Just label me a "Francis hata" . I am sick and tired of reading the same stuff here when we lose...that Francis can't play defense, that he and Mobley don't get the other players involved, blah blah blah this, and blah blah blah that. In looking at the box score, I see that the "Franchise" shot 19 times and made like 5! Why in the hell was he still shooting the rock when he was shooting that poorly? Does Rudy have any control over this team? Wait, don't answer that question, it was a rhetorical one. This is Steve's 4th season in the NBA, we have just signed the dude to a max contract. I feel that we fans have the right to see him play smarter. God knows that he has talent and potential, but surely he can develop a brain to go along with that talent. I hope that Francis reads this board, and that he sees that all of us Rocket fans are tired of seeing him trying to get by on his talent alone. There's more to the game, Steve, than just the physical stuff. You have to know how to do the mental things, too. To me, it seems like he has no clue on getting a feel for the game. Maybe I shouldn't be posting this since this is out of frustration, but when I look at this team, I think "My God, this is a team that on paper can truly be dominant!" Unfortunately, only Yao and somewhat to a lesser degree, Rice, have brains and understand how to play the game. And Rudy shrugging his shoulders or looking down at the floor as Francis and/or Mobley continue to get burned by their men is not helping things. Go ahead and rip me, but realize it is killing me to see the Rockets repeat the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over and over.....
who else is gonna put up the shots? no one else was hitting anything consistently and francis is a shooter. so what if he takes 19 shots. eventually (having that shooter mentality) shots will start falling. would you rather have mobley taking those shots? or anybody else? leave francis alone.
you can expect at least two of these a game: Francis grabs an offensive board in the paint. Light bulb goes on in his head, "I have the ball, there's 3 7-footers around me, I think i should try to shoot it over them." holy freakin' mother! why not dribble the ball out and run a set play again.
Um, how about Yao?? He was hitting. Mobley was hitting for a while. Look, I understand that it is not going to be the same guy every game that makes all the shots. However, using the logic of "He is a shooter" is one that I don't understand especially when the guy is playing POINT GUARD!!
A majority of Francis's shots where from drives but he could not get a layup to go down to save his life. I wouldn't say he took too many bad shots. I'm more concerned with his defense then his shot selection.
how about just simply run the play, listen to the coach, trust your teammate, make a right decision, is that too much to ask for ?
My friend tells me Francis was a SHOOTING GUARD out of Maryland and NOT a point guard. This could explain his "shoot first and pass second" mentality. It ain't easy breakin' old habits.
I never thought of trading SF, however, I would be a strong supporter for playing him as 2 stead of 1. Damn, do we need a pure PG or what?
Well, right now I have two Cake CD's and "Smash" by the Offspring in my CD player....oh wait, I thought we were in the BBS hangout for a minute...
ULTIMATE SOLUTION Lose every game from now, make sure Rox end up the worst 4 or 5th. And have Steve put on a nice suit, his lucky suit...go to the National TV with a nice smile...Bam...The first pick goes to Houston...Lebron James
You have inspired me, A-Train, to be more active in this forum and I will try everything I can to make ZRB look tame!
I don't mind the poor shooting, for various reasons. However, I am getting really pissed off about his horrible defense. Until he learns to play defense, the opposing PG will always match Francis point for point. A true star is able to outplay his opponent 75-90% of the time. Francis does this only about 50% of the time, which explains why the Rockets aren't better than an average team.
1.Who do you want shooting other than Yao? Steve's a PG, but he's also a scorer. You can't give up on your shot. Some days it's off though but you have to find it. Yes, so he should look to get others involved, but he wants to do all he can to win, and sometimes he puts too much on himself. He needs to learn or "develop a brain" as you say. Maybe someone could help him with this... Oh let me think, who could that be? 2.People constantly complain about Steve and Cat's mental mistakes. Don't you think coaching should affect this a LITTLE bit? Does Rudy not see what everyone else is seeing? I would think he knows a little more than all of you, but he needs to find ways to get the message into their heads. 3.Thankfully, I don't think Steve reads online message boards or newspaper articles on the Rockets. You don't think there's games when Nash or Baron Davis shoot poorly. Damn people need to stop worrying about Steve and start worrying about the team as a whole.
In my opinion (which are like assholes because everyone has one), the offense should go through Yao. Period. The problem or problems are that Francis is #1 not a true PG, and #2 has never played with a center as talented as Yao (Hakeem near the end of his career doesn't count). As a point guard, he has to create easy scoring opportunities for his teammates. Did you ever think that one reason why he has to shoot so much or that the other Rockets (besides Yao) don't shoot well is because Francis never gives them an easy shot?? When is the last time that you or anyone else can remember the Rockets scoring oh 2 or 3 baskets in transition?? It was probably before Francis was playing. So, to answer your question, it should, ideally, be a variety of different players. As the PG and leader of the team, it is Steve's responsibility to figure out who will have the hot hand and get them the ball whether that is Mobley, KT, Yao, or even freaking TMo. I agree with you but the problem is that Rudy has never been a good coach for young guys. He has always done better with veteran-laden teams. I should hope that he gets onto Francis and Mobley and the rest whenever they do stupid things, but maybe he has given up now since it seems they never listen to him. Maybe if he sat them down awhile, that would get the message into their heads? But tozai, the thing that is so frustrating to me about Francis is to see this incredibly gifted athlete do boneheaded things. I mean for all of last year (for the most part), I gave him a mulligan due to all the injuries and everything, but I am a fan of the Rockets team not of one player. And it pains me to no end to see him not playing up to his full potential. And us "damn people" are worrying about Francis, because whether he or you or anyone else likes it, he is the freaking leader of this team. How he plays affects how the Rockets do as a team. If he plays bad, I doubt that we win 5% of those games.
Let's just say that Yao can create easier/better shot opportunities for his teammates, than Francis can. This simple fact is the only reason you need to run the offense through Yao. Yao is every bit as good of a passer than Francis. Moreover, he won't be trying to throw errant alley oops to Mobley 24/7.
Yeah, but there were also a few instances of him driving in, finding no daylight, and passing at the last second to... nobody. Or a Clipper. Or Colin Pine. If we wanted that kind of moronic driving without knowing your options, we could've re-signed Tierre Brown instead and saved $80 or $90 million.
We are not even in the running for a championship this year guys, we're just getting better. We are doing that. We are going to lose our share of games. It does not mean Francis sux, and it does not mean Rudy sux. This is not the NFL, dropping 2 games to teams you should have beat does not mean doom and gloom. We have a very good squad right now, and if you will think a few days back, we played well enough to beat Sac and Philly.
