Bring in a true point guard, make steve the shooting guard which he should be, rockets can play 3 guards with a PF and Yao. Steve and Cat will be able to concentrate on attacking. It will not only free steve, also can ease the burden on Yao. That's the solution for rockets if they want to go deep in playoffs.
What is wrong with you??? He had 7 assist last night. Look Kidd and Payton both are PG and they both SHOOT and PASS! I think Francis is DOING a MUCH better job this year at PG than he did the last few years!
Of course Steve can play point guard, but he is beter to play a shooting guard. For 5 years, people still refuse to admitt it, that's sad. Rockets will get a better O&D from him to let him be what he is really good at.
For 5 years people still refuse to forget about getting another PG because it is not going to happen anytime soon. That's sad...
I want Eric Snow, Charlie Ward, Jeff McInnis, Brent Barry, or Kevin Ollie. They don't have to start, and we don't have to MOVE Francis to the 2 full-time. But having these guys play 25 minutes per game would dramatically improve this team IMO.
Steve doesn't need to move to the 2, but we do need to bring in a true back up point guard. Moochie is just terrible, and we can not afford to play him 18 minutes a night like he is now. I would like to see Charlie Ward brought in to back up Steve, he had success when Van Gundy was in New York and he's playing possibly the best ball of his career right now. He would bring more veteran leadership to this squad as well as solid defense, a good outside shot, and he's also a really good passer.
A couple of questions: 1) What PGs are available that we can say are better than SF at playing PG?? 2) What PGs are available that are adept at guarding larger SGs so that we don't have to have Steve guarding the opponents SG?? 3) What is the point in having Steve play SG, when the objective of that would be to get the ball out of his hands??? (i.e. Steve strengths require the ball to be in his hands as he is not a catch and shoot guy)
Steve is in a conundrum (sp?). He doesn't have all the instincts to be a great PG, yet he doesn't have the physical attributes to be a great SG, so he's stuck in the middle, as Charlie Palilo likes to call him, a "lead guard". Sometimes, he's playing shooting guard, and sometimes, he's playing PG. This is why he and Yao are incompatible. Yao needs somebody who's role is clearly defined, somebody that will feed him all the time, not somebody that will get him the ball just most of the time
If you make MJ a point guard, he will be a good one. If you make him a shooting guard, he will be the best of all time.
1) Wasn't there some rumor of Eric Snow being available? Obviously they aren't easy to come by but it's wrorth talking about. 2 & 3) Don't we do this anyways when Moochie plays? It seems like both Rudy and JVG have taken the ball out of Steve's hands for extended periods, including the 4th quarter. I would like a pure PG to come off the bench when we play teams like Dallas that confuse us with defensive schemes. Someone that takes Moochie's minutes and plays 25-30 minutes.
MJ had the size and skills that enabled him to play 3 positions on the court. Steve doesn't. And last I checked, MJ retired and is unavailable.
7 assists huh? He should have had at least 10 assists because of the obvious wide open easy layups we could have had but he refused to pass in the fast break. Any point guard's role is to distribute first, shoot second. JVG needs to get in steve's head...it's better for him to distribute first and set up his teammates and things will open up for him later in the 4th. He can take over games from there. Either he needs to learn how to set up his teammates first or we'll need a true point guard, period. Right now, he doesn't have the mindset to consistently win in this league. Until he learns how to do that, his potential will be limited.
The object is not for us to take the ball out of his hands. The object is for his backcourt mate (whether a SG or PG) to be a better decision maker, a more efficient player, and a better passer into the post. Mobley is notoriously bad at decision making, is not very efficient (don't give me this year's numbers, give me career), and he should be but isn't a good passer to the post. Same goes for Moochie. Francis isn't good at passing to the post, but he's not horrible. He's an average decision maker. However, he's quite efficient for a PG. Points (good FG%), rebounds, assists, steals, they all look great...he's playign with effort, and his defense is improved. I seriously think we should replace Mooch and Mobley with another 2 role players, a PG and a SF.
Philly is going to want a starting PG in return. Philly is not going to trade Snow unless they get a player in return that improves their team. Ive not heard that Philly is shopping Snow. Im guessing that Moochie is playing less than 10 mins a game when he is on the court with Francis. Once Pike comes back, I would guess that most of this will disappear. I somewhat agree here. I think the point of this thread though, was to make Steve a full time SG and bring in a full time PG.
How does this sound: Tinsley, Jeff Foster and Brezec to Philly Snow to Houston Mobley and Dalembert to Indiana Thoughts?
I can't think of any impact PG available at a reasonable price (someone like a Jalen Rose is waaaaaayyy to expensive) without giving up Mobley or Cato. SG is probably the deepest position in the league and even the new, improved Cato is a little pricey. Right now, I would not give up Cato for an Eric Snow-type PG. Let's let the team jell for awhile and see how we look after Pike and AGriff get some PT.
Sane, leave Mobes out of the discussion. To address this glaring need, I thought the team would have gone away from the inexperienced 3rd pgs that they have tried for 3yrs in a row. They had Damon Jones, then Tierre Brown and just let them go. Who know what they saw in Maddox. I would have used the 3rd pg spot on someone with experience, even Mark Jackson. A night like last night he would be in there.
DearRock, Mobes is VERY relevant to this conversation. He's a horrible compliment to Steve Francis, and if he were replaced with a lower scoring, more efficient, better passing player, we'd be WAY better off. We don't need an impact PG. Francis, JJ, and Pike will handle 48 minutes at the PG position. Francis will handle 30 minutes at PG. What we need is an Eric Snow, Kevin Ollie, Jeff McInnis, or Mark Jackson handling those remaining 18 minutes at PG.
