Francis praised When Bulls coach Bill Cartwright made a point in the preseason to get point guard Jamal Crawford to look for his shot less often and his teammates more, Crawford compared himself to the Rockets' point guard. "Steve Francis going through the same thing in Houston," Crawford said. His point, however, would have been better if it were true. The Rockets not only have no complaints with Francis' shot selection, but Francis said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy talked with him on Monday about shooting more. Francis is averaging 18.3points on 13.7 shots per game. "One thing that I've ... thought when I watched Steve either from afar or now that I've coached him, people make too much of his shot selection," Van Gundy said. "He takes good quality shots. The thing I asked him to do is take the same shots on less dribbles because he's that talented. He can get his shot. He doesn't have the problem of shot selection. "But now that I know we have a fan, I'll make sure." Francis said he did not mind that Crawford brought him into the Bulls' situation or that Crawford's impression is not uncommon. "He's a young kid," Francis said. "I got love for him as a basketball player. I don't pay that stuff any attention, what somebody thinks. Wins and losses are what's important. He said it. That's what he thinks. My teammates have confidence in me. I have confidence in them. I've heard that when I was there with Hakeem (Olajuwon)." Reminded that former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich often tried to get Francis to look for his shot more often, Francis said, "My coach told me the same thing this morning." Van Gundy just seem amused. "I didn't know he was such a student of the Houston Rockets," Van Gundy said.
See!!! Everyone is complaining on francis taking too much shots. But in reality he needs to be looking for his shot more.
Its Mobley everyone should be worried about, now that he hit a few 3's tonight againt no defense hes gunna jackup **** all the time!
Dribbling less.....a very good point, and I wish Moochie would learn it; how often you gonna dribble to your right and get trapped just this side of the halfcourt line, Mooch, then waste time dribbling left? Steve can also cut down on driving into a wall of defenders in the paint. I haven't seen it much yet, and that's good. Can't fault his shot selection. He's been very good in that regard.
Any minute now, Yetti will show up and say that Van Gundy is wrong and that he needs to get a few more games under his belt.
I have to say that -- so far -- it looks like Steve is finally getting it. Hey, it took MJ a few years to get to the point where he could focus on the big picture, so maybe Steve is arriving at that point now. Regardless, with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock, I honestly can't think of anyone else I'd have the ball. AI? TMac? Dirk? KG? No, no, no and no. Stevie's the best in the league in that situation.
From tonite's game, I think SF is pretty good while Cat still need to transform a little bit. He doesn't know how to pass or resist to pass? I think it's former since several times I saw he turned it over when he did pass.
Lookike only Sir Jackie Chiles got it. I don't like the way JVG does his psychological games - he blankets his REAL point with feable praise. Yeah Francis go ahead and take some more shots but stop dribbling aimlessly Looks like I need to start watching JVG's comment a little closer
There is a small (or huge, depend on your taste) difference between Jeff's comment and Rudy's: the dribbling part. Steve is a good scorer. He should and can score. His trouble last year was that he dribbled into wall of defenders sometimes and turned the ball over. Jeff knows the plus and minus of Steve's game. If we can have the plus without the minus, the team will benefit.
