It's simple Drewdog. Francis plays like a shooting guard and not a point guard and he is occupying the point guard spot which would be better filled by someone who knows how to run an offense. Yes, he's smaller than you would like your perfect shooting guard to be, but since Houston made Francis the franchise player with his huge contract last season, the Rockets are stuck with trying to make Francis work. Personally I'd try to find a sucker that would give us their taller all star shooting guard for Francis, but I think there isn't much of a market for short shooting guards, even the good ones like Iverson and Francis.
His assist to turnover ratio is quite horrible. He is always among (if not THE) league leader(s) in TO's. He's allowed to have 3.5 TO's when he's dishing out 8+ assists per game. He would be way better at the 2 than the 1. At least he'd have the quickness/speed advantage at the 2. What advantage does he have at the 1? I don't see many players really lighting him up that WOULDN'T light anyone else up. Here's the thinking: Even if Francis' effect on the team remains the same (less assists, but more points), our new PG would benefit the rest of the team more than Cat benefits the team right now. If we get Eric Snow, and Snow defends the higher scoring Guard on each night, don't you see this team improved? I can't see this backcourt improbing any further unless you take its creativity away. Right now, moving Steve to the 2 would be great, because he's a better scorer than playmaker. Maybe in a few years, we can move him back, but right now, it would be great to have a guard hitting 45% and scoring 20+ as well as a C scoring 20+ on 50%. I don't think we should pass up on that. Make no mistake about it, Francis will become a better scorer at the 2. He will score more, with the same effeciency, simply because only 1 or 2 players can match his quickness at the 2.
I'll tell you something people may not believe. Since Iverson moved from the point, his asst:to ratio has gotten worse. His 1st season he was 7.5asst vs 4.4 to's and 41%fg, the next season he was 6.2 asst vs 3.0 to and 46%fg, the next season even though his to's stayed between 3.0-3.5, his asst dropped to 4 or 4.5. What doesn this mean? If Francis moves to the point, you can expect his fg% to suck while making the same amount of to's with half the asst. I say he learns to play the pg like Jason Teryy,Gilbert Arenas and the others.
oski that is just wrong. ive met steve and he is a legit 6'3''. he's laso a lot thicker than i thought.
I'm not saying Arenas is a better pg, I'm saying he's learning to play the pg spot better than Steve. Last yr he avg 3.7 asst and 2.1 to, this season he avg 6.3 asst vs 3.5 to's. In the past 2 yrs , Francis to's have went from 3.7 to 3.9 while his asst have stayed the same. To me this means he's not improving his decision making skills. Look at Terry,Davis and even Miller, 3pg's who came out the same yr with francis and look at their asst vs to ratio vs Francis.
Actually, I'm 6'3" and I met steve once and he was looking me straight in the eye so I don't know where you get this "only 6' " thing. I'm not wearing francis love goggles or anything, but I thought the guy had 6.5 assists on a team that isn't very adept at the art of the jumpshot. All these stat nerds will whip out shooting percentages on you but c'mon people you watched the games. I saw plenty of times Francis got people wide open looks (not just 3's ) and they clanged it. See what he looks like in a new system. At the end of the last season it seemed obvious to me that Steve was trying to involve Yao more but Yao seemed exhausted and couldn't carry thee load. The way I remember it,wasn't Boykens finishing games for Golden state? If that kid is hitting his J you can't guard him he's too quick. Defense is all about your head and your legs. I'll admit, that for someone so quick he doesn't seem to have terribly fast lateral movement but Francis CAN play D, he just doesn't try. A better question about Iverson is what has Philly done? makes the play-offs in a terrible conference annd once came out of saidterrible conf. to get smoked in the finals. That dog don't hunt. You people b**** about everything. ........sorry.
That's pretty much it. I still think there's a PG in Stevie somewhere. A new offensive philosophy will bring it out.
look at eddie? all he is good for is his natural shot-blocking instincts. he is a poor man defender. ming is also a poor man defender. being 7-5 is why he is a defensive presence, not b/c he knows/understands D. cato, cat, posey, hawkins are the only good one on one defenders we have. i'll respond to the other wrong stuff in this thread later (as i have to go) like bremer/boykins lighting steve up and him not having an advantage on pg's like being able to get off his 17 ft pull up jumper at will against all pg's.
Moochie will dribble out the shot clock again within 3 minutes of the next time he enters a game. There are certain pairings in life we cannot avoid: (1) peanut butter - jelly, (2) Vida Guerra - nice arse, (3) MacBeth - posts that rival the Dead Sea scrolls in length, AND, (4) Moochie - horrible clock management. Moochie makes a much better bobblehead than a point guard.
After the season I thought the Rockets must move Steve to the 2. But since I think it would be interested in seeing what he could do with new offensive system, a improved yao ming, maybe a few better bench players. The fact that Steve is a ballhog is a complete myth just look at the the #'s, hes showed the willingness to pass the ball and get everybody involved in fact I think he showed pride in it by some of his quotes he made. If they make a steve 2 fine that would work. If they keep steve as the point I think this time he can handle it.
I fail to understand this hard on that everyone has with making steve a 2. The man's game is dominating the ball, thats the way he plays. I keep seeing all this talk about bringing in a conventional (whatever that means ) point. A " conventional" or "true" point guard spends what, 75 , 80% of his time with the ball in his hands? where dous Steve or Cat fit into that plan? I don't see him as one of the great movers without the ball in the league. You want him to spot up for jumpers? Run around screens? Then you are not playing to the man's strengths. Steve is not Sissie errrrrrh reggie miller why try to make him be. This horse is dead stop kicking.
Keep the team the same, bring in some VETERAN backups to for leadership and toughness and lets roll with it. You got to roll with it baby! - GO YAO AU GO GO!
Nice work Rookie, this is the KEY whether he is listed on websites, magazines and guides as a 1 or a 2, is completely irrelevant, if he has the ball in his hands as much as he does it makes absolutely NO difference. He scores with the ball, he creates with the ball, that is his thing.
Steve's TO's are not that bad. He's got 2 main responsibilites that is to pass and to score. Look at Kobe's 2.70 and thats just for basically scoring with some passing. Steve's gotta pass all the time and create for himself on his own shots. Jason Kidd's has comparable TO's but way less shots. Kidd also has the benefit of a running team that get's easy buckets in Transition and are almost automatic assits. Bottomline folks, Steve's got a lot of responsiblities and his TO's are not that bad. A lack of running game, less pg responsiblites or less scoring will dramatically help his TO's. If Cat could just chip in on some passing duties or acquire another guard that could just help out a little bit moving the ball around we'll be just fine. And a little running game would be nice.
Jason Kidd, who is generally accepted as the best point guard in the league right now average the same number of turnovers per game as Steve in less minutes per game, but all the stat geeks want to talk about is that "ratio". People, it's just a number, it doesn't mean anything. The starting point guard who led league leading in that "ratio" (Jason Williams) shot 39% and average 12 points per game. Would he really have been better for the Rockets than Francis? j
Nice work Rookie, this is the KEY Rookie? c'mon Smeg, I've been here since last October. I just never say anything. Alas..... the frustration grew too strong and I could remain silent no longer. I see a lot of things suggested here that not only do I disagree with, but find rather stupid. In fairness, I think alot of folks post some of this silly sh*t just rile everyone up, yankin' our chains ya know? ..............rookie................man, that kinda hurts.
The assist/TO ratio is appalling for a PG. But forget all that. Does anybody here think Steve is a good decision-maker w/the ball? Maybe he's underrated by some of us here as a decision-maker. But I find it hard to believe that anybody could possibly think he has good natural PG instincts. If you do, go watch some Rockets' fast breaks... that'll cure you of that disease, very quickly. And letting a player who isn't a good decision-maker (and w/poor court vision)... is a bad decision. I don't think Moochie's the solution. I'd try to pick up a FA or trade for someone.
