Who is the best Rockets guard on the 2003-2004 roster?

Steve Francis. No explanation needed really. And I also want to know the reason for anyone picking Cuttino (other than the fact that you hate Steve! )

 

Are you serious........

Steve or Cuttino........HUMMMMMMMM, let's see

Come on man, Have we become this bored

For gods sake CD pull a dam trade please, we're goin to the dogs here

 

Oh this is a easy one. Moochie Norris!

 

Yeah, where's the Mooch?

 

I feel a lock comin on.................

 

Francis is the better guard. He's the better player period.

Of course, if you're trying to assemble an NBA team within the confines of the salary cap, and if you have even a slight hint of financial acumen, then you might want to look at the whole forest instead of a few trees. Conventional wisdom dictates that the best player is the one you want….just as the team that gets the best player in a trade “wins” the trade. Assuming that Steve and Cat can both only play the two and that you should therefore rid yourself of one of them, then you want to keep Francis because he’s the better player. Statistically, he’s only marginally better, but he’s better nonetheless.

If money is no object, the answer is easy. If however, money is important, then you must also analyze the financial aspect of any personnel decision. Francis is NOT 20% better than Mobley, yet his salary cap burden is 200% that of Mobley’s. This makes the water a bit murkier. Francis is a BYC player and that makes him difficult to trade. Mobley has a sweetheart contract that also adds difficulty to any trade. In both instances, it makes it much more difficult for the Rockets to get the “best player” in any trade that includes either Mobley or Francis.

Both players have been accused of not showing enough deference to Yao Ming, but Yao Ming was a rookie last year, and both players played under a coach who has been accused of not instilling enough discipline in his players. Francis and Mobley also played more minutes than anyone else on the team. If this is not an indication of the coach’s approval, I don’t know what is. It’s very obvious by their playing time that both players were playing as instructed. If not, then Rudy’s allowing them to play so many minutes was an implicit approval. Either way, neither Francis nor Mobley can be blamed—though we all have; myself included.

Both players are athletically gifted, and both players exhibit quite a bit of offensive talent. Both can also seem completely bone-headed at times, but they’ve also both shown continual improvement….albeit sometimes at a rate that is slower than we all might like.

We have a completely new coach coming in with a completely new philosophy. We might discover that Rudy brought out the absolute best in one or both of these players. We might find that one or both of them have been playing way beyond their abilities all this time. But the fact that Mobley and Francis are still relatively young in this league combined with the fact that Rudy was not regarded as a disciplinarian (while Van Gundy is) leads me to believe that we’ll see a marked improvement in both of them.

The implication that Mobley MIGHT be easier to trade coupled with the implication that Francis is a “natural two” makes Mobley the obvious target if there is to be a trade. However, the fact that it will be next to impossible to get the better end of a trade that involves Mobley coupled with the fact that we don’t know how Francis will respond to what will amount to an admission of failure makes any trade that much more risky.

The PRUDENT course to follow is to keep both of these players for at least one year under the guidance of the new coach. They both have the physical ability to do whatever is asked of them. Though we all must have lamented Francis’ and/or Mobley’s poor judgment at one time or another, we can’t really judge their mental ability because their minutes played showed they both had their former coach’s approval. Likewise, neither can Van Gundy judge their abilities until he’s had time to properly coach them.

Francis is the better guard, but I think we should keep them both. That is all.

 

Why did you even bother to ask this question?It's a nobrainer.

 

That seems to be the biggest issue surrounding this discussion.

 

How can one make a choice till we know which Guards are on the 03/04 Rockets Team.

 

this has got to be the stupidest question i have ever heard...

 

I am the 23rd person to say, yes, the world is round.

I can even understand people saying they both suck...if that kind of ball drives you nuts, you're gonna hate em both.


But for the love of God, who are these 4 people who picked Cat over Steve, and what were they thinking?

 

I think this thread is an April fool's joke, just a few months late.