i'll tell you this much: if jason kidd leads the new jersey nets to a title this year, he'll be regarded as one of the top point guards in nba history...and rightfully so. those are difficult accolades to exceed.
If that's the case then Steve's got a tall order going for him. I know he's still young but he has played 4 years in this league. And he has improved ****. Not that I don't think he'll ever get better, but Francis is a guy that needs somebody to get on his ass to tell him to get better, Rudy wasn't the guy. Hopefully JVG can do something about this.
I think you're comparing apples to oranges. Kidd's a pure point guard. Francis hasn't shown me any signs that he will ever fit that description.
I did NOT say that Francis is better than Kidd. I said Francis WILL BE better than Kidd. Kidd has been in the league 10 years and Francis only 4. Kidd did not get this reputation as being a great player until 2 years ago when he led the Nets to the finals. That makes it 8 years that Jason was an above average player. Francis has been an above average player for the 4 years of his young career and will get better and WILL be greater than Jason Kidd. I would put John Stockton and Gary Payton ahead of Jason Kidd as great point guards in NBA history. Kidd IS great, but Francis will be BETTER.
Francis can't be Kidd, forever. Francis just doesn't have the vision of court, you can learn those kind of instinct later on. Francis could be a different type of great player.
i think they will go two directions. Kidd will be a more John Stocktoon type player, while Francis will be a great scorer who will learn how to take over games like Kobe does.
First you are freaking NEWBIE so you do not have any right to vent at will. Secondly, you are somewhat right on something (though I am not readily sure of what it is) - Jason Kidd used to strike me with awe but not anymore. I don't see what all the buzz is anymore because he is very very inconsistent. I dare to say he is overhyped in the mould of Webber. I will take Francis over him right now. Francis though much smaller has more tools than Jkidd. But Jkidd's basketball IQ and Francis' are worlds apart (in Jason's favor). The sooner Fracis acquires the necessary brain to combine with his brawn then he will be complete. But for now he remains dumb - yet I will not choose Jason over him because of the hope I have in Francis' future developement into our version of Starbury or even better. Jason is a hair below "great" because he is too inconsistent.
I've said this time and time again... If Francis can learn the "game" not just scoring, he'll be unstoppable. Isiah Thomas was the prototypical scoring PG. If Francis could model his game similar to that, he'd have the best of both worlds: SCORING and PASSING. DEADLY! And he would kill Kidd.
Only on condition of that Steve plays smart, i.e. he gets his teamates fully involved in the game,he will be great pg.
Hmm, nba.com shows that Kidd is 6-4" and Francis is 6'3". Why are some people saying Kidd has a huge size advantage?
I think Francis can be better than Kidd because he certainly have the tools. Just from pure basketball technique point of view, right now Kidd is so much better than Francis in passing & court vision as well as the ability to control the tempo of the game. Kidd is kind of like Michael Vick, he has the ability to run full speed & cut in any direction, he can accelerate and stop at an instant. He doesn' get to show it very often. More importantly, Kidd has that leadership ability to elevate his teammates' game. I don't see Franchise doing much of that. However, I think Francis will get there with more experience. Kidd is simply the best point in NBA. If we have Kidd, realistically we'll go to NBA final in 1 year, probably win it all in 2 years.
Francis has already achieved more through his first 4 years than Kidd did in his early part of his career with Dallas. They never made the Playoffs, didn't even come close actually, and they had Jim Jackson, and Jamal Mashburn. I'm sure it was the coach's fault though.
For everyone who thinks Kidd is struggling, here's Francis numbers vs the spurs this season: 4 38.3 4.5-12.8 .353 0.3-1.5 .167 3.5-3.5 1.000 0.75 0.25 4.8 3.3 3.0 4.3 7.3 4.8 12.8 In case you can't decipher, thats 12.8 ppg,4.8asst,7.3 rebs on 35% shooting and 4.8 to's per game. There is a reason why everyone who plays the Spurs have problems. They can point to Detroit or NJ, but Sa is still the best defensive team in the league period.
This point of view must come from someone who thinks scoring is the only important stat in the NBA. Francis shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as a Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, or John Stockton. If you want to start making comparisons, a more realistic comparison is Francis to Allen Iverson. I would say Stephon Marbury, but Marbury is a much better assist guy than Francis has been.
