Well, then should we get rid of the whole team besides Yao/Francis...(?) That's why I said, "I hope you aren't saying that." It's not doable. On the other hand, a system/offensive philosophy change can help Francis and the teams shooting percentage. And that is doable due to JVG coming in. The one thing that I'm happy about is that Rocket fans that never got to see them play in the 70's or 80's will get to see this group used in a different (better) way than Rudy's simpleton system. Rudy seemed to believe in: iso then shoot, pass when doubled. I hated that system. Bascially it was just give the ball to your best player and let him go wild. He did it with Barkley, Pippen, Hakeem and Drexler. Drexler seem to do the best with it because at least he created passes for his teammates off of the iso (he was a pretty good passing SG). I prefer: pick and roll, pass/or shoot, pass/or shoot. It offers two passes before the shot. If you chose the pass twice option, three players are involved in the play. The Mavs run it with Nash. The Spurs run it with Parker. The Kings run it with Bibby.
My critique of Feigen was in comparison to the NJ article that you thought was so generic and didn't say anything. What did Feigen's article say? He identified Steve Francis as a good PG who was on a bad shooting team when Francis was the one who took the most shots. He talked about the incessant dribbling when Francis and Cat (along with Moochie) were the ones doing it. He talked about inability to fast break when Francis and Cat are responsible for running it. He talked about turnovers when Francis and Cat committed more than any other players. Once again. These are all facts that Feigen wrote in his article without mentioning a word about why it happens and who is responsible for it. And this is a great article? This is the article filled with specifics?
So we've come full circle, it's all about assigning blame still huh? (although it morphed into blaming Francis and Mobley for dragging the FG% with their shooting to dragging the FG% down with their passing.) I don't think that that was a necessary component. I don't think ths article purported to be a treatise on the Houston Rockets , just a few observations from somebody whose job it is to do so.
RIET, forget the Newark article. Someone changed the subject on you. I have a question? Do you disagree with the whole Feigen article? Parts? What? I had a few problems with the article, those of which I've addressed above. But a lot of what Feigen said was true. Not all, though.
I know that they can't trade/get rid of all those guys, but it doesn't change the fact that they can't hit the broadside of a barn from 15 feet away; just a harsh reality.
I actually think that Cato can't hit the "broadside of a barn" 15 feet away. He has to dunk. I do think that Moochie, Griff, and MoT are decent. But NOT in iso situations. I hate it when those two start the iso-jig or the dribble-shuffle. Our only skilled shooters? Rice and Nachbar (I hope).
Sam Fisher:- Do not feel embarassed, its OK to say the truth about Francis. Once you accept it, then its time to move on. After reading both articles and having considered the various opinions. I get the impression that both are right in their own way!The very athletic Francis needs to improve, his court vision, his passing, his ability to move the ball down the court, with reduced dribbling,his turnovers,his defence, his desire to make other players better[assists] and his confidence in his team-mates.All will be revealed to JVG while examining the 'Tapes'. We hope everything will improve under JVG and the Rockets will benifit by the New Steve Francis leader of our Team.
I don't understand what youre saying. The purpose of the article is to analyze the Rockets. If Feigen didn't feel turnovers, poor shooting, lack of a fast break, lack of discipline, etc were important, why did he mention them? He mentioned them because it's exactly what Van Gundy will see when he watches the tapes. Isn't that what the article is about? And if you know these things are important, why wouldn't you find the root of the problems and address them. He's seen every possession of every game but he fails to mention the player who averaged the most minutes on the floor? It's called a material ommission . Are you saying these problems don't exist or they're not important?
To put all the Francis bashing in perspective, let's rewind a year and look at Phoenix. A year ago at this time, Phoenix was a laughingstock of the league. They had stupidly alienated MVP candidate and consensus best PG in the universe Jason Kidd (who took his team to the finals) and stupidly dealt him for a selfish streetballing, shoot first point guard with a big mouth and a bigger ego, Stephon Marbury, who promptly lead his team to a crappy lottery season. Meanwhile, Kidd took sad sack NJ to the finals and revitalized the whole franchise. Now lets go back to a few months ago, the Suns barely hold off a badly fading Rockets team and grab the 8th seed, and Stephon is suddenly the second best PG in the NBA and the player that steve should emulate. Well, what must have happened? Stephon must have wised up and stopped dominating the offense so much right? and stopped shooting so much and scoring too much right? right? wrong. G GS MIN FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% STL BLK TO PF DQ OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 01-02 Pho 82 80 38.9 7.6-17.2 .442 0.9-3.0 .286 4.3-5.5 .781 0.9 0.2 3.5 2.3 0.0 0.9 2.3 3.2 8.1 20.4 02-03 Pho 81 81 40.0 8.3-18.9 .439 1.1-3.7 .301 4.6-5.8 .803 1.3 0.2 3.2 2.5 0.0 0.7 2.6 3.3 8.1 22.3 G GS MIN FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% STL BLK TO PF DQ OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 01-02 Pho 82 80 3187 625-1413 .442 71-248 .286 353-452 .781 77 13 284 186 0 75 191 266 666 1674 02-03 Pho 81 81 3240 671-1530 .439 89-296 .301 375-467 .803 108 20 263 200 1 53 210 263 654 1806 Let's see, did he limit his scoring? nope, he threw up a hundred more shots last year and he increased his average two points a game. Well, then he shot better right? Wrong, he actually shot worse. His percentge declined slightly to .439 (as opposed to Francis' horrific .435) Well did he at least distribute more assists to go along with his increased shooting? nope, not at all, he averaged the exact same, 8.1 from year to year. Turnovers? a slight decline of a bout .25, I guess that's something, but he pretty much hit his career average, so it's not anything earth shaking. So what gives, why did he shoot more, yet the Suns got better? Francis bashers, the floor is yours.
SamFisher, I also think Stephon Marbury is nothing special. His playoff appearance means little to me. My question to you is: Do you think Steve Francis is any better than Marbury?
Forget Marbury, what has he won? Let's use the pg that was mentioned in the article and put the question back on you Mr. C. Do you think Tony Parker is better than Steve Francis?
Fair enough, I have no reason to believe you did this in particular, but Marbury has often been held up as a shining example in the past year by many of SF's critics. Is he any better? Well, I don't know that much about Marbury's game to really call attention to that many differences, I do know that steve is a slightly better long range shooter, but if either one is better its not by all that much.
He's a better point guard, but Steve is a better scorer. Steve is a lot more talented, though I would say Parker can run the break better, involve his teamates better, and definitely play better D. Steve I would say gets the edge pretty easily overall. But if he doesn't improve on his glaring weaknesses I'd rather have Parker feeding Yao.
So where do you rate Marbury among the top NBA players? I don't think he is anywhere near Kobe, McGrady, or any other superstars. And that's also how I feel about Francis. He's a star, but nowhere close to being a superstar.
First of all, Marbury to me is not the end all be all...but...as far as comparisons? What's the difference? Efficiency. Marbury has always been an efficient guard on both scoring and passing. Just not so wise on making plays at crucial times. But he's improved. As far as dominating the offense. Yes. He still scored at the same rate. It's just that his decision making improved at the end of games. So, to recap. Marbury has always been efficent, buy only recently started to make smart plays at the end of games, which could be scoring or passing. Francis is not efficient. As far as shooting percentage for both of them? They both suck.
Well, like the original article said, there's only one kobe superstar quality PG in all of basketball and he played in NJ last season. Well, I wouldn't quite agree with that, he tossed out fewer assists than Steve yet he had arguably the best player in the game on his side. I am not sold on his pure PG skills, his greatest moments (like Steves ) were usually as a scorer this season. I agree that he is usually better on the break than Steve.
