Have you guys noticed that every guard Francis plays against easily has played againsts scores, assists, rebounds out plays Francis at crucial momemts. As good as Francis is on offense, he is a bad defender and lack respects for lesser opponents(who always take advantage). proof is in the games and in the stats....Stock, Marbary, Terry, Miller, Payton, Williams, Parker and even that scrub from the cavs, palacio or whatever...go down the list ALL of them have had HUGE(much better then there avg's) games against Francis.....I am beginning to think he has the Glen Robinsion syndrome.....big stats but no results....sad....
Which is the reason why Francis is NOWHERE near being a star player. Star players outplay their opponents 75% of the time. Because of Francis' crappy defense, he rarely gets an upperhand on his opponent. When Steve scores 25, his opponent will score at least 20 pts, and dish out 10 assists.
That is why I like Gary Payton so much. He will get you 18, 4 reb, 9 assist and SHUT DOWN the opposing PG.
Payton was on the ALL DEFENSIVE 1st team EIGHT consecutive years. He was the first guard since MJ to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. I am sure Maloney has made some jumpers over him and Parker has done a thing or two but Payton may quite possibly be one of the top defensive PGs ever. And if you choose to reply, please provide some stats or examples if you wish to dispute this.
This thread is kind of stupid. Ok, so we have a point guard in Steve Francis, who arguably *right now, isn't as good as Gary Payton in his prime*? Yes, I can agree with this, but who cares. However, Gary Payton didn't hit his PRIME until he was 31 or 32 years old (He had his best season in '99-00. Francis is 25, and hasn't been playing competitive basketball anywhere as long as Payton. Also, it's blatantly obvious that Steve is forced to do so much offensively for this team that it affects him on the defensive end. Even still, Francis is averaging 1.65 steals this year and 0.5 blocks per game. Also, do any of you have real STATS on why Francis is such a bad defensive point guard? Not that I'm saying he's a very good defender, but I haven't seen any real effort involved in this argument from a statistical viewpoint. Regardless, Francis is no worse a defender than Steve Nash, Mike Bibby, Andre Miller, or Nick Van Exel.
Gary Payton made his defensive reputation before the hand check was outlawed. That was why he is known as the glove, because he was known for putting his hands on opposing offensive players. I don't think GP is nearly as effective a defender now. Besides, the new no hand check rules make it virutally impossible to stop a good guard in the NBA. Tall and agile guards like Kobe or Jason Kidd still do well, but shorter guards like SF basically have no chance. ~kountzer~
Steve isn't a good one-on-one defender. He needs some help from the weak side when his defender gets by him. Its what Kobe and Shaq do alot. You'll see it Tuesday night after Steve blew by Kobe so many times on 1/17/03.
Hey Newbie. Did you join because of the aquisition of Yao? Anyways. It happens. To every player. One example is our Center. YAo Ming. For some reason, yao tends to bring out the best/and never seen before, sides of scrubs. not all the time. but, it happens. STevie a great player... Last night. 28pts 10-17 shooting (3-4 from beyond the arc) , 5 asists, 4 steals, 3 reb, 0 Turn Overs!
Sure it happens to every player.. But thats not the point. I think the original posters point is that Stevie is our "franchise". Thus, we hold him to higher expectations. We expect him to OUTPLAY his opponents on a consistant basis. Kobe, Shaq, KG, TD, GP and KIDD usually does. So if Steve scores 28pts, 3 rebs and 5 assist and Stockton goes off for 18 pts, 9 rebs, and 11 assists, there performances is essentially a wash or some may say that Stockton did better.
Dude...calm down. Stevie is not god...now is he a Freakin Machine. Who...you tell me.....WHO CAN SHUT DOWN KOBE,KG, TD, GP, and KIDD? you tell me!! KG: Ranks #2 in the NBA in Triple-doubles(3.0) Ranks #1 in the NBA in Total Efficiency Points(1511.0) Ranks #1 in the NBA in Efficiency Ranking(30.22) Ranks #2 in the NBA in Efficiency Ranking Per 48 Minutes(35.64) Hmmm...doesnt seem like anyone can stop him....Dont ya say?! Dont give me an example of a bad night for him...cause i bet i could go and find another night where he ripped up the same player...
