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

Exactly. Statistically, it was one of francis' worst years. But it was actually his best season as a player. He transformed into a complete point guard, and he was still the leader of that team. His strengths, which are athleticism, penetration, leadership, clutchness, persistence: all would have been brought out in JVG's system, just like Sura's was. Forget about the stats. Look at battier. His stats are nothing great. But he's a heck of a player. Steve was too in his 1 year under JVG.

 

i don't think regular season games will expose very much. we are going to win alot games with rafer. in playoff, this is a totally different story.

i don't say sf will save us. i just tried to remind people of what rafer is. don't put high expectation on him. good thing is we still have mj and bonzi, especially, bonzi is really playing well. if we had him last year in playoff, the result could be different.

 

whether sf can be good with this new system is tough to predict. mj has better jumpers than sf. but sf did display some aerobatic moves around rim.

 

Relax people he's not going anywhere anytime soon....he's going to get minutes at some point in the season....you taking what he said a little too seriously...it means nothing....

 

SF3, just be ready, you will have a chance in this team. We know what Rafer and Head can do and can not do before the playoff time.

 

Explain how he is a leader and what is a leader in your opinion.

 

Outstanding!

Funny people want to gripe about Steve yet Mike James, and Rafer Alston has got serious run, not Steve.

Steve needs the ball in his hands to be effective...well isnt that what TMac has too? Not saying that Steve is on TMac's level but lets be realistic.

Has anyone seen the numbers Rafer has put up when it isnt the 4th string Mavs squad, or a Euroleague team. Put Francis with the starting 5 and lets start comparing.

What has MJ done so far besides "dominate" the ball, ball hog, and get his? Once again...look at Rafers last few games. Against more serious players. Look at the outcomes.

Steve will get his time. When Rafer is shooting 1-6 every nite, not grabbing rebounds, and pretending to "run" the offense that TMac is really running, then Rafer will find himself excused.

 

Yes he will . .. He is T-Mac's boy
and folx here think he is gold

Rocket River

 

I had a dream recently about the upcoming Rockets season. In my dream, T-Mac sustained a serious injury midway through the season and ended up being out for the year. Up to this point, Steve was coming off the bench in a limited role, but when T-Mac went down, he moved into the starting rotation at SG. He then went on to become the undisputed leader of the team, produced his glory stats of old, and led us deep into the playoffs.

If you believe my dream, then we should hold onto Steve and have faith in him.

Obviously, I'm being a bit silly here, but I really did have this dream. Also, I must warn you that sometimes my dreams can be prophetic. It has happened before.

 

no doubt francis will get his if he is in the starting 5, at the expense of every other player on the team. Francis is good at one thing, iso. it was always that way at maryland(where they lost because that's all he could do), and in the nba. in this offense, steve either has to change his tune or be just the way he wants to be, which is having the ball in his hands, for better or worse.

i like steve, i gotta a warm place in my heart for him, but the man cannot accept anything less that being franchise. good for him, he'll be taking this show elsewhere.

 

I said we wouldnt beat the Jazz in the first round....yall bashed me


I said Yao would dissapear in the playoffs.....yall bashed me


I said Francis would fail horribly under Adelman....and yall bashed me


I've said this before and i'll say it again. Anyone who thought Francis would be a major contributor this season (99% of this board) would be SEVERELY dissapointed. Yall all bashed and ridiculed me for saying that, but it's not so funny now is it?


Now, it's my turn to laugh at yall...all of yall who thought Francis could actually help this team (99% of clutchfans)




I'm not the type to say 'i told you so', but DAMN does it feel good being right

 

Simple plan here. Continue to sit Francis and get him riled up, and then unleash him sometime in February and he'll be angry enough to elevate his play. There's no advantage for us in trading or buying out Steve. His time will come.

In fact, you could make a good argument for getting all three guys, Rafer and Mike James included, pissed off about their minutes, because all three have proven in the past to perform well when they were angry. Well, not so much angry as snubbed.

 

now, from one end, we shifted to the other.

from what we saw in all preseason games, sf and mj didn't really challenge rafer starting position. whether they can do better after playing more in the new system is hard to say. mj may have opportunities to display but sf is in awful situation. he might choose to leave. we may never have a chance to see.

just based on what we saw in 5 or 6 preseason games, rafer is the best among all pgs we have so far. it also means our pg position does not get improved from last year. our backcourt issue has not been solved yet.

 

Dear Steve,

Since no one has clued you in on what your role will be in this offense, I figured I'd clue you in before the season starts. I'm giving you some insight as to how you should both mentally and physically prepare yourself to contribute to a team that is preparing itself for a possible championship run. I understand that your learning style is more visual/kinesthetic and less auditory/logical, so I figured I'd break it down in laymen's terms and give you some "real life examples".

If I remember correctly you were a pretty good high school football player, so you're quite familiar with the role of a backup quarterback and their importance to a team. The backup QB has to prepare for each game as if he were the starter, he stays in shape and knows the playbook front to back. A a contending teams success is usually predicated on the backup QB not seeing much action. However, any good team needs to have a high caliber player at this spot.

Heaven forbid we go through any major injuries, but should anything happen to any player 1 through 3, your role would significantly increase. We would expect you to be prepared, in shape, confident, agressive; a leader.

I know you like cars, you've got some pretty impressive rides. Did you know that one of the most important parts to a car is a spark plug? While you may not be the pedal (Rafer), the steering (T-Mac), the brakes/tires (Battier, Scola, Hayes) or the engine (Yao) you still play an important and Vital role.

You're one of the few players on the squad with an identity, meaning a team could offensively be centered around you. I know you don't think of yourself as a role player, and you're correct. You're a backup. Meaning you could probably start and put up pretty good stats on a non-playoff team. You're on a championship contending team.

Anything could happen. You know you have the city behind you. Be professional, be prepared.

Regards,

#34

 

Buddy the season has not even started, so WTF are you talking about?


Everyone needs to relax, it's a long season..... as the season goes by everyone's going to get an opportunity.......... give a chance for the players to adapt to Adelman's style.

Fact is all our PG's have deficiencies......every player is going to go through a slump....and that's when each of them will get some play time.

 

That didn't take long...

With 3+ pgs that have been starters and all see themselves as still being a starter - 1 of them was bound to be left out and start a stink. I suspected it might be Steve but I thought it would be sometime after the start of the season - not still in preseason.

Now the problem is someone will have to go - this will hurt the chemistry unless he just becomes the invisible man like Bonzi did last year. Getting rid of James or Rafer makes little sense. Getting rid of Steve may not be easy or cheap. Someone said it before in this thread - he's not a good fit for this team. He's still has his ISO moves but those are the only teams that might be interested in him and there aren't many ISO teams left.

 

easy nostradamus. Yao did exactly "disappear" in the playoffs. he did go 25/10. Of course his t/os were high, but i wouldnt consider that "disappear".

And you werent the only one who was skeptical about francis. 99% thought he would be a major contributor? easy. 99% of fans here cant agree on 1 + 1 =2.

Yes, some thought he would be starting again and return to allstar status and such. That was a little unrealistic and mostly the talk of people who have their head in the clouds.

 

well said. That is, and has, always been his problem.

 

It looks like Adelman is having a wait and see attitude. He said the rotation is not set in stone and he wants Steve to work hard because he didn't come in as good of shape as the other guys. It's not even just the dribbling because Mike James looks like he's been over-dribbling more than anyone on the team, but he's in great shape (while Steve has reduced his dirbbling...but has only shown flashes of his explosiveness because he's not quite in shape yet). I do see a parallel with the Bonzi situation also (like someone mentioned here). Fans were ready to bury Bonzi last year. Players look totally different when they're out of shape. When Bonzi got into great shape this year and worked on his game, he looks like a completely different player and could be a huge weapon for us. Iwas against trading Bonzi last year and letting Bonzi go last year because he still had that tremendous upside and cheap contract--so if he doesn't work out, then not much mone lost, but if he pans out we get tremendous dividends....and his trade value was low. I hope Steve keeps his head up and works hard. I want it to work out for him. The reason Adelman is having a wait and see attitude about the rotation not being set in stone or Steve's place in it is because Steve has a choice like Bonzi has. He can either work hard, get in shape, learn the offense and help or not. Steve may not have been a superstar talent...but he certainly was an all-star talent...and he still has the most talent among the 3 point guards....but for now Adelman has to go with who can help right NOW at the beginning of the season. Things change a lot during a season. Rafer still looks the saem. Alright against regular competition, but overmatched against really good competition. James is good at shooting and scoring and can make passes when he wants to, but he just doesn't have that mindset. Steve better start working his butt off because it's not like he's behind Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. We need someone to emerge and being a force in the point guard position. If not the 3 above, then I hope Aaron Brooks is a quick learner.

 

Francis was only an allstar because Rudy gave the team to him. Francis STILL has the ability to take over games and is talented enough have an offense go through him, however, his numbers come at the expense of the team. If Adelman gave the team to Francis, he'd probably average a triple double, but we'd probably also miss the playoffs. Catch my drift?