Among the many challenges ahead of Jeff Van Gundy this year, the problem of Steve Francis, and his position looms very large. With apologies to all the Griffin, Mobley, and Nachbar fans out there, this is clearly a two star team. Yao has his own hurdles to overcome, but they seem to be either easier to control ( his place in the offense) or almost beyond a mere coach's control ( his endurance/strength)...but the problem of The Franchise would seem to be among those a good coach can tackle. The million dollar question, however, is how. How do you take a guy bred on highlights and scoring and make him a team first player? How do you take a player who has been taught to go solo, to the point that it's instinctive, and make him stick with the system, especially when that system hits snags. That is the key...Francis is not a complete jerk, as much as some in here think otherwise, and wants desperately to win. He works his ass off, and does what his past, his instincts, and his training thus far have told him are the best ways he can contribute to winning. The problem is that it doesn't work, and is a much worse option than the one presented in the form of a 7-5 Chinese gentleman. And I am sure that, at least in part, Steve knows this...but when things break down, instinct overrides what you think you know, and Steve looks to beat his man, pure ans simple. So I ask you, fellow coaches without portfolio, if you are JVG, how do you solve the puzzle that is Steve Francis, Point Guard? Do you abandon the whole thing? I think that's a worst case scenario, myself, but arguable...Do you alter the timing of Steve's 1st pass off option? Do you have the plays points of decision happen in someone else's hands, even if Steve is the inititiator of the play itself? Do you get him a backcourt mate that takes more of the burden of decision off of him, but lets him keep the title? Do you try and re-vamp the entore offensive system, and go with a team passing scheme that might not suit the talents of those other than Yao? It's a quandry...and it might be the single biggest decision in the immediate future of our franchise, and our Franchise. I have my own ideas, but I would like to hear from some of you before I peddle my own pseudo-solutions... Who knows...maybe we'll come up with something original, or better yet, something that will work.
I don't know. What do you think? You're going to tell us anyhow with another 1000 word essay in five parts.
MacBeth everyone is waiting for your answer to the million Dollar question. This question has been running through my mind for over a year and I haven't come up with an answer that I realy believe in ! The Point Guard position and Francis in particular is of great concern to the Rockets, as they were next to last in Assists,in the NBA, last season.
When it comes to crunch time..the go-to man, whoever it may be ..must be able to go solo. The team game gets you in the position to win..the go-to man puts the game away..in the NBA
MacBeth- Everything all right? You're averaging 2 words per post (wpp) over your last 2 posts in this thread. I think it's still too early to tell. There are ways around it with the roster (bring in a guy to lessen the decision making, a la Odom), or even with simply player development (Yao playing like Duncan, and making Steve basically a bigger, better Tony Parker), but I think before I can really break this down, I want to see what JVG does first. He either is still determining what he wants to do, or is playing close to the chest. Equally likely, IMO. Of some other things you mentioned, I don't see us going with a "team passing" (I envision the Kings when you say this simply because we may have Yao (Vlade), but none of the other pieces, like Webber, who is probably on the level right below KG (who is other worldly) in terms of PF passing ability. Boki isn't Peja as far as we know, and Idon't think we have the type of shooters to be deadly in that type of system. What would I do? Heh, I wish I knew. We'll see what happens come FA time-we're a 2 star team now, but if these Sheed/J O'Neal, or the board's Brand pipe dream were to come to fruition, I think that'd have to be factred in.
Good post MacBeth. I think at a certain point you have to work with what you've got. We have great talent on this team and all that is needed is minor tweaking. Management has done a great job (regardless of what others may think) of bringing this talent in and no other deals need to be made. It is the coach's job to define each player's role and see to it that each player accounts for their role. However, no team has won a championship due to solely the system it used or the offense it ran. Great teams win because of great players and the on-the-court relationsips these players have with their supporting cast. What we need more than any other player or system for the Rockets is chemistry.
Damn, and I thought this thread was going to be about how to make a point without having to use too many words .
The question this thread poses could have been asked in 2 sentences. Are you Charles Dickens? Do you enjoy rambling on for tireless paragraphs? Geez
MacBeth,From the trivia, I dont thing half of the posters realise the significance and importance of the question you have posed. Please straighten things out with your opinion! Then we can have some substance to talk about.
I haven't figured out exactly how to best use Francis, but the absolute worst way to use him is to have him initiate the play. His propensity to dribble and probe and dribble and probe completely bogs down the flow of the offense. Let's assume that the focus of our offense will shift more and more to Yao, by design and because of his increased efficiency. When Yao is in the low block: the two players that are best suited for making the entry pass are Mobley and Posey because they move well without the ball, Posey in particular. Francis then should be position to receive a kick out pass if Yao is doubled. Francis then is the "finisher" of the play, with 8-10 left on the shot clock. He can take an open 3, long 2, or dribble drive to the rim or stop and pop, or drive and dish to the 3rd option for an open look. With less opportunity to kill the shot clock, his efficiency should go way up. When Yao is in the high post. Mobley and Posey are still the best ones to make back cuts to the basket. Mobley and Francis would both be good candidates to take the Webber-to-Peja simultaneous handoff/pick from Yao. With Francis, he would have to decide to shoot, drive or pass to a cutting Yao faster, and would have to resist dribbling back and out of the handoff/pick, as he currently does with 90 percent of pick and rolls, thereby ruining any advantage gained by the pnr. I worry about this play because it requires too much decision making by francis. My main point is this - decisionmaking is one of Francis' weaknesses. He needs to get the ball at the end of the shot clock, where he knows it's time to go. Give him 20 seconds and he'll kill 10 with dribbling and frequently turns the ball over or forces an ill advised shot. Give him 8-10 seconds, he doesn't have time to piddle around. He just reacts. The nature of the topic requires me to be slightly negative about Francis. But being the leader means you get credit and criticism. The Rox are fortunate to have the problem of how to use Francis' immense talents. JVG needs to give Francis less time and opportunity to think. As a side note, I think it is imperative that we get Francis' rebounding numbers DOWN. Our front court needs to be able to get rebounds and make outlet passes. Francis should be the beneficiary of 2-3 more open court opportunities per game if he were able to leak out -- not cherry pick, but damn, be around the 3 point line headed the other way when our guys get the ball.
This is how I see it. Francis knows how to play as a team player. During the all-star game Francis distributed the ball and made good decisions. Perhaps we should fill the Rockets roster with the likes of Shaq, Duncan, and KG. Maybe that would make him a pass first oriented point guard. Van Gundy Needs to tell Francis that: 1) Passing the ball is what the point guard does. A good point guard will pass the ball. A great point guard will pass the ball and create easy opportunities for his teammates. 2) Passing the ball is a fundamental part of the game. It’s good to get everyone involved in the game 3) Passing the ball will make this team much more dangerous making our offensive less predictive because there will be multiple points of attack 4) Passing the ball will create more motion on offense because teammates will be anticipating the ball hence, cutting to the basket, picks being set, perimeter players moving to open areas, and overall off the ball movement 5) Basketball is a 5 on 5 game not a 1 on 5 game. Pass the freaking ball you hoser! 6) I almost forgot the most important thing. Passing the ball develops team chemistry. Something this team lacks.
Think about it, who was the last true point we've had. That has been our weakest position since before the Kenny. Yes we won with him but noone wanted to keep him. We were happy that his only responsabilties were to bring the ball up court so someone else could dump it down to Dream. We even had Cat playing point as a rook. Now we have an allstar point and we rox fans aren't satisfied. Francis can make the proper choices; he just needs team mates that will finish. Why pass the ball to someone who will miss the shot, turn it over, or pass it right back? Notice in the allstar game when he had stud teammates he played like a true allstar point. Its hard to expect him to pass it to the best option on the team when that would be himself. Yao is still very young and playing alot of ball year round. He only averaged 13 points and got the ball sometimes more than he should have last year. I love Yao but people need to realize he needs time and the better he gets the more his teammates will look to him. You didn't know each night what Yao was going to give you, but if Steve didn't produce it killed the team. Steve will continue to get better, but the Rox need to make sure the rest of the team drasticly improves. Last year he passed the ball, but no one would finish. He dribbled so much because if his teammates aren't moving and they can't creat for themselves then he would have to do it for them. Put more motion(like we were supose to last year) and teach them to run a better pick in role in the O. Get a more reliable foward and watch Steves numbers and play be dramaticly better. Sorry it was so long had a lot on my chest
