IF Steve Francis was healthy, would he be in the playoff rotation?

How can you be so sure? I think it remains to be seen whether the surgery will give improvement in his quickness and mobility. I have no idea what the recovery odds are for this kind of surgery but I'd think it would be greater than 0%...

 

Knee problems are bothering our Steve Francis but I can go with that as long as he'll play next season and boost some veteran experience with his all around game, not shooting like B Jackson.

Anyway it depends, if he'd been in rotation all season long then we wouldn't have seen Brooks maybe or wouldn't trade Bonzi or Mike James, alot of different things, would could have been...

 

One thing Steve can do is get to the basket. We need that badly. I say the chances are pretty slim he is a factor next season. He seems washed up. It would be great if he pulls a Grant Hill though and can find a way to help this team.

Another concern would be Steve and Tracy playing together. There didn't seem to be much chemistry between them early in the season when they were both on the court.

 

Yeah, we know how big that ego of Adelman's is. That's the reason Francis sucked this er, the last several years.

 

Francis is not interested in being a winner in this league. Now that he can't be a start either, he is completely off the radar. We're better off with a playoff-tested Bobby Jackson... watch him play perimeter defense and just the overall heart he plays with. He's not a tremendous finisher at this point, and his shot isn't that accurate, but he's the competitor you need off the bench.

 

He is 31 and has a lot of wear and tear on his body from the way he attacked the rim so much early in his career (can't fault him for that). I don't think he had lost as much athleticism when he back to Houston as many people were saying. What I did see that was no longer there was the rhythm and confidence that he used to have. He just looked out of sync and no matter how much playing time he got it didn't seem to help.

After having a major surgery and continuing to age I don't see how he is going to have anything left mentally even if he has something in the tank physically. He has proven throughout his career that he needs to dominate the ball to be effective. He is not a Michael Finley or Jerry Stackhouse type of player who is able to become a very effective role player after there days as a #1 option are over.

Actually, Steve is what I expect Tmac to be in 2-3 more years. A faded superstar who is unable to help his team unless he is the #1 option.

 

i believe, that, there is a greater chance of him being a 3rd scorer, then him being a role player. which could be good or bad. that's just my opinion. he was averaging 20 plus, during the last few games with the knicks. pretty sure with this surgery and needed rest, his chance of pulling a comeback is greater than everyone thinks.

 

If you're right that would be great. I never envisioned him starting when he came back to this team but I had really high hopes that he could come off the bench and be one of the league's best 6th men. I never believed he could fit into the offense but I really thought he could be valuable as a "game changer" who could come in vs. backup players and drop 12ppg or so in 25 minutes (mostly while Yao and Tmac were resting).

I don't know how badly the injury was hampering him but early in the season he looked good to me physically. He had that insane put back dunk and looked more than quick enough to get the rim. The problem was his decision making. He looked a like a raw athlete who never played the game before. I'm not sure he can get past that by not playing for nearly a year.

Prove me wrong, Stevie.

 

part of me says with his luck, he'll get screwed and never regain form or regain a rep as a good player in the nba. i'm really really hoping that my pessimism is wrong.

what i've observed of stevie while he did play ...

when he started, he probably tried to play like rafer to an extent ... he tried to just set up his teammates but unlike rafer, he never took enough shots. it pissed me off whenever he started because i knew he was much more capapble than what he was showing. i think he's really tried to make it a point to prove he's not the young arrogant superstar pg anymore, but a more mature player that just wants to win. however, somewhere in the middle, he took away from his own game. when he started, he hesitated with the decision to shoot or pass ... more often he'd pass and when he did shoot, it was usually out of rhythm.

when he came off the bench, stevie was more productive b/c he simply didnt put any pressure on himself to be this or that. his role was to be a spark on the offensive end, and he did that well ... he did well in the phoenix game and the gsw war to back that up. after that he was injured and slowed down even more than that 75% tear that we didnt know about at the time. that factors into the games he started also ...

basically my analysis of stevie is that he can't try to be a player he's not. i mean you do make adjustments ... being more team-oriented and sacrificing shots for others is great, but not if you have a better shot at scoring than your teammates ... (esp. when left wide open). he needs to combine control with confidence. hopefully next year he'll regain some of that athleticism ... man that'd be awesome. but even without it, he could still get by a lot of defenders, which is saying something.

work on your shooting stevie ..., work like yao is in your rehab and help us next year! that'll be an exciting year wont it? though, i haven't given up yet on this year's rockets ...

 

If SF is healthy, then RA would definitely use him. He would be a good backup behind T-Mac, since Luther is a piece of crap. He would be a Bobby Jackson guy, a good 6th man player. However, he would never start.

 

If Steve were an effective 6th man, that'd be great. He can play Manu Ginobili's role for us.

 

I think steve still has it. If he is healthy, he could become 6th and/or third scorer. Yao, Mcgrady and Francis all know what needs to happen now. Win.
Francis knew that too, but he though too highly of himself. Even though he wanted to win, he didn't know he wasn't fit enough to win.

 

In an ideal offseason for us, Steve will get healthy enough to become a 20min/game contributor off the bench...

AND

BJax's expiring will be packaged in a deal (along with Luther hopefully) for a legit starting PG and Rafer will become the best backup PG in the league...

 

where is he anyway?

he did not appear in games, its been a long long time since i saw/heard him.