Chicago moving Crawford to the 2 with hinrich at the 1

I don't think moving STeve to the 2 is an option. JVG likes big shooting guards, apparently. Cat doesn't fit the bill either, but Steve? Nope.

Now, getting someone who can pass and play the 2/3, so you can play Steve off the ball a little more.

Or....crazy idea that will never happen!....cook up some trade that brings us Jason Kidd for Steve and Eggie (too bad NJ doesn't have its own trade exception; the Nets, up for sale, are wishing they had gone the route of a sign-and-trade this summer rather than getting tied down with Kidd's contract).

Sorry. Sorry. Got away from me there.

Still, Steve won't be a 2, at least, not nominally.

 

JJ needs to be a point forward.

 

Chicago had Kendall Gill at SG before; not a bad player, but not great either. And, they had a promising PG in Hinrich. The Rockets, on the other hand, would have to sit Mobley, who is a pretty considerable talent to put on the bench. And, we'd have to play Norris at the point. I think he's better than his current reputation, but there is a pretty big talent gap between Mobley and Moochie. Between Gill and Hinrich, not so much. Same with Philly who has to choose between McKie and Snow.

 

Why not JJ at point and leave Steve and Mobley in. Let them run around some Cato and Yao picks to bust free instead of dribbling all over the freakin' place...???

 

People keep overlooking the serious setback Hinrich endured when he missed the Bulls training camp due to injury. No position is harder to take up as a rookie than the point, and training camp is the only chance rookie pg's get to really learn the team system, players, etc.

So, as expected, when he did play early, he struggled. He will probably struggle some more, but the kid's gonna be pretty good, IMO. He's got the athleticism, skills, and smarts.

 

Two reasons shorter SGs don't get burnt every night:

1. Zone defense

2. Not every tall SG in the league has a low post game.

however....i watched the Heat-Pistons game on Wednesday. SVG put Wade on Billups and Alston on Rip. Rip just killed Alson who's 2-3 inches shorter than him.

 

i dont think JJ has the amount of ball handling skills that franchise or even mobley have. hes more of a shooter than anything else. steve is a shooter and ball handler.

 

He already is in many of the Rockets sets. Steve and Cuttino bring the ball up and pass off to him on the left wing, and he throws the entry pass or makes a decision on what to do.

I don't know why anybody believes that just switching the arbitrary label of "SG" "PG" and "1" "2" is going to be a panancea., or even meaningful. I suppose it would be a welcome relief only in that it would keep me from seeing a zillion posts about how Steve is a horrible point guard, blah blah blah.

Look at the style of offense Jeff Van gundy runs, he is going to call a high pick and roll for a player that can come off a dribblle no matter what you call him, be it 1 or 2. He is going to call an entry pass in the low left block and have a quicker player cut to the basket or have a taller spot up man stand on the perimgeter for the shot.

Just magically saying "YOu are the shooting guard" YOU are the point guard, YOU are the point forward" isn't going to change much.

 

And what is it that makes Steve a ball handler. The fact that he dribbles a lot? The guy is number 5 in TOs per and and total TOs. There are at least 50 players in the NBA with better assist to TO ratios and 30 or so with more total assists. I know the players that he plays with have to make shots for Steve to get an assist, but I don't think we can kid ourselves that Steve Francis is a top 5 point guard anymore.

A ball handler is someone who handles the ball without turning it over.

I do think Steve is coming around though but it is a really big change for him to sacrifice his personal creative scoring ability to try and improve the games of those around him. PG is the hardest position on the floor mentally. This season I think Steve is really trying to become a playmaker but may be losing his identity in the process.

 

If you're so certain that nobody would trade their own superstar for Francis, then what makes you so certain that Francis is a superstar?

Is it just that he's "underrated" by the rest of the league? Is he a "problem" somehow?

I'm not taking a position on this issue. Just curious as to why you think his trade value is so different from his actual value.