shot selection: stockton has been in the top ten fg% throughout his career... at guard! thats unheard of. usually the fg % leaders are power forwards and centers who take a lot of shots within 5 feet of the basket. hes #4 in fg% among guards in nba history. stockton has also been in the top ten in 3 pt % much of his career. at the advanced age of 40, he again is among the leaders in both 3pt % and fg %. furthermore he is a reliable 80+% ft shooter. steve francis of the houston rockets takes a different approach. he enjoys taking as many difficult, one on 3, double clutch, reverse shots as he can get for the 40 minutes he is allotted per game. he takes even greater pleasure in looking off a wide open teammate prior to attempting said ill advised shot. surprisingly, he is NOT among the leaders in fg% advantage: stockton defense: stockton is the leader in steals in nba history; but that isnt really a good indicator of defense because you can play the passing lanes and gamble a lot to get a decent number of steals. staying in front of your opponent and playing solid team defense are good indicators and they are both things that stockton excels at. at 40, he cant stay in front of the iversons and marburys on a consistent basis but knows enough about angles ans is smart enough to force them towards help. francis, gifted physically with great strength, speed and leaping ability, gets his share of steals, rebounds and blocks(for a guard).....but i dont put a lot of value in rebounds and blocks from the guard position. its like having a big man that likes to shoot 3s. i would rather have my guard getting back on defense than going for offensive rebounds. steals are a sexy stat but, again, it probably means that the guy is gambling a lot. as far as keeping his man in front of him, francis subscribes to the matador school of defence. olay!! ability to make teammates better: there is a reason why guys like howard eisley, shandon anderson, blue edwards, and bryon russel looked so good playing alongside stockton in utah but looked like crap when moving elsewhere. by that same logic, there is a reason why matt harpring and jeff hornacek look like all stars when coming to utah. stockton has been able to maximize his teams talent every year hes been in the league. in contrast, francis considers a pass to a teammate necessary only when caught in the air with nowhere to go. he routinely waives off big men with good low post position who are calling for the ball so he can go charging into a pack of defenders. the greatest crime has to be his inability to involve 7'5 yao ming, who leads the league in fg% by 10%!! why is it that yao can produce a 70% shot, a foul on the defender, a trip to the free throw line or an assist to an open teammate nearly every play, and yet only gets limited touches per game. why is the point guard such a reluctant passer? i dont want my point guard leading the team in scoring. advantage:stockton effectiveness without the ball: stockton is known for his screens and backdoor layups; francis for his alleyoops. advantage: stockton clutch play: stockton has won several games at the buzzer. francis looks confused when the shotclock goes off while hes in the middle of his crossover routine advantage:stockton court awareness/play making: this one is pretty obvious so i wont go into too much detail on something you already know. but let me just say that the point guards role on the team should be, among other things, dictating the pace of the game. knowing who is hot and how to get them the ball. knowing when to slow it down and when to push it. in his 4th year, francis still has a hard time running a fast break(unless he is the one finishing). i suspect his asist to turnover ratio is last among starting point guards advantage: stockton crossing over the defender: er.....move along, move along advantage:francis how the hell does francis expect to make the USA team with that type of approach? i will be surprised if hes still in the league in 7 years when his hops has left him. stockton could probably play 2 more years if he really wanted to.
He's dead on in his assessment of the length of SF's career. He can't go on energy and jumping ability for more than a few more years. See Michael Jordan for the canonical example. However MJ was much taller. I guess we should look to something like Calvin Murphy, Spud Webb or Avery Johnson of their eras. Name the last short man that led his team to a championship. Isiah Thomas comes to mind but he was the quintessential short point guard before Stockton. And his career ended earlier than Stockton's because he relied on speed and jumping ability much more IIRC. I think he was not very effective after he got to 30 or so.
People don't give Stockton enough credit. Francis still has very far to go before achieving Stockton's status, but I think his skillsets are more suited for the SG position than the PG.
Actually, Isiah could have played after the Achilles tear, but he chose to move on into other areas. Isiah was also a fierce competitor who although could get hot(ask la) and carry a team offensively, he was a distributor of the ball. I Just don't think francis has the mental toughness to pull his team through rough times. Isiah had his problems getting to the playoffs and advancing when he was younger so maybe its not too late for Francis. Comparing him to probably the purist pg in history is probably a little off. I'm starting to see him as a better attitude version of marbury without the asst. Whether or not thats good or bad , i don't know.
Great comparison, and also bone chillingly accurate. Steve has a long way to go...of course you are comparing him to the best PG in the history of the game. DaDakota
hey AC.... I hate to be the "post police" but is it REALLY necessary to post fanboy's ENTIRE quote for a one line response? It's a little overkill, don't ya think?
Stockton is probably the second most hated player in the league on this board, so your post probably won't be well received here. That being said, I for one, completely agree with you.........great post!
Stockton's defense has declined severely in the last couple of years. His lateral movement and quickness have declined to the point where he's a poor defender now. He's still smart, so people assume that since the basis of his defense was always cleverness, that he hasn't regressed. That's untrue: he's just no longer able to compensate for his flaws as well. You're giving Stockton a bit too much credit. Just about every facet of his game except his court vision is in decline. Not a knock on stockton - just old age getting to him.
It took Isiah 7 years to get a championship, Stockton never will. But just to mention Steves name in comparison with these two and their point guard skills is a compliment. Steve will never match those skills... but he already is a better scorer and rebounder. Time will tell, but I think Steve has a good chance to lead the Rockets to a championship in the next four years. Compare then.....
post like this one wil not make you popular on this forum. but who says you wanna be popular. do you really think any sane Gm wants Stockton in his team in stead of Franchise?
Do you really think Franchise can even play at age 40? Given the way he's playing right now. Between 30 year old Stockton and 25 year old Franchise, I guess at lease half of the GMs might want Stockton. Francise needs to change his style a little bit to be more successful.
no i don't and i do not remember saying that,i know francis plays with to many hops,and he wil break down before he is 40. i also do not remember that i said every GM would pick a 25 year old francis over a 30 year old Stockton,i said every GM would pick the Francis of now over the Stockton of now. i know stockton is one of the best pointguards ever to play the game.but i believe francis can be great to.maybe not as great as Stockton.But in the thread al the weak points of Francis where brought up.Francis does not have the best Basketbal IQ.I know stockton was one of the smartest player ever to play the game.But Francis is unbelieveble in some ways.He rebounds like crazy for a gaurd.he is verry athletic and he can jump over mountains.The weaknesses of Francis are the strenghts of stockton and the weaknesses of stockton are the strenghts of Francis. francis has a lot to learn,but he is a great player.
Stockton doesn't rely on athleticism. That's why he can last so long without significant drop in his performance. He relies on good fundamentals, court vision, positioning, team dynamic, shot selection, smart passing etc. These things don't fade with age. The only thing he has lost is speed and health. Michael Jordan lost his athleticism now. But he is still quite good because he has those fundamentals like Stockton. The difference is, his years of jumping and dunking put much more wear and tear on his body than Stockton's stay-on-the-ground game. Steve Francis needs to be more fundamentally sound if he wants to play to his late 30s.
