Not talking about you, talking about media hype/perception in general. (I don't recall Phx making it out of round 1, btw, either) Well statistically, there was very little difference between what Marbury did for Phoenix in 2003 and what he did in 2002, EXCEPT for the fact that the Suns made the playoffs last year. Yet, last year at playoff time, Marbury was perceived as a laughingstock, a selfish me-first player, who would never ever ever be as good as Jason Kidd (to whom he was inevitably and mercilessly contrasted), who exemplified everything wrong with the NBA. Fast forward a year, Phoenix sneaks into the playoffs, and all of that "worst trade ever/stephon is a selfish thug" talk disappears. Not from people like me and you, but from media types who compose those oh-so-meaningful and important power rankings.
Good thought for the most part media is there to make the east coast look good and the west coast look bad. The player is the same the attention is more. You never read about jason kidd in the new york papers when he was in dallas and phoenix...Homerism I tell you
As an all star point guard, wouldn't you want him to be improving his APG, especially considering that he plays significantly more minutes and has more player around him that can score than he did in say his second season? Do you think it is good that in 5 more minutes, and with more scoring options, he is making fewer assists? Do you think it is good that he is showing no improvment in playmaking (not to mention defense)? I see it as a startling display of his me first attitude.
Jason Kidd averaged 10.1 assists his last year in Phoenix and 10.9 as his all time high in Phoenix. Would you say he played better in Phoenix or in New Jersey last year where his assists number was 8.9? Any point guard you look up, no matter how good they are, their numbers will fluctuate. It has nothing to do with player development. Case in point, we can all admit that Steve was a much better player, individual and team wise in his second year than his first, but his assists numbers don't prove that. I already admited Steve had a disappointing year this past season, but I'm not relying on a .4 drop in a subjective stat to prove it either way. Andre Miller led the league in assists, increasing his total by 2.9 assists and his team went from 30 wins to 29 wins. Its neither here nor there.
To fluctuate means to move up and down. Steve has only moved down, despite increased minutes. Its not like I picked some arbitrary stat to comment on. Assists are the main job of the point guard. And it isn't like he was setting the world on fire as a rookie in passing. Jason Kidd had more assists than anyone in the league last season. Despite that, I would certainly say that his best year was the lockout season. He had his career high FG%, second best 3pt %, averaged nearly 11 APG, and still scored about 17 ppg and grabbed about 7 boards. Just because his superior team in the lEastern conference went to the finals, doesn't mean he played better. Andre Miller played on a team that was nothing but jump shooters. He also could not shoot worth a damn. There was no chance but for him to put up big assist numbers in Cleveland. In LA, his assist numbers went right down the toilet. Steve has had 2 consecutive disappointing years, the first due to injury. That isn't the problem though. Everyone will have a year where they fall off a little, now and then. When your point guard consistently becomes more and more selfish with the ball, that is a much more serious problem.
I expect Stevie to have at least 7.5 assists this season. You heard it here first. And Pike will have a part in that, and Yao, of course. My stat prediction for Steve: 20.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.6 assists, fg % .467, ft % .851, 1.8 steals, 0.7 blocks Will I pick him for my fantasy team? You bet.
Again, you continue to exaggerate a difference of .4 in four seasons, that's ridiculous. And if you want to count an injury plagued season against Steve then it just proves my point that people will say anything to criticize Steve. So He's had 1 disappointing year out of 3 healthy ones. How many dissappointing years has Marbury had? How many has Kidd had for that matter? I'll stick with Steve, and hopefully, he can increase his assists per game number by .1, but I'm sure that won't satisfy you. And if your contention is that Miller averaged a bunch of assists because he had jumpshooters, how many jumpshooters are on the Rockets squad. It always amazes me how many assists Steve collects when Rice shoots the ball well. As a matter of fact, the Rockets as a whole were a better shooting team in 00-01, Steve's break out season, than they were this past season. Amazing how that works.
who had the better shooters phoniex or houston?that is the question.alot of times steve hit people wide open they just didnt knock down the shots .
lol Bibby? Well he was injured for a while this season. I think he is overrated... Nash is okay...not better than Francis though. He does make some nice passes though.
Maybe I've been in a special ed class, but who the hec is Pike and why the hec will he be touching our precious Toyota Center floor??
As a point guard, Francis should not be on "anybody's" top ten list. (especially the NBA) He is one of the dumbest, most error prone playmakers I have ever seen. He is a creation of national highlight reels and hype. JVG called him a "good" guard, and that is, in my opinion, generous. Ranked above Nash, ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ha, ha!
10 pounds on Steve? Damn marbury must be well over 200 pounds then because Steve weighs around 190 or 195.
Yep, Marbury is 205. A stout, strong, fast guard. Francis is more light-footed, quick and a high-jumper.
Ok, here's my theory on why Steve's APG numbers have dropped. Let's look at his second year, the scoring threats on that team out side of him was mobley, shandon anderson, walt williams and Mo T. The two key players I would look at would be shandon and walt, both are terrific finishers after receiving the pass, especially shandon. We would put in a line up like 3 guards and walt and go small ball a lot. Also look at Mo T and Mobley, Mo T while not being amazing, was a solid 4 and Mobley played more as a role player (instead of the man after Francis was injured). Let's look at last year, instead of shandon and walt, we used Rice and Griffin, two players who don't finish nearly as well. Then look at the down grade of Mo T becuz of the injury and using Griffin more. Also our 2nd and 3rd scoring options being Mobley and Yao, both needed to be the initiator to score on offense, i.e. no assist for steve. (Cuttino's Iso wont give Steve an assist and neither will Yao posting up). Case and point, while the talent level last year was higher because of mainly Yao, the team was actually less conducive for a PG to get an assist.
