston has a problem - then they do. Here are the two options Rockets have 1. They're players grow up (mentally) overnight 2. They make a trade This is not about youth or any other excuse. I think we all could live with if we get beaten by a better team, but not when we make stupid mistakes. Here is what I mean by stupid 1. Standing around on offense 2. Non-existant perimeter defense 3. 1 on 4 drive to the basket 4. Poor spacing 5. Fancy passing when they pass I could have lived if they lost to the lakers in Jan - they played well that game. What I cannot live with is the losses to the Knicks, Hawks, Jazz, Mavs, etc -Tariq
Good point, Freak. You know that every opposing team's big man gets a talking-to from its guards ("you gonna let that Chinese boy show you up, or are you gonna come to play?") And other guards definitely don't mind showing up Steve. At the same time, our team obviously doesn't know how to take a punch, or how to fight back.
God. The Rockets can never play the offensive style of the New Jersey Nets or Dallas Mavericks or Sacramento Kings. Steve Francis just can't do it. But I would like them to be more like the Lakers. IF YOU LOOK AT THE LAKERS...THEY ARE BACK. God...Shaq is dominating and Kobe is the man. KOBE CAN BE MVP. He is good...better than T-Mac now. I would like to be like the Lakers. I don't want to be all cocky and mean and ugly like the Lakers, but I would like Yao to be scoring and then be double teamed. And then once they surround him, Francis can do all of his stuff. And then they will have to pressure Francis. And Yao can dominate. And we still have Cuttino Mobley. And James Posey. And Eddie Griffin. That would be great... BUT THE TRUTH IS..WE SUCK.
Despite all that you have pointed out, WHAT IS INEXCUSABLE IS THEIR FAILURE TO COME TO PLAY EVERY NITE AND THEIR CONTINUING BELIEF THAT ATHLETIC ABILITY MAKES THEM, SOME HOW, SUPERIOR TO MOST OTHER TEAMS. When will Cat and Steve learn that this is a TEAM GAME, and what matters is progress...and ultimately wins. When teams with far inferior talent continue to beat them..........DUH?! And one more point: I think that Francis' being voted to starting in all-star game has somehow validated to him that he MUST be on the right track. Voters respond to ESPN highlight reels, not necessarily doing what it takes to win. Based on his leadership and team results, he has not really earned the status yet. His athletic ability is elite, his leadership and on court decision making are not. D R
I know. That's the coach's job to prepare them mentaly. The coach has to make them WANT TO WIN every game. They think...OH IT'S THE CAVALIERS. Easy! And they lose. They relax. AND THE TRUTH IS THEY HAVE NEVER MADE THE PLAYOFFS. And Stevie is ELITE. But he's getting OLDER AND OLDER. He won't be able to do all his highflying amazing moves anymore. The Rockets have to want to win every game. I don't know if they are nervous or maybe they don't like it when people are against them....but they have to forget about it and just play. How?
This is a cop out of a reason not to involve your teammates. I present exhibit A, the Dallas game on 1/29/03. In the 1st half the Rockets involved Yao Ming early in the game and initiated much of their offense in the post. The Rockets offense looked like a well oiled machine, kept the Mavs big men in foul trouble and the Rockets led the Mavericks by 7 points going into the half. In the second half of that game the Mavericks started hitting their outside shots and Steve and Cat thought they had to respond by putting the game on their shoulders while ignoring the post. The game was basically over by the end of the 3rd quarter. Exhibit B: Minnesota and Sacramento games. The Rockets initiated their offense in the post letting much of it run directly through Yao Ming gaining 54 assists spreading out the shots and having a large number of players hitting a high percentage of their shots and scoring a lot of points. Exhibit C, the game against Cleveland on 2/5/03. The Rockets ignored Yao Ming on offense for the first 3 quarters giving him only one shot in the entire first half! In the 4th quarter at about the 5-minute mark Yao Ming comes back into the game and the Rockets start running initiating their offense with him. As a result Yao scores 9 points and the Rockets make up 14 points and almost win the game. These are the facts and you can not let Steve and Cuttino off of the hook with that excuse.
Good observation! I notice this too. Those teams all started to show up when they play Rockets. When Lakers played against Rockets, they played their best game for a while (later they lost to nets and warriors). With Bulls, its the last second prayer shot. With Calvaliers, they score 105... Of course, Rockets defense did not help either.
