Francis, When Are You Ever Going to Play Smart?

If you had been watching the games, you would have noticed that Francis has been doing a much better job getting his teammates involved this season as opposed to last season. Why haven't his assist numbers increased? Because his teammates are not cashing in on these. I can't tell you how often this season I have watched a game, thought to myself "Damn, Francis must have 10 assists tonight with how well he was passing", and then look at the box score and see 6-7. It has happened a lot.

Francis is doing his part in trying to temper his scoring mentality. He has lapses on occasion (last night he didn't pass all that well, though he has certainly had much worse games in the past), but I am NEVER going to get on to him for the shots he was missing last night towards the end. If he can get into the lane like that, he is going to hit the shot or draw the foul 80% of the time. It wasn't falling for him last night, and the refs weren't calling the fouls, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the best shot we could take at the time.

I think a lot of these complaints people have are just stemming from the fact that we seem to have become the Clippers b****, and that just sucks huge, Glen Rice ass. The Clippers are definitely better than they have been in the past, but they still have suckiness associated with them. As soon as Francis has another near triple double with good shooting that results in us beating a good team, games like this will be all but forgotten.

 

I think the problem really is that defenses have adjusted and Steve is struggling with how to beat them now. If you remember early in the year he was just going off every other game, getting easy shots in the lane and shooting a really high percentage. Now he's getting a lot of attention any time he drives and they're forcing him into jumpers. His shooting % is down and he's never been a great passer so he's being exposed a little more. It's a damn shame we don't have a big point guard who can defend so we can put Steve at the scoring guard and just let him try to score without "thinking" about getting teammates involved. Steve is never going to be the high IQ point guard we want so we just need to deal with it and find a way to cover up his weaknesses.

 

Hey, you! It's not that Francis is not allowed an off game now and then. It's the lack of his capability to direct the traffic, make good passes and get everybody involved that is hurting this team and the fans. Don't you see?

People here are asking for his leadership, not to bash him. I don't give a damn whether Steve or Yao or Cat played a super game. As a fan, all I want is to see the team play well and win.

BTW, your mindset will lead the team and yourself to nowhere.

 

Sane.

Exactly. Putting Steve at SG would weaken the defense. Mobley actually does a better job as defensive SG. Mobley is a top 10 SG.

NOw Steve is not the best traditional point guard in the league. You have Kidd, Miller, Payton, Stockton in the past. So how are you going to get a Miller or Kidd? Cuttino is a good player, but he won't get a Kidd or a Miller.

As Sane has said and so have I. You have to go back to Magic and Isiah before you find a traditional point guard oriented teams who has won a championship. Not the Bulls, not the Lakers, not the Rockets. Do any of you think that Kenny was a better point guard overall than Francis? or that Kenny was a great defensive player. Granted you had a young Sam begining to play as his back up. However, especially back then,Sam was a shooting type point guard.

So you see you can win even championships without the traditional point guard. It isn't necessary. Once you realize that you can start looking at the bigger picture. Steve would not be a good defensive SG. Conceivably if you got a big defensive minded PG who could play the other teams SG, you could move Steve to SG. Name me a player who could fill this role.

Now I might change my mind if by early next season if Steve still is not feeding Yao consistently and is driving into triple teams and zones, constantly losing the ball. I believe Steve has the message, he not only talks what needs to be done. There is still a reasonable chance he will learn how to do what he knows needs to be done. If not, then trade Steve as it will take his immense talent and potential to get the ideal point guard you fantasize about.

P.S. Tito Maddox was by consensus the best distributing point prospect of last years draft. Maybe Tito will eventually prove to be Steves' back up when we need a bit more of a conventional distributor. Since Tito can't shoot at this point, he should please those who dislike scoring point guards.

 

But, these teams did have traditional point guards in the sense that they were pass- first and set up the offense. Kenny Smith's job was to bring the ball up court and get the offensive set going. He wasn't great at it, but that was his job. Derek Fisher isn't a great point guard, and the triangle is a little different, but he looks to pass first. Even Pippen, if you consider him the PG of the Bulls' championship years, kept getting everyone involved, got the team in a rhythm, and set up the offense to get consistently good shots.

Why don't we look at Allen Iverson, who was a PG when he first came in the league? The teams were getting nowhere with him setting up the offense. Eric Snow now is the PG, and Iverson can shoot pretty much all he wants, and look how much success they have had. The question is- how many teams with shoot- first point guards have been successful?

Personally, I've never been a big fan of the move Steve Francis to SG school. He is not a selfish player, and he does try to get teammates involved. What I don't see is him being able to get the offense into a good rhythm. He doesn't seem to have the great court vision, at least lately. Why else would Rudy T. feel the need to bring Moochie Norris of all people in EVERY 4th quarter? Maybe he wants a traditional pass- first point guard?

 

Taken in reverse order...

FYI, unless you consider a FG% of 55% significantly down from 60%, Yao Ming was NOT having an off-nite. And I'm not here to just give Yao a plug for the sake of a plug. And even then, I'm not saying the big man is the one who ought to be taking 19 a game, but if you pass it to the big man FIRST, I definitely believe good things will happen on the offensive end. Where were the pick and rolls? Where were the hard screens?



I have no grievance with SF's talents. What I do have a problem with, is how SF has a knack for going back to the "Steve Francis Watch Me Dribble and Shoot Show." IMO, Steve would be SOOOO much more effective, at either thePG OR SG positions, if the Rox would simply set more picks for his defender when he's OFF THE BALL. Unfortunately, the dude seems to ALWAYS have the ball and trying to create for HIMSELF. I don't question SF' effort or his desire to win. What I do question is his decision-making and how he has to make things harder than they really have to be.

I have no problem with SF shooting 19+ shots a game. The way I figure, SF should be taking 23 shots a game. How I calculate that is simple. IMHO, he's a 25 pt/nite guy who gets 20 off of regular field goals. Assuming no 3s for argument's sake, that's 10 buckets (the rest he'll get with FTs). Divide that by his historical, (or Sane's favorite word, TRADITIONAL) FG%, and you get 23 FGA per game. But there is such a thing as SHOT SELECTION. Take 23 shots, but make sure their good looks, i.e. open perimeter, layups off cuts, open Js off screens, etc.

My problem with SF is not his offensive prowess but rather his DEFENSE AND HIS RELATIVE PERFORMANCE against his direct counter on the other team. Its either arrogance or stupidity to think you can play man with PGs who can match you point for point, if not more. Play the zone!!! And this ain't a SF ONLY knock, it's a team strategy issue.

 

As to the "function" of a PG, the job IS more than simply getting the ball to the guy who can score. b/c if these decisions were driven by statistics, Yao and Cato would be getting 50 shots a piece and we'd end with a team FG% of 55%. Broadly, the PG role is about MAKING GOOD DECISIONS As you pointed out, sometimes shooting it yourself IS the best decision. However, it's not to the frequency that SF's been doing. Whatever happenned to setting the tempo? To stepping up the D? In these last two losses, We played to our opponents strengths. Even if Fri was NOT an off-nite for Steve, SF got suckered into a duel with Jason Williams.

I'm totally FOR SF to stay at PG. But to be TRULY successful, he has to pick develop into a more "traditional" PG, in every sense of the word. Can this happen? Only time will tell. You say that the "traditional label went out the window when 7'6 C's, 6'9 PG's, 6'8 SG's, and 6'4 PF's." Ironically, if you truly believed in your "THERE IS NO TRADITIONAL POSITION PLAYERS" argument, then Why couldn't SF be a successful SG? My theory on why you see so many nontraditional position players is b/c There is a paucity of Big Men out there. Teams have to make do to FILL THE HOLES. w/o a legitimate center, you will see teams like the Knicks, Bucks, etc. scramble to make do w/o one... and this impacts the gurads AND forwards.

The Rox are fortunate insofar as NOT having this problem We ARE shaping up to be a "traditional" team, whether you like it or not. Every position is accounted for with a "pure" position player. It's a blessing, not a curse.

And as far as "Kobe's recent misfortunes", you can think of the Laker's record as "misfortunate" all you want. Fact is, if there was any doubt to who the REAL franchise player is on that team, it's Shaq. There's no better way to "control" for his importance than with him being absent. But this debate is for another time.

EOS

theSAGE

 

Steve Francis was/is/always will be a SHOOTING GUARD get it through all of your noggins.

It won't change.

 

Finishing layups is one area that he needs to develop. Not just to be a good finisher, but a great finisher.

 

Pardon the pun but this isn't Rocket science. You have a guy who' s second in the league in FG%. Your PG's primary responsibility on offense is to get guys the ball in good scoring position, particularly guys that are good scorers. If your PG isn't doing that then as a PG he sucks. How many shots did Yao take last night? Try to imagine how many shots he would have gotten if Kidd were a Rocket. Kind of sad isn't it.

 

Just for the record, we don't need a Jason Kidd. It would be great if we did, but quite frankly, I am happy with SF and what he represents to this organization. What we DO need from SF (which I elaborated upon earlier), is simply greater on-court leadership insofar as playmaking goes.

I'm guessing NYKRules is a NY Knicks fan....
Well here's a question for you:

"Who was the Knicks last all-star PG?"
Answer found below.

The Knicks, having wrestled with a franchise center and some great shooting guards have wrestled with the PG for years. Instead of going with an marquee PG, they made good with some hard-working, soldier like decision makers in Charlie Ward and, to a lesser extent, Chris Childs. Neither of them are Jason Kidd like levels, but then again no one in this decade, is. But the point I'm making here is that you don't need a superstar PG to get you to the championships. By my recollection, back in the day, Houston had the glory of sweet Sam Cassell running the point.

Do all teams have a need for a traditional PG? Damn right they do!

theSAGE

Ans: Mark Jackson

 

Francis can't subjugate his game to the team game. Rockets don't need a Kidd but the problem is Francis is a whole lot closer to AI than to Kidd. Will he learn to subjugate his game to the team's? How many long, painful nights will the Rockets sepnd finding out?

 

In fairness to AI, for many a season, he was the first and ONLY reliable scoring option. Yet even AI had to go through a learning process to better work with Aaron McKie and Snow. Unlike AI's early years, SF has MANY partners-in-crime who CAN score. Heck even Glen Rice is a legitimate spot up shooter.

What people don't get is that running an offense through Yao, is NOT the same as saying Yao should throw up 20 shots/nite. The offense sputtered last nite in the 4th when it should have shined. All too often when you see this "mirroring" effect at work, it means, IMO, that we're not playing our game, but rather, we're playing the level of our opposition. Something's not right with that picture.

Unfortunately, I think the "trend" in this league is toward the "let's just fast break and get a shot off before our team settles into ANY set offense." The Rox should be playing off pre-designed sets most EVERY trip down the court. The right tempo for this group is NOT the run and gun style of shooting happy guards.

 

Yes.

 

Actually, the problem is that he attempts way too many difficult layups, that only big guards like Kobe, T-Mac, VC, etc can attempt and make. Francis shouldn't attempt 50% of the layups that he does attempt.