Profound. By god, that's as profound a statement as I've ever seen on this BBS. Who can dispute it?? Seriously, Sane, that made me LMAO!
If a guy is a franchise player, at least he should put his team into playoff, right? Steve Francis is a very good player, but, he is not MJ, he can't do it all. Even Kobe can't do that. Thus the point is to put Steve into a winning system, not to buid a system around Steve.
Exactly! Steve is not the Franchise, he is a piece. Rudy's biggest mistake has been building the team around Francis. He's a very good player but he can't take over the game like a Hakeem or Jordan.
Interestingly I have had a similar thought about Oski. I suspect his defend-Steve-at-all-cost stance has more than meets the eyes. Anyway, I cannot put the blame on anyone (player). Dallas is the only team we cannot absolutely match up against. Sometimes I think what is the used making the playoffs and have Dallas embaras us in April (but I will take that over not making it though)? But when a team beats you this much (blow out each time), it falls on the coach to make the necessary changes. How did San Antonio hang with these Mavericks in Dallas with Duncan and The Admiral? Mind boggling right? How is it that Memohis hang better than we do against them? There is definitely something wrong with Rudy's approach. First Steve has to play better D against their Assasin, Nash, and our perimeter defense has to be able starngle the long range shooting. I want to optimistically believe that we will grab at least the 8th spot at the expense of Phoenix but that will mean we will have to face Dallas. Please Rudy we do not want a repeat of the Supersonics sweet/streak of not so distance future. But first things first, the Rockets needs to continue playing selflessly and improve our perimeter Defense before we can even worrying about Houston V Dallas #5.
For every "defend-Steve-at-all-cost" poster, there are 2 "criticise-Steve-at-all-cost posters and 10 "defend-Yao-at-all-cost" posters.
As much as I've been a Francis hatah, his shot count isn't what bothers me. And I'm not even concerned with his assist count. He can take as many shots as he wants, as long as he moves the ball around too. If the defense gives him nothing early in a posession, don't force the issue, or dribble away while waiting for something to open up. Move it around, make the defense adjust/reset. Hopefully, the ball will come back to Francis, and with an easier shot. A shot for Francis and he doesn't get an assist -- but there's ball movement. It's fine with me if he takes shots early with lots of time on the shot clock too -- as long as he uses his speed and pushes the ball up quickly before the defense gets set, instead of walking it up. Some early offense would really help things. Just as long as he doesn't have to constantly try to beat guys off the dribble in a half-court set, or make wild drives into traffic. And again, if he could give up the ball once in a while when pushing it up the court, while we run some early offense plays -- loops, etc. -- where he can get the ball back again, that would help things too. Again, he can shoot as much as he wants, in the right context. Stuff like this would also mask his shortcomings at running a free-lance fast break. Francis is still our best scorer -- as much as I've hated his style of play, he still needs to take most of the shots. It's just the context of those shots that pisses me off. Some of the fault for this falls on him, but more than anything it's an overall chemistry problem -- not among the players, but between the coaching staff and the players. Francis doesn't have natural PG skills, but he has other skills -- Rudy needs to maximize those skills, and minimize his weaknesses. Rudy's built systems suited his players' talents in the past, put he hasn't done it in a while. He wasn't able to leverage Pippen's skills when he was here. He hasn't done it with Francis and Mobley. I don't know if it's his fault, the guards fault, or a little of both. But if we don't see some consistency -- or at least minimizing of the same mistakes -- somebody has got to go.
Awesome, my argument was so good, you couldn't answer back with your own intelligent take, instead it had to be a personal attack. Anyways, if I use your logic, you must be a troll since all you do is hate. Anyways, I'll criticize Francis for a bad game, of which last night wasn't an example. If I saw that you guys would criticize Ming every now and then, I wouldn't be defending Steve and Cat, but since it doesn't seem to be the case, you guys will just have to put up with me crashing the hate parties. I hope you didn't think that your juvenile post was gonna embarrass me or scare me off. By the way, when I defend Steve and Cat, it's more about defending the team that I expect to emerge in the next 2 years. Steve, Cat, Boki, Griff, and Ming will comprise the greatest Rocket team ever and I know they will win at least 3 championships together. So maybe it's just that I see a future for this team, while you guys can't look beyond this season.
Oski 2500, I think we have our answer. Being a relative is O.K., I would vigorously defend my son, brother, cousin, or whoever as well. "Personal insult,"???? I don't understand that one. I was really serious. "All you do is hate," ???? You obviously have not ready many of my posts. Anyway, have a nice day and don't take all this too seriously. It is supposed to be fun.
All we need to do to discredit this statement is swing on up the west coast a week ago and study the Seattle Sonics. Gary Payton is arguably the best point guard the NBA has to offer. What is the Sonics record this season? 23-30? WAS Gary Payton going to take this team to the playoffs? And if you said no, which is the appropriate answer, does that mean Glove wasn't the franchise of the Sonics? Let me make my point clearly. The Seattle Supersonics were not going to make the playoffs because GP didn't have the roleplayers in place. No matter what GP did he wasn't making the playoffs. But this can be said of alot of franchise players in the league. Houston's roleplayers are better than Seattles'. Theres no doubt about that. But this team and its players are still learning together. I can't believe people are complaining about Steve after last nights game. Maybe I witnessed a different first quater than other people but playing on a bad back this guy showed me alot. How many layups/dunks did he allow his team to get in the open 12 minutes? Houston got 16 to Dallas' 13 fast break points when it was all said and done. But does Steve get credit? Of course not. Granted Dallas later exploited the isolation game which allowed Houston to play right into the hands of the Dallas zone. But it would be difficult for any point guard to distribute the ball to someone who is open but decides to challenge the overwhelming zone Dallas plays. But Steve is guilty of this just as well and I'm not going to excuse him from accountability but I digress from asking too much of what is Steve giving me as to what other players are giving me. Steve still drives me crazy when he challenges the defenses in some circumstances and turns the ball over. But often times he has shown he can make the defenses work harder by drawing fouls, penetrating, and creating. Steve Francis this season has averaged 4 TOs a game. Compare that to Jason Kidd's 3.61. Steve Francis is no Jason Kidd but basing arguements on his TO ratio is futile. At this point of the season demanding the team to find a true point guard and move Francis to the 2 is ineffectual. It just isn't going to happen this season. This is a counterproductive arguement in the status quo.
X-PAC, what's the point of your post? Steve Francis's as good as Gary Payton as a PG? You might not notice, your post didn't counter tsl99's post at all but rather actually furthur illustrated his post because Payton took Seattle to playoffs every season he played (You might argue that he had a great Shawn Kemp in his first few years gut what supporting cast he had in recent years?) except this season when he's already 34 and past his prime.
ANYONE suggesting that Steve can't get it done, is just plain stoopid. What have you been watching??? Often asked question ... What do the Rocks need? Simple answer ... patience! We've got all the pieces assembled. Like making a really great stew, yah can't throw the ingredients into a pot, taste 2 minutes later and make conclusive decisions. "There's a difference between wanting to win and KNOWING how to win." - Wayne Gretzky.
I don't recall making the point that Francis is as good as Gary Payton. But I do recall making the point that the right roleplayers enable the marque names to make it to the playoffs and allow them to succeed. except this season when he's already 34 and past his prime. You talk as if his stats have dramatically fallen off. The stats tell a much different story. Payton leads the league in assists and you're telling me that he is past his prime and a shadow of his former self?
