DavidS, Amen brother. Just once in my life I would like to see Steve and Cat in a 2 on one Fast break where the ball NEVER hits the floor. On that day, I will get as drunk as can be and shout hallaballus at the moon. DD
What ... are you crazy?! You can't have a fast break without dribbling the ball; that would be travelling! Geez!! The only way that could ever happen is if two people were spaced evenly on the floor, made quick/sharp passes, and finished by forcing the defender to commit to the ball (allowing for that extra pass leading to a wide open layup/dunk). What kind of fantasy land are you living in?
SF wants to change this season after JVG came and Yao improved. The question is that heis always hesitates to pass the ball which miss the best chance and give contender time to establish the deffence.
Any way he plays hard and his teamates plays hard, he knows to win the game,he should play easy and let his teamates plays easy.Obviously, he wants to change this season which need time to adjust.
I think there were some excellent points made. Any perceived improvement can be attributed to his increase in minutes. However, I think any perceived regression (in terms of this year's numbers) can be attributed to a new coach and emphasis on defense. I think his decrease in assists is a result of the inside out game that JVG brought in. We saw the same type of numbers with Kenny, Sam, etc. during the championship years. Although, if he ran the break properly, he'd get another assist or two a night. Still, even with his lack of significant improvement, I wouldn't move Francis. He's a consistent 20/6/6 guy that you can count on. If anything, I'd move Mobley to decrease the overall dumbness of the club.
Numbers, numbers, numbers! This is not the fantasy basketball league. It is not about numbers, it's about who and what makes this team better. Francis does not make this team better. He may make the Rockets better in a sense of overall talent, but as far as the team and/or making teammates better he's very expendable. The stat line of 20/6/6 is meaningless. Considering, for one, he has been doing this since his rookie year and has no percieved advancements. And two, it doesn't matter if he is 23/8/8; if he gets this line by way of his current line, I would still trade him. Miss once (or fourth time to be exact), it is the coach to fault. Miss twice, and you have to look at your personel. Plain and simple, if the Rockets miss the playoffs again this year, Francis will be gone. I honestly believe management is finally fed up with the nonsense!! Time will tell!
I have to disagree. Francis causes matchup problems, is an all-star, and gets all-star treatment from the refs. He can get to the line and hit free throws when the game is on the line. This team is better with, than without, him. If you want to improve the team, replace Mobley's "quantity-over-quality" shooting attack. The Sonic's Murray shows that these guys are out there to be found. Better yet, (here we go again), follow Philly's lead. Bring in an Eric Snow to handle the PG duties and let Francis be a score-first player. Francis wouldn't have to make his teammates better if his job was to score instead of distribute. Philly survives with the shorter Iverson guarding 2's, I'm sure the Rockets can too.
steve hasn't really improved but since he has entered the league he has been pretty damn good. i just can't stand his game. he plays streetball against pros and that **** just don't fly.
I have notice that Steve is shooting more than looking SportsCenter dunk highlights. Steve should be at the same level and balance as Barron Davis.
Sure, if you take him out and have moochie step in, then sure this team is better with him. But if you bring in a legit PG then this team is better without him. Steve Nash has nowhere near the talent of Steve Francis, but if you insert Nash for Francis at PG we would have a better team. And please stop with the all-star thing. It is a popularity contest.
I am willing to give Steve some more time (excuse?) since he's under a new coach and a new system. But if he is still playing like this at the allstar break, I'll give up hope on him. A star players can thrive in any system, and any style of coach. Only role players depend on systems.
I think he just brought up the all-star reference to state the fact that he will get calls that other all-stars get, hence all-star treatment from the refs. Yao does not.
This is a mistake too many people on this board make. A lot of us are not saying get rid of Francis to make room for Yao. A lot of us are saying get rid of Francis because he is overpaid for what he brings to the team and because we simply do not see a winning future for a team with a short shooting guard. If Francis was a defensive wizard, or a solid assist/turnover guy, I would have no problem looking past these other shortcomings. As it is, he is 5 years into his career and has either been misguided by coaches too frightened to make him face his inadequacies and to teach him the ways of winning basketball or Francis is one of a number of young, stubborn, so called all star players that are polluting the NBA; they sell tickets and merchandise, but do not contribute to winning team basketball and owners don't care because there are enough foolish fans out there to buy these player's merchandise. It takes more than a 42" vertical and a mad crossover dribble to win in the NBA. The NBA is not the playground..............yet.
I willing to give him some time, but not the 4 years he had under Tomjanovich. If things don't change by the end of this season, I think you trade Francis if you can get the right deal. I DO NOT trade Francis for in a 3-1 deal for role players though. Not yet. That's the path to rebuilding. It's kind of like changing majors in college. You know you're not happy with what you've been studying, but do you really want to start all over from scratch?
look at teams like indiana, san antonio, and utah that can rebuild on the run. they manage the salary cap well and just keep bringing in players that help their teams. the rockets SHOULD trade steve for players that have less talent but smaller contracts. this would allow us to fill multiple positions with role players that fit our system. plus we won't be handcuffed in the future by steve's mammoth contract. look at teams like indiana, san antonio, and utah that can rebuild on the run. they manage the salary cap well and just keep bringing in players that help their teams.
I think instead of trying to focus on what Francis doesn't have, we need to look to capitalize on what he does have. He is not an adept playmaker and does not make the best decisions. He is not a Jason Kidd and simply never will be. He IS though an explosive scorer that can hit from anywhere on the court and is an amazing shooter and clutch player. The important thing that we need to do is like Van Gundy said "Surround Francis and Yao with smart, consistent Players" Yao has the skills to be a creator in the offense in the post as a Webber/Divac/Kings type offense and he will continue to get better at it as he grows. This will take the pressure off of Steve to create and will allow Yao to find him in his spots and use his scoring and athletic ability. The only problem there may be is having another Guard in Mobley who is not a creator and who combined with Francis makes our backcourt an even more unintelligent one. I think a player like a Brent Barry or even more of Jim Jackson and Piatkowski in the backcourt can help us. What I envision is a future starting five of: Yao/Taylor/Nachbar/Jackson/Francis The Ball goes into Yao and Mo Taylor spaces out to the mid range area (like the End of the Clippers Game!) to punish the double teams. Nachbar/ Jackson and Francis all move on the wings and then Yao makes to decision to take it in or to hit a cutter or move it to a three point shooter or to Mo if the PF drops in. The bench of Cuttino/Cato etc. would bring instant offense and Cuttino could even be more of a focal point. He is an amazing scorer and we have him pretty cheap.
The problem is the Rockets are paying him like he has everything and he doesn't. So while you're trying to stay positive with regards to Francis, you need to realize that the Rockets are not getting out of Francis equal value for what they are paying him. That $90million would have been more wisely spent on a different player. Too many teams panic and throw money at their third year players that these players don't deserve and that is what I think has happened in Houston. Now, since Francis reputation around the league is not that good, it makes it hard to get a good return on a trade involving Francis so the team is better off not trading their overpaid star player, but the team would have been better off if they hadn't overpaid that player in the first place. Personally, I was mixed when the Rockets signed Francis to that large contract. He certainly had not done anything up to that point to make me think he deserved to be paid like one of the league's top 10 players. His agent just demanded it and the Rockets panicked and paid him. Francis doesn't suck, but he does not deserve franchise player money. That was a mistake that may be very difficult for the Rockets to correct............from a W-L standpoint that is. As a business move it makes great since because there are plenty of clowns out there that will wear Francis' merchandise even though he plays far from championship style basketball while far better basketball players get marketed less. And that is one of my biggest beefs with today's NBA, but that's another topic.
