Mike James had a 3 ast/to ratio in JVG's system. He has been in the 2.5 range the last few seasons. Steve Francis creates as many turnovers as assists. He is usually in the 1.5-1.7 ast/to. There are many games where Francis got twice as many turnovers as assists. In fact, it wasn't unusual for Francis to have a six to eight turnover game and dish out 3 assists. Not surprisingly, even if he scored over 20 points in that game, they would usually lose the game. He had given the other team too many points on turnovers. This isn't just his rookie season. It's over the course of his whole career including the last game, where he got 24 pts 3 asts 6 turnovers to squeak by the Bobcats for a 1 pt win.
Just a point of order, though I understand the main point you are making. It would have to be unusual to have more TO's than assists, because if it was usual he would have a negative ratio number.
Depends how you define "unusual." A 1.7 assist-to-turnover could leave room for many games, say 30-40%, where he had more turnovers than assists.
This is part of the problem. We're looking at the honeymoon period of the move. All of us want to remember the explosive Francis. We don't want to remember the one that made us want to pull our hair out. My problem with Francis was never character so much as what seemed to be a low basketball IQ. His decision making just didn't seem to improve.
True but then he would have to have games where he was significantly over that as well for that to be an avg.
How do you know it isn't sarcasm? Seriously though, I just thought it was a really good thread idea, not to mention insightful. Jeff is a selective poster, so he usually doesn't chime in unless he has a well thought-out post, which is probably why I think he's a quality poster. However, I do disagree with him from time to time, much like anyone else (e.g. his breakdown of the Dallas/Rockets series a couple of years back when he gave the Rockets an 'edge' in the team-to-team comparo). But I can disagree with someone and still recognize the quality of his/her post. From time to time, I feel obliged to chime in and commend someone on a quality post/thread idea. This just happens to be one; informative and well thought-out. So again, kudos to Jeff. Oh, and stop derailing the damn thread, yaoza ming.
Care to wager something just for fun? How about if you're wrong and the Rockets don't make it out of the West, you change your moniker to "I <3 CD"?
I agree with the "low BBall IQ" part, and that's PRECISELY why Francis has to be on the finishing end, not an initiator of the offense. You still run the offense through T-Mac, and you play to Stevie's strengths (finishing). SF3 being the PG doesn't mean he has to run the team. It doesn't have to work that way...
a PG is someone who's supposed to create for others and get teammates involved so i'd give the edge to Rafer.
i actually envision yao and tmac playing less minutes this year... i can see us resting them for the entire 4th quarter in iat least 10 games this next year. our new squad will allow these guys to breathe MUCH easier in the future.
True, if he is a pure point guard, we won't need Tmac to distribute the ball and to put out 16 assists last play-off....
you're right, but at the time yao was not exactly a true force yet. those rocket teams relied heavily on him having the ball in his hands. francis didn't have near the options he will now. the pressure on him to make great decisions is all but eliminated with this rockets squad. and think if he comes off the bench? ...he'll get the green light basically... i think we're all collectively holding our breath in that francis "can't possibly dribble the leather off the ball with this squad..." can he? i am guessing he leads our second team and gets to regain his form as one who instigates alot of action on the offensive end.
Excellent post. All those people that are arguing about who's the better PG, it's a bit of a toss up really. On the one hand SF3 is a much better at getting into the lane and he's a better 3 point shooter than Rafer. On the other hand, rafer is much better and reading defenses and making sure everyone is where the are supposed to be and gets the plays run for them, but I don't recall rafer getting into the lane and dishing out to guys for open looks too often. So I guess it really depends on what we need. The only thing is I see James and Francis as the same player, james a better shooter, francis better at finishing around the rim.
In isolation, the deal seems good in financial terms. I am worried about the "Vince Carter" syndrome, but at least he wants to be in Houston. It will be interesting to see how he and James respond to reduced minutes.
It was my understanding tha the buyout was a condition of the trade and not simply because they thought Francis had no value. It was Randolph that they were desperate to move and they were willing to agree to the buyout that NY would not in order to get it done.
No, that's incorrect. The trade had nothing to do with the buyout. What's totally crazy is that Portland paid $30M to Francis NOT to play for them and then shelled out anothe ~$10M for Steve Blake. That's as crazy development for anyone who has followed Maryland basketball as there can be. I really don't know how Steve does this thing, but he's done it to four teams: Vancouver, Orlando, NY and Portland, where he forced them to move him. Kobe has a lot to learn from him...
