When he goes into his one-on-one mode and starts maturbating with the ball at the arc, crossing over the same guy three times and ending up face to face with him, gaining nothing for the 14 seconds of clock he uses, bench him. Francis is a glory hound and wants to be in the action. He won't be happy sitting on the bench, so he won't want to get stuck there. We have his contract locked in for 7 years, quit babying him and have some expectations that he has to meet.
I have listened to every sound byte I could pick up on JVG and it sounds like his #1 priority is winning. He is all about winning. Therefore, with that in mind I think he will approach Steve Francis the same way he will approach everyone else, basically JVG will try to balance what Steve does best with what is needed. Van Gundy will determine what is Steve's strengths and play to them, while compensating for his weaknesses (either with teaching, training, adapting, tweaking... whatever it takes) The same goes for Yao, Mobley, Griffin, etc. If Steve can't make the best passes for the offense, JVG will adjust to the better passers as a part of the offense, but this will be balanced by getting Steve in position to have the best opportunity to score also. In other words don't overly concentrate on how to make everyone else successful, remember to incorporate how to make Steve Francis successful. What will improve his assist to turnover ratio, improve his shooting percentage, get him the open J and get him to the basket for the lay-up, dunk or foul. JVG will play to the strengths of this team. That means look for harder pick and rolls, more inside out with spacing, more post picks for Yao, more inside drives for SF. Francis is a monster when he is hitting the open J and also driving the lane. If he gets the call on his drives and makes the free throws he will average 25.0+ this year. Yao- I expect him to get more touches closer to the rim and average 18-22 depending on strength and endurance over the season. The x factor is Mobley. Will he be willing to give up 4-5 pts. per game to increase Steve and Yao's numbers. I think it will take that. If Mobley is determined to get 19-20 a game, he's going to be determined to put it up more than JVG will be happy with. I think under Van Gundy either Steve is allowed to score more or Mobley is allowed to score more. I believe it will be Steve. Expect Mobley to be the key for our chemistry this season.
