chron: Let's hope Francis gets the Big O's message

If he is a fast learner and is willing to learn, he should have found out by now that they need to get Yao more involve to get somewhere. If he is a fast learner he should have known by now that too much dribbling, too much isolations and selfish plays will not help them win games.

he is a a hard-worker alright. but i do not think that he is a smart player. he plays with only with his skills but not with brain.

 

Its not steves fault man. He passes it into yao all the time. Its mostly on Yao, because Yao has a tendency to get in the high post, and not deep in the paint where he should be, and then he looks for the pass, now who's fault is that? Steves? No. but yao needs to know that when hes aggressive thats when there is more movement and his passing is more effective. There is more randomness and this throws the defense off. See, Yao is good when he is agressive in the paint, causing fouls on him and stuff like that, as he moves away from that game he is less effective. So, yao passing it out and steve is just another option. Steve has every right to
"play in his game" even if it means dribbling and scoring. We wouldnt be anywhere with out Steve.

also, it isnt his fault that some of his other teammates arent so great. And he is maximising all his options. I am sure he tries to bring him self in perfect equalibrium with scoring when he feels hot, and passing when his players are open. He has a pass first mentality, with out him there would be complete randomness on the court, just look at the team stats when steve is on and off the court. I think hes the best thing to this team and no one should knock him for anything. I am sure he has a mind of his own and i am sure he know how to utilize his teammates more then any one of us, because after all he's the one going throught the situation over and over and over again. Sometimes you dont know how the situation truly is until your actually in it.

 

"The ball is in your hands, Steve. The team is in your hands."

There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

 

with all of our Rockets connections and cc.net Mojo, can't someone get the definitive answer on whether this conversation actually happened?

I personally think Francis came off a little too golly-shucks for it to have been real.

to me, the acid test is that Steve sounded EXACTLY like blinebury would want Steve to sound in order to facilitate his dream article.

"didn't you get tendinitis?"

that just sounds like the way Francis would ask that question in blinebury's mind.

screw Fran. I'm definitely on the record with thinking the article was fabricated, but it would be cool if someone could find out for serious.

 

article sounds fishy to me as well.

if it IS true, get a friggin assisstant coach for SF, cuz Rudy ain't cuttin it in that dept. Hell, put O on the payroll to tutor SF.

 

It would especially be nice to have an assistant coach who used to be a PG. Scot Skiles (former Suns coach) comes to mind.

We also need a coach who was a dominant big man such as Hakeem or Sampson.

I hope the article isn't. I'd like to think Steve isn't that stupid.

 

No. The relationship is based upon the "cost of living" which as it changes becomes the "rate of inflation". A quick dirty example.

A basic 1968 'Vette cost just under $5,000 dollars in the mid 60's. A basic Vette today costs around what...$60,000? The ratio then is around 12:1. Oscar Robertson's largest contract ever (250k/yr) translates into about $3m in today's money. Not paltry, but still about $1.5m short of the MCE. (The cost of a home or the average wage of similarly skilled workers would have been a better example, but I just used the car example).


Back on topic:
1) Count me in with those that see the article as Blinebury using a bit of journalistic license. Perhaps he saw the picture and wrote up a quick "dreamcast" to match what he wished had occurred.

2) No way on this planet does a comfortable NBA HoF'er start a coaching carreer at 64 years of age. If he hasn't been bitten by the bug yet, he's immune. (Big O <> Hubie).

3) There is a major difference between being told what "it" is and actually altering your current deep rooted style 180 degrees to play with "it". (The All Star game was an aberration...SF will give the ball up to Shaq, Kobe, and KG alot more willingly than he does to Posey, EG and Yao).

4) If (and to me that's a very big if), Steve Francis truly would listen to a great HoF, Championship winning PG and RT would loosen up on being a control freak IMO a close substitute for the Big O would be Walt "Clyde" Frazier. Frazier played with (and had an off court aurao of) "style" but was a solid distributor and played the game with a lot of focus.

 

Letter from Fran... I wanted to know the truth about this.

B

 

Oh, and by the way heypartner, I feel like an ass for questioning Fran on this. I think we should as a whole give our local media a little more respect. We are quick to be critical, but we rarely praise. I think the main problem most of us had with the article was we thought it was too good to be true, and some of us were shocked that Francis would ask questions like that. Thanks Fran for setting up the interview.

B

 

No need to feel like an ass, B, it's just Fran. It's not like you questioned the ethics of Clutch or anything like that. You misunderstand my stance as "questioning" him. I said it was either a fictional op-ed convo, or Francis is more naive than I thought. btw: I disagree that we as a group rarely give praise to our local media. That's not true.

And Fran, no need to sound so defensive. Some of us would rather it be an op-ed fictional convo, than believe Francis is that naive.

 

Regardless, that is sweet. Thanks, B.

Edit: Actually, if you wrote a letter accusing him of faking it, I retract the thanks and replace it with a "C'mon B, that's just not right."

If this is true and Fran facilitated this meeting...

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, gotta give it.

 

I am contacting Dan right about now.

 

This sounds more like a dream sequence. Great stuff. I have always believed that The Big O was the greatest I ever saw. I always compared first magic then Michael to Oscar.

I wish he were a coach with Rox. Walton, too. So much wisdom (even if Bill W's public spewing is obnoxious).

It will hurt if this team falls to #9.

 

Yes, I guess I misread you to a degree. I was just frustrated that I wrote Fran an email doubting him. I thought this article seemed a little fishy, and you and a few others added to my doubt. I overreacted, and I apologize.

B

 

Most of the Rockets devoted Fans have great expectations that the Franchise will be a great player, I also hope so! The doubt is concerning his ability to become a great Point Guard.

 

Says who?

Now I like this story even less. It would have been better if Fran would have just overheard these two guys talking. OF COURSE, Francis AND Oscar are going to say the "right" things knowing a reporter is right there after having set up this so-called "coversation".

I can't wait for Fran's "Francis doesn't heed Oscars wisdom" column after the Jazz game.

 

After the Hallucination call, your credtibility is always welcome Fran, now go and grow yourself a Robertson Mullet!!!

 

Shouldn't Fran have mentioned in his article that he set up the interview/conversation?

Very misleading.

 

Sigh. One of those "can I feel the nail wound" kind of people, huh?

Two points,
Re: the conversation
Look, I think Francis' apparent naivete is a combination of things:

1) Being starstruck - have you ever spoken to someone who's larger-than-life to you? No, it wasn't you, you actually sounded that stupid. Forget softballs, you start lobbing watermelons... 'you tied a figure 8, Mr. O? Wow.' (paraphrased, don't flame me )

2) Needing to hear it from the horse's mouth - Don't Rudy bash here. You don't think Rudy says these things every day? 'Steve, stay within yourself, keep looking at the big man.' Please. Parents tell kids "the right stuff" all the time, but if the cool kid, the big brother, or the girl chimes in with same, there is another level of acceptance. Again, I believe Steve knows the answers, but wanting to hear the formula from one of the top 5 guards of all-time (who coincidentally played with one of the top 5 centers of all-time)... well, who can blame him?

3) Naivete - Steve is what, 25/26? Playing with a focal point at center for the first time in his career? Not to let him off the hook, but it's safe to say he hasn't figured it all out yet.

Put it all together and well, let's hope church bells are going off in SF's head... and not the Meniere kind. We'll see.

Re: Fran Blinebury
You take shots, you owe an apology. I don't mean heypartner, his stance was clear and not unreasonable. But I can only imagine how important credibility is to a journalist and if you questioned Blinebury's, you should 'fess up.

He just can't get it right, huh? First he's accused of making it up. Then the conversation that somehow made it "on the record" isn't genuine enough. Argh.

Fran's the Man: As far as I'm concerned, Blinebury saw a problem, went after it in his columns and didn't stop there. He pulled strings and arranged a meeting between SF and a man who he felt could help Francis bridge the gap. Regardless of what you think of him as a writer, I think we owe Blinebury a debt of gratitude as Rockets fans.

Fran, YOU THE MAN

 

As Homer Simpson would say..."Doh!"


http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/theater/8207/doh.wav