Can we find a direction?

I was excited as hell when we plucked francis a few years back. I thought he was the foundation of a contender. I still think he's a great player. I think he can score on just about anyone, at just about any time. But I don't know that' he's right for the Rockets.

The problem is we have 4 players who are capable of putting up 15-25 pts a night. (Francis, Ming, Mobley, Taylor) I'm pretty srue thoght that we don't have someone who can dish out 2 times the assists as turnovers (except on limited basis). Why don't people see that. The need for a floor general. We have plenty of snipers, and gunners.

I'm dumbfounded everytime I hear someone bash Francis for being a bad player. I don't think he's a MAX player, but he's certainly in the top 5-8 pt guards. Is it possible though that we don't need someone with as many physical skills, and more leadership. I know I'm going to get bashed for saying that we lack leadership on the floor but it's true. Why do you think that we have distructive (usually in the 2nd half) quarters? Why do we melt down at the end of the year? Francis is a super star, but let's not confuse that with his quality of play. He's great, but he's not an all time great. Penny hardaway, was a superstar long after his injuries had depleted his ability. Grant hill, Larry Johnson these guys were considered superstars, but they wern't The problem is that we have too many people who can score and not enough that can distribute the ball.


I've stated this before and I'll say it again, when we got Ming, the landscape of the Rockets changed. If Francis is going to be your pg you need a physical presence in the middle, a rebounder, a shot blocker who has a few post moves and can chip in 15 pts when needed. Having someone who can dominate at both ends of the court down low can be a problem. Didn't we learn anything with the 2 threesome's we had after the championship years? Ming needs somebody to get the ball to him, and look to him often, and I think that Francis would benifet even more if he could take passes in space and move off of the ball more. I know he can break just about anybody down on the dribble, but imagine what he could do with more movement, and another half a step on the person guarding him.

Especially when you throw in Mobley, who is good for close to 20 most nights. I have said for quite some time, and even mentioned it here that Mobley is not a good fit for the Rockets. I don't think they need someone who has a questionable shot selection and IMHO has slacked on defense for a while now. He's an unbelievable scoring talent, who has the skills to play defense (again does anybody remember early in his career?) and seems to have a ton of energy. I think there's a place on any team for him, but I don't think that on the Rockets, its in the starting lineup. Imagine what the rockets could do if they went and got that elusive floor general, moved Steve to the two and could bring Mobley off the bench for some instant offense. I know it won't happen, but I think the face of houston baskeball would change drastcially, and we wouldn't be talking about wether or not we make the playoff's but wether we're a 4 or a 5 seed. I know that Yao has to grow, and, and that's he's not ready to carry a team, but I do think that's where we're headed. If that's the case, we can get a pg who plays defense, and any points that were lost from the pg postiion will be replaced by Francis at the two, Ming getting more passes, and the rest of the team in general as they are better scoring opportunities. All of this plus a legitimate backup at the guard spots, some instant offense on the floor and a better defensive pg? And on those nights when ming isn't ready to takeover, what's to keep francis from doing it? The only thing you might have to do is get a bigger pg, and let them swap on defense so that francis doesn't get posted up on all game by the bigger 2 guards in the league.


So I'm not hell bent on getting rid of Francis or Mobley (though for a while i was wanting to see mobley go) but I would love to get rid of there current roles. I would love to see the situation I just described, but I know it won't happen. And I hate those trade rumors so i'm not even going to suggest who we should go after if we got rid of either Francis or Mobley

Mike