I don't hate SF either, and if I am able to go the game on Jan. 24th, I will cheer him. My theory on why we want him/them to lose even though we don't hate him: 1) The trade was a gamble. We gave up a lot, hoping to receive a lot. Because we gave up such value, it is important to us that we don't get "the short end of the stick". We want the gamble to payoff. In contrast, a big fear for us is the possibility that it won't pay off, and we do worse this year than last, while the Magic go to the playoffs. 2) In addition, when a player is traded, it always feels good to see his flaws develop on someone else's team. It feels good to see Steve dribble it off his foot and commit a lot of turnovers as he plays for the Magic - it's relieving to know that we're rid of that (though he certainly has his strong points as well, the negatives always seem to eclipse them). 3) When you trade an all-star for an all-star, you can't help but compare them. Steve was known for his turnovers, and his inability to pass and get others involved. McGrady had ONE turnover last night has repeatedly demonstrated that his strategy is to either get open and shoot or draw the defense over and pass to the weak side. And he's doing that well. 4) On top of that, it seems that there is a little smack coming from the Magic camp about the trade, and we don't want the smack talk to be true. -- droxford
In 3 games, Dwight Howard is only having a combined of 18FGA !!!!!! What a wasted #1 pick...... at least he is having double digits rebounding
That is my feelings, I don't hate SF or want him to fail but just seeing his mistakes gives me a feeling of "Tee-hee you got jipped" toward the magic. SF played his heart out while with the rockets and I will be giving him a standing ovation when he plays here, he made me watch every single rocket game since olajuwons last year here.
I was at this game. He missed that dunk. It still looked pretty embarassing for Wallace though. Francis definitely played like the Francis we were used to seeing in Houston. At one point in the game Orlando had the ball stolen from them three times in a row. I want to say he had the ball stolen three times, but I'm not sure I am remembering that correctly. It was an embarassingly bad game for him and for the whole team. He lost control a lot of the time and didn't seem to be in the game. If anyone on Orlando overlooked the game it was Francis. I know he can play much better than that. Mobley played better than his buddy but started to lose his cool as the game ended. One of the Charlotte players and him kept on locking arms toward the end of the game on a free throw. The referee had to separate them more than once. No T though. Grant Hill and Turkoglu were the most impressive players on the Orlando squad that night. They can fill it up and give the Magic a decent mid range/slashing game. Dwight Howard was impressive when he was on the floor, but got into foul trouble early like most rookies and had to ride the pine a lot. He's like most high school rookie big men -- great rebounding, good shot blocking, but no range and weak defense Orlando looked awful last night. There biggest problems will be controlling the tempo of the game. They really need to run to score. A lot of their success will depend on three things. 1. Grant Hill's return to at least 80% of his old self 2. Dwight Howard staying on the court and improving his offense/defense 3. Steve Franics cutting down on turnovers. It was a fun game though -- good to see basketball back in Charlotte and good to see old Rockets players.
Players have bad games sometimes. It's easy to talk smack when he's had a bad game. I'll repeat a mantra that many posters like to repeat: it's just one game.
If you're implying Steve didn't get Yao the ball, Yao shot the ball the most on a per minute basis last season for the Rockets and averaged the most points on the team.
HAAHAHAHA FRANCIS TEH SUXXORS !!!!!111ELEVEN!!1!!!! LMAO LAAMALALMALAMAOROFLEMWA FRANCH1S3 !!! wow these threads rock.
Maybe so, but he wasn't very good at getting Yao easy shots, like T-Mac has been doing. Also, Steve has said that his talents and style weren't used in Houston, which I guess means getting the big man involved isn't a big part of Steve's game. I don't see why JVG's system is so bad for him, unless he is just a poor passer. LeBron and Wade don't seem to have a problem feeding the big man and scoring points at the same time.
Howard isn't the offense on the Magic -- it's Francis, Mobley, Hill, and Turkoglu. Howard gets the ball down low on occasion and is averaging double digit rebs (almost 12 per game) and over 2 blocks per game. 9ppg, 12rpg, and 2bpg from an 18 year old rookie -- yeah, what a wasted pick. He'll get the ball in due time.
