beyond the glory: steve francis

Francis was one of my all time favorite players, he was the main reason i started to watch the rockets when i was a little kid, its pretty sad to see what happened to his career....

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--RB

 

thanx for the post. dam i was one of his biggest critics but those were fun games to watch. the guy was really down to earth and loved houston when i met him in austin too.
i wish he could come back and win a championship with houston but sadly it's over for him.

 

He has his critics but you can't say he didn't put it all in the line every single game he played for Houston. I loved his heart and passion for Houston and the Rockets. Sad to see injuries derail his career like they did but he will always be loved as a Rocket that gave it his all.

 

wait, why was he suspended in high school? I can't find anything about that.

 

A question I often ask myself: Would we have been better off if the T-Mac trade never happened? Probably not, but I still wonder about it.

 

Man, **** steve francis

 

Got any good reason for hating on a former Rocket like that?

 

What if we had never traded for Francis OR T-Mac?

Bet that blew your mind.

 

Still my favorite player, Rocket or otherwise.

 

Micheal Dickinson

 

nice story specially the part with the rudy-van gundy transition ..

 

I've never heard of such a player.

 

Great memories. THey didnt win much but man were they good to watch.

JVG is the man, he didnt back down from any question and dished them out honestly.

 

The problem was that Francis refused/Couldn't/wouldn't pass the ball to Yao Ming when he was in a scoring position. Franchise was the Franchise and no player who he didn't want in the first place was going to take that away from him. He succeeded and Yao has never been our Franchise player as McGrady took over that role from Francis. Possibly now Yao will get the chance....

 

And that's why I said "man, **** steve francis"

 

Do you mean Dickerson? Yeah he was good, but in the end, Francis was meant to be here.

 

I would have rather seen Stevie fight for the city of Houston, the have had Tracy's sideshow fall short. One has my respect, the other makes my stomach curl.

 

Pretty good Rudy T impression.

 

Isn't this what happens to a player who relies solely on his athleticism and innate talent his whole career instead of developing better techniques and skills in order to fight diminishing physical abilities with greater efficiency? This is the difference between being good or great in the NBA. Athleticism doesn't last forever. As you age, you need to develop more skills and techniques, otherwise your light will be distinguished fairly soon by younger players, age, or injuries. There is a reason players like Hakeem, Kobe, and Jordan continued to expand their games. It is also the same reason that players like Grant Hill is still in the game. When you are no longer faster than other players or cannot jump as high and you cannot rely on dunking over people anymore, you have to develop other areas in order to stay at the top.

As much as I loved SF3 and the passion he brought every night, what did he really bring to the table when you took away his athleticism as injuries did? He wasn't ever a good passer. His shot wasn't anything special either. With nothing left after injuries, he was snuffed out like countless other young players in this league.