I've quietly rooted for Steve all year even when 65% of this board wanted to murder him. I thought the team needed him and I still do. Yao Ming has made it clear that he isn't interested in carrying a team on his back; I kept hoping Steve would finally step up and take his game to a new level. Instead he's brought it down to a new level. This stupid stunt has hurt all of his supporters and it clearly dealt a blow to the spirit of the team, as well. I'm far more disappointed with him over this than over his lackadaisical mistakes; guess what Steve, I had to work during the Super Bowl, too. Maybe this will jarr Francis into playing better. I doubt it. I'm not sure if I'm sadder over the fact that I no longer care if he's traded or because we'd never get another scorer of his caliber in return.
Wow. That article said exactly what I would have. Spot on. Sad, sad, sad. We cling to Eddie Griffin because he's a nice, lost kid that we wasted three first round picks on, costing us players like SAR. We keep holding onto Steve because ESPN makes sure to show his fabulous dipsy-doodles and dunks and help get him onto the All Star team. I'm not saying Steve has no worth, far from it. But I think he just crapped on his own breakfast plate and he can't get it from the table til he eats every bite.
I just want to go on record as agreeing with everything the hippie said....except for getting good value in return. If they get rid of him,,,we damn well better get some good value, cause as stupid as he has been lately....he has talent..and you dont just give away talent for nothing. GMs will give up some for him....if you think GMs dont know talent when they see it, and are going to be putoff by a single incident like this...then you are delusional. but for everything else you said hippie.... well done..
I remember listening to Bob Kemp a few years back. I liked it when callers started talking nonsence and he would break out the BOOO machine on them. On the subject at hand, this team is all but finished. They may be still 5 games over .500 but it is a definite possiblity that the Rox miss the playoffs for a 5 straight year.
I think something like this can seriously affect team chemistry.. when the coach had brought up the teams heart and questioned it. then something like this happens.. I think more people are outraged about this because most of us (not all) are average joes. We work hard, we try to save money and we still support the Rox when we can. Some people may feel like its a slap in the face. Hippie stated it pretty well "I'm far more disappointed with him over this than over his lackadaisical mistakes; guess what Steve, I had to work during the Super Bowl, too." These players are paid millions of dollars to play a game for 48 minutes. Thats not hard work... J
it's karma, what goes around comes around. Francis showed what kind of person he is when he refused to play for vancover.....His selfishness is the reason why we got him to begin with, now the selfishness has come full circle.
wow that was a nice article.. makes u really think about what Francis is going to do in the next couple of games till the end of the season? back to the old .. or with the new/
Francis 5 years on the Rockets can't be blamed for all the failure... But let me say this...I'm hard on Yao in his 2nd year. But not nearly as hard I was on Francis in 2002. It was then, in Francis's 2nd year, that I spotted bad trends in his playing style: all flash, little substance. I'd had enough. Yes, even back then. Why? Because I saw virtually NO improvement in two years ("Give him time", I heard). His 3rd year was a wash because of his ear thing. After that, come his 4th year I figured he'd come back and show the fans something. Well, kinda. He had his best season statistically, but Rudy insisted that "creative coaching" was the ISO. And Francis took it and went overboard. Rudy didn't seem to mind. Go figure... Now we have Francis in his 5th. Any improvement? Well, sure. Some. He's trying to learn "team-ball." That's something. But, his decision making is the same. No matter what venue/team/coach you put a player, you can't hide their spots. They are the same person underneath. It just seems that way...I mean, why does Steve have the primadonna stigma? Why? It's like he *thinks* he's better than he really is. And he wonders why other players around the league don't give him the respect that he expects them to (Atkins, Brown, Ridnour, Lopez just to name a few). So, in 5 years. Not much change. I've given up on him along time ago. Some might say that we need to give Francis 6 or 7 years to mature. But, I wasn't even concerned about "personal maturity" as much I was about his "skills maturity" as a PG (Yes, kids will be kids...But, pisssst! He's 27 now). Even Cassell made some bone-head rookie mistakes. But he's improved year after year... So, bad passing, unforced turnovers, unable to make consistent shots, and now this? Well, I don't care if he went to LAS VEGAS and blew $1,000,000 on the slots, got drunk and overslept once...as long as he showed up on the court and performed at a level the same as past guards: Payton, Isiah, Murphy, Cassell... I mean, heck! Give us something. If we are going to be a 45 win team, at least shoot better. At least pass better. At least be a leader and lead by example. But don't show us NO improvement AND ALSO lead us to a 45 win season while expecting personal limousine and charter flight treatment. Sigh... P.S. Our last ditch effort. Can we please move Franics to the 2? Please? And lets work on getting a big PG and a PF (Marko Jaric/Sheed? Someone...)...
Awesome article! Seems like more and more people are turning against Steve, justifiably. I think there is only one way this saga can end....
I say good on Francis, with all this critisizm he gets with this team who wouldn't want to get traded? Francis goes.... i go.... this team sucks without him!
If Francis has any balls, he would respond to the critcism and shut us up. Chances are he will fail miserably. It wouldn't surprise me if he pulled a Quitten on us.
I couldn't have said it better. I was surprised to see I wasn't the only one on this board that had to work during the Super Bowl. I bet all of us that worked Sunday night don't make combined 1 of those millions Steve makes. What an ingrate! And I used to a Stevie supporter. Now my mood is "shape up or get the hell outta Dodge!"
I wouldn't exactly say he's on level of Quitten. We show Quitten unblieveable respect and love yet he still left, we showed Francis complete hostility for the past year and a half and he's still here. There's a big difference.
That's crap and has been thoroughly discussed and disproven on this forum. Why schedule that flight6 like that. PHX is an hour away. Make it a 8 AM flight Monday and your there for a 11AM shoot around. It's JVG tring to be an egotistical idiot. Just because nobody invited him to the party....
[It's JVG tring to be an egotistical idiot. Just because nobody invited him to the party.... [/B][/QUOTE] Do you really think that JVG came to Houston for watching the SuperBowl and the half naked girls? He came here because he blieved that under his coach the Rockets could finally win the championship! He is one of those guys that love his own job, for which I respect him. And I belive he can make it given enough time! His defence is the first step to playoff, and then next season putting more effort on offence will drive Rockets even further. Damn it, Steve ruined his plan!
Do you really think that JVG came to Houston for watching the SuperBowl and the half naked girls? He came here because he blieved that under his coach the Rockets could finally win the championship! He is one of those guys that love his own job, for which I respect him. And I belive he can make it given enough time! His defence is the first step to playoff, and then next season putting more effort on offence will drive Rockets even further. Damn it, Steve ruined his plan! [/B][/QUOTE] If JVG is all about winning, then i would let steve go by this one, and let him play. the team was on a 3 game loosing streak, and a four game loosing streak could almost get us out of playoff position. He knew without steve, the team will be almost pathetic. Steve could of easily made it to the mourning shootaround, and played the game. All jvg did is make us loose one more game, and possibly loose our best player. But i cant put all of it on JVG
