Bingo. He is just a big comedian, and I mean BIG, like he has had one too many Coors... I don't recall Chuck passing very often in his career. I like Charles but he needs to look at the team before he starts opening his big mouth. NOBODY else was knocking down a shot Wednesday night besides the Cat. Griffin was way off. I would have liked to seen Boki and Ming get some more shots, but they are rookies. When Rice/KT/MoT/TMo get back, Steve will pass more. I thought he did a great job carrying the team versus Indiana. If ANYONE else could have hit a shot then we could talk about ball hogging. BTW - I am tired of this one on one/3 guard sh*t. It better be due to injuries... Since KT and Rice are going to play tonight I am willing to bet Steve's assist #'s will go up.
Why should they go up, hes playing shooting guard? Under these considerations we need a much superior point guard than Norris. I dont consider he has the skills to be anything better than in a supporting role! If Rudy T was responsible for this set up he needs to rethink prior to tonights game, because the fans wont put up with this poor play and a lack of team spirit! At times I get a horrible feeling that Steve Francis wants to protect his status as 'Star of the Rox' and seems to be fearful of others climbing the ladder, I have had this notion since he came back from injury,last year, when he was obviously ignoring an open Griffin, on so many occasions. Steve MUST learn that the TEAM comes FIRST and as its leader he shouls make it work, after all we know he has the tallent to do it!
I thought Barkley, aside from his obvious skills (rebounding), was also revered for his assist numbers and ability to pass out of the post for a (undersized) power forward. Am I misguided about this?
Wow, you're a regular Las Vegas High Roller. Willing to bet that Francis' assists go from 4 to 5 or gasp maybe even 6!!!
Take the easy money. I was just BS'ing about Barkley's passing - I really don't know/care about his ability to pass. He just gets on my nerves sometimes.... Yetti - with a healthy lineup (at least with KT and Rice back) I hope we will try the motion offense, let Steve play point and Moochie off the bench.
Considering Steve played SG in that game, he did a decent job with 4 assists, but we still lost. Francis is never going to rack up assists like Kidd, but he makes up with it because he can score nearly 10 more points per game than Kidd. It evens out in my opinion. I agree with you, javilo, that 2 seasons have gone by that we could have been in the playoffs, but you conveniently left out the fact that we won 45 games and smashed the record for team with the most wins to not make the playoffs and that last year everybody was hurt. Way to ignore the facts, good job. Here's why Steve shouldn't play shooting guard: Kobey Bryant, Bonzi Wells, Michael Finley, Eddie Jones, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Jerry Stackhouse, and Michael Jordan. If you want those guys having career nights every time we play them, then by all means, lets put Steve at the two. I here talk of "lets bring in a PG" and move Steve over to the two. Well geniuses, who should we bring in? Jason Kidd? Andre Miller wants the max, which we can't afford. Steve Nash only gets 1 more apg game than steve and scores less. Tinsley and Marbury can get us 8 apg, I'm sure you'd love to have them. Stockton and Jackson are old, so they're out of the question. How abut Sam "where's my money" Cassell? Nick Van Exel is a possibility. And there's Damon Stoudamire also. These are all the guys who averaged more assists last year than Steve.
Here's another bet. That Francis will have at least one or two offensive charging calls against him. That boy is so fast, he can't even control it sometimes. And also why he's susceptible to injuries.
It doesn't even out in my mind. Kidd > 16.9 ppg + 12 apg = 16.9 +(2*12) = 40.9 SF > 21.6 PPG + 6.6 APG = 21.6 + (2*6.6) = 34.6 If we could determine how many of these assists were 3's, the gap may be wider. Now before you go and use careers averages, note I used both players career bests and that Kidd's apg are going up while Francis' are going down...a bad trend. Secondly, if you watched the game against Indiana you easily recognize that labeling Francis as a "SG" is misleading. Yes, he's a SG in a box score starting with Moochie and Cat, but at least half the offense was run through him just as if he were playing PG. And whether he's a SG or a PG, his fastbreak open court decisions are still very poor.
There is nothing new there, we all know Yao is not a good rebounder because he cannot hold his position near the basket. We all knew that Francis is a ball hog, he doesn't pass the ball much. Yao only had TWO(2) TOs, where did this "several times" come from? The Rockets & Francis situation is a lot like the Pistons & Stackhouse in the past couple years. Before last year, Stackhouse took most of the shots, average 20+pt a game with a 40%+ shooting percentage, and the Pistons went nowhere. Last year, he bought into this TEAM concept, and took fewer shots. Yes, his scoring average was down, but the Pistons made the playoff. Can Francis & the Rockets do the same thing this year?
Well, first of all, when has Jason Kidd ever averaged 12 apg in a season? Oh, I see, you looked at his apg for 02-03 where he has only played one game. That's hilarious by the way, but good try. Since Francis has only 3 years under his belt and Kidd's career year came in his 6th year when he averaged 16.9 and 10.8. I'll be more fair and just use last year as an example: Kidd: 14.7 + (9.9*2)= 34.5 Francis: 21.6 + (6.4*2)= 34.4 Like I said, it evens out. I'm surprised you didn't use Steve's one game this year and put up 4 apg. Lets look at Kidd's 3rd year and compare that. Kidd: 10.9 + (9*2)= 28.9 Whoa, what's this, Kidd improved from his 3rd year to now. Jeez, I wonder how good Steve will be when he's played 8 years. Look, I'm not trying to say that Steve is a better PG than Kidd, just that Steve is a damn good player and compares quite favorably to the best in the game right now. What do we have to compain about?
Kidd won many votes for MVP not because of his numbers but because of his role of leading the team to playoff and finals. I don't care what number Steve got. But, if you can not help your team win, i see no value there. If Steve and Cat continue to play like that, I guess all other team members wish they were in another team playing with Kidd..
Can Boki pass? Does he have good handles? I think it would be interesting to see him in a point forward role, like what they wanted to do with Odom. Then both Steve and Cat can play on the wings and everyone guards their natural position.
Cyber, You are not misguided. Barkley is the best all around PF ever! Malone can't dribble or block shots. Top 5 All Around PF Barkely SF Bird C Dream PG Magic SG Jordan
I don't think that's the biggest part of Yao's rebounding problem. At this point, he hasn't yet learned what he can do on without being whistled for a foul, so he's playing a VERY tentative, cautious game in the paint. Once he figures out what he can and can't get away with, he should be a monster rebounder. Unfortunately, that's probably at least a few months away.
Kidd got MVP votes because he brought the NJ team to where his Suns team were which is at best a 6th seed in the West. The NETS also got a some good role players in the draft and Kmart (#1 draft pick) back from injury. Kidd is over rated. Stick the Rocks in the East and we would be contenders too only to get destroyed by the Lakers. But at least we would be able to give them a good game instead of getting blown out like the Nets did.
