[ch 2 video] Francis interview: "I definately didn't come here not to play at all."

Your people, not mine

 

He has to show it in games or in practice and it's obvious he isn't doing that if rick isn't playing him.Steve must isn't blending his game with the 4 players who are in the starting group.I am sure he has been given the oppurtunity to prove himself and it all starts in practice,if the coach see's a player doing well in practice 9 times out of 10 especially in a competing for the position type situation taht player who is clowning in practice will be the player who starts in the game.



The insult lies with steve and maybe he is the reason that wack rafer alston is starting in front of him. Steve is competing for the point guard position and playing that spot he has to make good decisions and run the show and from the looks of it in this position he isn't doing enough to say he should be the starter.


Steve will have to earn his minutes and you don't do that by what you did in the past or how high you can jump and slam dunk the basketball,this is a TEAM game that you play with 1 basketball.

 

I saw that feature (was it at halftime of the first preseason game? can't remember) where they showed Steve training shirtless in the sun on an empty football field with his trainer, and I couldn't help but notice that he had some slight yet unmistakable lovehandles, and his midsection looked kind of pudgy. I dismissed the thought, thinking to myself, "He's a highly trained world class athlete. No way he's not in tip top shape. The lovehandles? The pudgy belly? Probably just his body type or something."

But then I hear Adelman say he came into camp out of shape, and I think back to that feature and his lovehandles, and maybe I wasn't imagining things. He did have lovehandles. That whole "training shirtless on a football field in the hot sun" thing was probably setup by his publicist.

 

Didn't the Rockets have some extensive discussions with Francis before he signed? Shouldn't they have braced him for this possibility or maybe they did exactly that, and he just shrugged it off. I really don't want this fresh season to start out with drama, and I hope the Rockets resolves this quickly.

 

i dont get what youre saying. yes rafer has his faults, but so does francis obviously. the point is rafer is starting at PG and francis will barely be in the rotation.

 

If he's not getting the job done, the Rockets should just cut his ass.

 

Um... how about subject of this thread?

Regardless of who's trying and who's not, you as a fan are not entitled to a flawless product. Part of the reason that sports are so compelling (at least to me) is that you get to see guys like Rafer, warts and all, play for a shot at the biggest acheivement in their respective professions. I love watching Rafer succeed because he works hard and cares about the Rockets. He could have crawled under a rock after all the problems he had in the off-season, but instead he made sure that anybody taking his spot in the lineup would have to show up himself. Nobody did, and Rafer has done nothing to suggest that his efficiency as the starting PG of the Houston Rockets will do anything but go up.

 

steve is overweight...you guys have to discern between the puff pieces that promote the brand and reality...

 

SF3 is disappointed or SF3 disappoints...?

 

I didn't want Steve to come here in the summer, but now that he's here it's very disappointing to hear this. I sure hope he's not gonna be to RA what Bonzz was to JVG.

 

Oct. 29, 2007, 12:16AM
Stevie must prove he's still got it

By JEROME SOLOMON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle



He got game? Well, he had game. Serious game.

We're talking high-rise-slam-dunkin', fadeaway-jump-shootin', see-you-at-the-All-Star-Game game.

That was the old Steve Francis. Actually, it was the young Steve Francis, who donned the funky pajamas eight years ago expecting to be the next great Rockets superstar.

It didn't happen. Check the montage on the wall of the media workroom at Toyota Center. After Big E, Rudy T, Little C, Big Mo, Dream and Glide, the next photos in the lineage are of Yao and T-Mac.

The Franchise is missing.

And Stevie Franchise will be missing from the Rockets' rotation Tuesday night when the "haven't won a playoff series since the year before they drafted Francis" Rockets open the regular season in Los Angeles.

The Rockets might not need Francis right now, but at some point this season No. 3, will need to be No. 1. He will need to be the guy taking the shots, making the decisions, winning the game.

The Rockets should have in Francis the kind of guy who can win a game — maybe even a playoff game — when their superstars don't show up. (And you know those nights will come.)

To be that guy, Francis needs to handcuff his ego and accept the early-season embarrassment of riding the plush leather seats that substitute for pine these days. If he does that, he could be a valuable "acquisition" later in the year.

If not, he and the Rockets will have their second ugly divorce this century.

An important question for Francis: still got game?

"There's not really a (chink) in my armor," he said. "I just think it's more of getting out there and getting a chance to get on the court and play. To me, that's the most important thing, getting minutes and getting out there to play."

If playing time is the most important thing to Francis, he should rethink his priorities.

"He did come into camp not in the shape the other guys were in," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said.

An eight-pack of abs
The shape in which Francis arrived was somewhat round. He took his shirt off after practice Saturday and joked that he has an eight-pack of abs, instead of a six-pack.

It's not as if he has a disgusting, fat body, or worse, is a Banana Split Bonzi circa 2006. (And lucky for Francis that Gunnery Sgt. Van Gundy isn't still the head coach.) But Francis, who signed with the Rockets this summer, didn't show up ready for battle.

After not playing much last year with the Knicks (44 games), and knowing the Rockets were overstocked at point guard, he should have come to camp prepared to compete for playing time.

Instead, he came to camp looking to play his way into shape. Adelman hasn't allowed him to play enough for that to happen.

Can Francis wait it out?

"I definitely didn't come here not to play at all," Francis said.

Pride could be a problem for three-time All-Star Francis, 30, who should have plenty of game left.

"He's not the player that he once was, because he's slowed down, he's aged," said Tracy McGrady, who has two years more NBA experience than Francis.

McGrady, 28, who wears the captain's "C" for this team, didn't mean to be derogatory with the comment, but clearly some players don't see Francis as having the explosiveness he once had.

It's not about age.

Even after a slow, straight-outta-high-school start in his first two years with Toronto, McGrady has played a season's worth of minutes and 148 more games in the NBA than Francis. Kobe Bryant, 29, has played three more seasons and 210 more games than Francis, yet LAX air traffic control can still pick him up on game nights.

Is Francis done? Hardly.


Turn it on
In a game against Memphis last week he appeared tentative early, despite a size and strength advantage on the Grizzlies young guards. Francis said he was just being patient, waiting to find a groove.

For a while, though, it looked like he couldn't get lift when he wanted to, or needed to.

Then late in the contest, one in which he played 31 minutes, the most court time he saw in any preseason game he took Kyle Lowry to the rack like the old, uh, young Steve Francis would have.

Remember how the older George Foreman would load up throughout a fight for that one big shot? Down goes Moorer.

Is Francis loading up for one big shot when he's on the floor, or does he have it in him to consistently deliver once he gets into game shape? The Rockets are championship caliber if it's the latter.


Thumbs up from T-Mac
So, he got game still?

"Without a doubt. Without a doubt," McGrady said. "He still can play, despite him slowing down. He's a smart basketball player. He's a very versatile basketball player. He knows how to play this game.

"Without a doubt, he will help us out."

Without a doubt, that is, if he can wait it out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In case anyone doubts that SF came in over weight and out of shape.

 

Thank you. Thats the same thing I was thinking, the man want to play ball. I hope RA will give Steve a chance to play becasue I think he can really help this team a lot.

 

Sure steve, keep telling yourself that.

 

Yea he did just get 30 million, but he still wants a chance to play basketball.

 

Thats the problem. He is paying like a player that just got a 30 million dollar buy out instead of playing like a player that is making 1 - 2 million a season.

 

So do I.

 

After watching that game against the Grizzlies you can definitely Steve still gets to the basket and goes hard. We may need that sometime this year especially if Luther or Rafer's shot isn't falling. From RA's comments, it sounds like Steve was a little out of shape coming in but has worked his way in to better shape but it is still not where he wants to be. I hate that the media kept trying to get him to say something controversial. I thought he handled himself very well even though you could tell he was pretty pissed. He should have played in that last preseason game to give him another chance to show what he's got.

 

solomon is not the brightest bulb on the christmas tree...and steve is a smart player???? hes never been accussed of that before

 

I thought he would be starting also but when I saw his game against Memphis he looked like he didn't mesh with the system. He was playing with backups but he started his dominance of the ball and everyone else watched.

He can get in the swing, especially when they start winning big. If he really wants to win a championship then he will work with the team. If he still needs the highlight reel on ESPN to mek him feel worthy then it was over before he got here.

 

i wouldn't mind seeing something like francis to clippers for corey maggette prolly wont happen