Francis: "I've still got to play for him, God knows how long"

I hope this doesn't become another iverson-brown relationship.

 

His stupid mistakes ( turn-overs ) really brings down the morale of the team, he should be traded.

Don't get me wrong, I know his skills are tremendous but that's not good enough to bring a team to champtionships.

 

Trading your best player doesn't solve anything....

Both of them need to shut the hell up and win basketball games for thier fans. This is stupid!!

Steve needs to step up and lead this team because he finally has help and Van Gundy needs to stop feeding the media with internal issues...he's not in New York anymore. I'm sure Rudy had internal isssue with some of his players too, but we would never hear about it because he knew how to talk and handle his personel. He didn't have to cry to the media.

Bottom line......

Win games, be men and drink some shut up juice.

 

I am less concerned about the "God knows how long" statement than I am with the "I'll play the way I want" statement.

Required reading on this topic should be a book called, "Good to Great." One of the concepts in the book is making sure you've got the right people on the bus...they don't have to be all-stars to be the right people (geez, haven't we seen that in Rockets' history??)...and sometimes, the guy with the most talent is not among "the right people." But they all need to be pulling in the same direction...they don't have to be best friends...but they all have to understand roles and pull in the right direction.

If Van Gundy reads that book, and I'm betting he already has...Francis is gone!

 

I just read the chronicle article......

"It's out of my mind," he said. "As far as prolonging it, I could care less. I don't have any bad feelings against him. I've still got to play for him, God knows how long. I have no problem with coach at all."


I think some of you have taken this quote a little too seriously. You already have past judgment on Stevie and nothing will change your mind right now. What's wrong with this quote?? Who was there when this was said? What was his tone like?

This is not worth the gun powder that would blow all of this to hell.

 

If the Rockets truly followed that concept a few years back, they would have gotten rid of their best player who they claimed that he was faking an injury. But they kept the most talented player and won a championship.

 

And they got a new GM and coach. And Francis is not Hakeem.

 

Exactly, and they got new coach, JVG. No one's going anywhere for now.

 

Man, it's been a while since I've agreed with you over here, but now I do. JVG's been over the top lately. Did you catch his quote after the Bucks win regarding our turnovers? Instead of being complimentary to his team, he had to belittle them by making an extremely sarcastic remark to the media.

I understand using the media to try and motivate your team, but the flip side of that is you don't be an ass when your team plays extremely well.

 

You know...I understand that Steve needs to grow up somewhat, but Van Gundy is rubbing me wrong. Houston is not used to media crying.....it's not cute at all. You don't motivate your team through the media.

 

of course, there's real question that Hakeem ever DID fake an injury. he certainly denied it.

here we have a player:

1. deliberately defying his coach
2. lying about it after the fact
3. then claiming he'll play however he wants to
4. saying, "God knows how long" he'll still be here on this team.

the rockets made a decision to hire a coach like JVG. they did it, in large measure, to counter the approach that Rudy brought. i don't think either approach is inherently better than the other...it all depends on the people you're working with. but francis has proven to be everything his critics said and everything his fans feared. his performance has been less than we'd like to see...and he appears to be more concerned with himself than his team...the team he claims is HIS. that's not leadership. that's not the kind of player you give max dollars to.

francis has been my favorite rocket for some time. but enough is enough. it's one thing to come up short year after year...it's another to appear ambivalent about it...and to have zero respect for the authority of your coach. particularly when you're the "franchise."

 

I know the coach has the right to call out their team, but JVG has been too much lately. There is a time for everything, and now isn't the time to make a sarcastic remark about something the team has been trying to improve on.

I'm getting really tired of what JVG has to say, it just seems that he whines quite a bit, not excepting any of the blame.

 

Why shouldn't he call out the team now? Granted, the play hasn't been up to par all season, but it's the last couple of games where we really gave up. Is JVG supposed to b*tch after a good game and keep quiet after bad games?

 

In my humble opinion, some of us just read too much into what a player or a coach or even some reporters said. Some of the quotes are taken out of context and some of them are not considered under same circumstances. Besides, they are just human, do we say politically correct things all the time? No, we don't and we just can't. How can we expecting them to say something always correct no matter how the media dig into the story how they twist words? Our players all said a lots of correct things in the public. I am just wondering whether everyone has a PR personal to teach them how to deal with the media. Did it help? NO. Personally, I am no long interested in what they say or not say. They've done with talk the talk, now all I want is since everyone seems to be "on the same page", knows what's the right thing to do in the game, why don't they just take action, walk the walk, and actually bring all those politically correct nonsence on the court? Too bad Yao Ming is afraid of speaking in the public in English Why? I guess again, it's because he, like others, is just afraid of saying something "inappropriate". The media will just catch every single chance and make it a nature-disaster-like incident. Unlike, just likes to say what I think despite of my broken English

 

Well said......agreed

 

I complely agree with everything except #4. I really don't think the "God only knows" stuff is that big a deal. We know a few things aout this situation:
1. JVG has tried handling this behind closed doors to little or no effect.
2. Francis is not playing the way the coach is ordering him to. Instead the player is playng how he wants to play.
3. This is the same BS critics complained was happening under Rudy T.
4. This is pretty much the type of thing that should make Grizzlies fans feel vindicated.

I am really surprised those people who were so upset about Rudy T losing his job see this as an opportunity to snipe at JVG. This isn't about JVG as much as it is about the players. You guys were right. It wasn't Rudy T. The inmates just aren't respecting authority.

JVG isn't an idiot. A jerk, yes. But not an idiot. Some of you guys are acting like JVG didn't try to handle this behind closed doors. Dude spent most of the season being completely complementary to Francis in the media and going out of his way to defend his guards and deflect blame from them (and being directly critical of Yao). All this while we knew that JVG, Francis and some other players were having their battles behind the scenes. That this stuff is public should tell you how bad it was behind closed doors.

 

Are you blind? JVG simply stated why SF is suspended for a game. This is better than not telling media any reason. It is SF who came out changing his stories and crying like a baby in front of media. And telling everyone he is just gonna play his own way, i.e., he loves to stay out of playoff.

SF has been doing lip service to fans for 4 1/2 years. Now he showed his true color because he has got his max already. What an idiot!

 

You remind me of my conversations with a Jehovah Witness.

The old coach and GM were why Hakeem "might" have faked an injury. Once they got a new coach - one he liked (Rudy) - he played. I don't think Steve is getting a new coach that he likes anytime soon and I don't think Steve has the same power that Hakeem had on the franchise.

Trade Steve in August. We'll have no regrets.

 

I think the Big Splash is going to be a Tida Wave.

 

That's silly, and my main point was that they didn't get rid of their star player, so MadMax's analogy was wrong. I've never heard of Hakeem having problems with Cheaney. His problems were with upper management.

So do you think its Okay to fake an injury.