I don't think Adelman has quit on Francis. He realizes it will take him more time to fit in. Bonzi is still more likely to come off the bench at the 2 in the beginning,Francis will get his minutes at the 2 and and the 1 off the bench eventually.He will have to be patient.
Why can't the coaching staff tell him they will yank him immediately if he tries another one of those "teardrops" - even if one goes in out of sheer luck?!
that's why i'm glad for mike and steve. they'l lactually initiate contact for fouls. rafer is weird to me. how u gonna penetrate and always does that teardrop when it has 5% chance of going in? just throw your body in there for god sakes. but i don't think he can since they give him tons of space for the teardrop too
alston still looks the smoothest at being a true point guard even with his off night. but, watching him get cocky, pull up for a couple lame jumpers and missing that stupid floater should wake everyone up to exactly why we have options behind him. mike james dribbles a tad more than i like but the results are as good if not better when he's out there. bonzi will play regularly but head and francis are probably battlling for one relatively low minute playing spot.
EXACTLY. can we all agree that in the playoffs, the game tempo slows down and you need half-court offensive skills. there will be defenses like san antonio that will read all your motion very well. we need a guy like francis in the post-season who can athletically will himself to the paint and to the foul stripe. that can be mike james somewhat with his 1st move and speed but not really with his hops and finishing strength. its definitely not alston's cringe-worthy tear drop, and his niche for blowing layups, and thats if he can get halfway to the paint. and luther just doesnt get to the paint unless its a give-n-go, or cut. his ball handling limits his ability to drive into traffic. francis is the guy who can get into the paint, get the contact, draw the foul, often finish the basket, and get to the foul stripe. not even t-mac does that, he usually settles for a jumper, and as we saw with utah, tmac cant be the only guy flying to the rack for 4 quarters. not to say that all those guys aren't wonderful players, and i'm glad we're so stacked this season. but we are going to need a guy like francis in the play offs.
francis' best shot is getting the 9th rotation spot. right now hes the 10th man behind Head, and Adelman has said nothing but great things about Head.
Remember who was in the rotation at the start of last year? Synder and Padgett. Things change during the course of the season. Steve's gonna get his minutes don't worry.
He was an allstar, and now he has to be patient to be the 6th man. He is not going to be happy if he doesnt play a significant role in this system. His rebounding is still flat out amazing for a guard, but he still doesnt know how to make an entry pass to Yao even at high post. That's what out of JVG's system for 3 years will do to you.
Coach 'A' should tell Alston that he must not try and create for his own shot!! He can shoot the ball when he is open and someone else has passed him the ball or has set him up, most times this will be a three point attempt. I don't like chuck as a starter! He doesn't demand any defenders as he is such a poor scorer. On the other hand Scola does draw away from Yoa Ming because he is a scoring threat.
It will really be tough to bench a player like Steve... yet it seems as if he won`t play a significant role at the start of the season. He looks a little slow and hasn`t been able to understand the offense yet. Still, a season is long and a lot can happen. We know that we have quite some guys that may get injured (Yao, T-Mac, Bonzi), and some guys that could flop (Rafer, Head, Bonzi) so I think, he will be a big part of the team at the end of the year! Also we could play some real small ball with him in the Line Up, when Yao and T-Mac are out, to give the other team some serious matchup problems. That`s the thing I really like about our team this year: we are really flexible and have a lot of guys that can get hot. Last year it has to be on Yao and T-Mac, this year I could see both of them having an off night and somebody else stepping up and helping us win a game.
If Rafer and MJ continue to play like they have so far this preseason...it will be hard for Adelman to find minutes for Francis. But the keyword is "IF." We've played extremely well this preseason, but the regular season is different animal and things can change quickly.
It's strange -- we kept hearing how much Francis was training hard this off season, but Stevie still looks a little 'puffy' -- as in he is overweight. That Adelman is basically calling him out only confirms that and in my opinion puts Francis on the hot seat.
This is the main Idea The Rockets have reached a point that I really don't give a sh*t about the Regular Season IMO it is taken care of. . they will win at least 47~56 games and make the playoffs This team is about the Playoffs The squad that shapes up over the course of 82 games Is that we have to see if they can make it in the playoffs Rocket River
its amazing the fall from grace that stevo has gone thru..think about it...all star, to traded, to traded again for very little to ny, to traded and bought out, to signing for 2.8 million, to being possibly out of the rotation....who would have thought
Guy's who are going to be be cu imho: Harris (already have Hayes) Sura (health) Landry..... he's the guy who might stay...iffy...NBDL bound? Reed JLIII Butler stays....cause one Mutombo is 40something, and two Yao usually goes down once a year... Snyder stays because of his contract.... Francis...cause some fans will come out just for him... Novak....don't have any other 3pt specialists other than Head. AB ...he's the guy i'm iffy about....probably get sent down to the NBDL.
