The problems I see with Steve seem to me to be ego-related. I guess he believes his own press clippings. Whenever he has a matchup against a top-flight PG (or even a simply good one), he seems to take it as a personal challenge and tries too hard to 'beat' his opponent in individual stats, but forgets that it's the Ws and Ls that really count. How often in the past have we seen Steve matched up against a more team-oriented PG and get torched, only to pull up for far too many 19ft jumpers? Steve's main strengths are driving to the hole and either scoring or drawing the foul. How often do we see him driving on three defenders and flinging up a prayer shot instead of kicking it out to an open teammate? Or taking an ill-advised outside shot with plenty of time left on the clock? He makes enough of them that one can understand it, I suppose. But his talents would better serve the team (from a W/L standpoint) in getting his more open teammates involved rather than taking each matchup as a personal affront. What I'm saying, boiled down to its most salient points, is that Steve would be a better Rockets player if he played more team ball than street ball. Nuff said.
Everyone knows that Steve and Mobley are redundant players, and Steve is the far more talented one. Steve, as a PG, is as good as he will ever be. He is a great shooter, a decent playmaker, and an excellent penetrator. But he is NOT a floor general, fastbreak master, or distributor. And he never will be. With Yao's tendency to score in bunches, then dissappear, Steve has to become the #1 (Kobe/Tmac/AI) scorer on this team, period. Until Yao shows the tenacity to become that #1 option every time he is on the floor, Steve has got to be the focal point, not the man in charge of getting everyone their touches. Mobley, of course, is the same, but not nearly as talented. However, this does not mean we have to get rid of both. Using Steve at SG with a taller, defensive PG who can run the break would be perfect. I would LOVE to get BBarry from Seattle. He could run the half-court set, with Steve running back picks and free to rebound. Barry is also an excellent set shooter and can push the ball very well. But for Steve as a PG, this is it. He has obviously maxed out, although at a very high level.
I pull out one strand of hair from my head every time SF makes a bonehead move. I glue one strand of hair back on my head every time SF makes a clutch play. I am slowly yet surely going bald. That, my friends, is called regression.
No improvement that I've seen. But what could we get of equal or greater value? We need a true, pass 1st PG to come off the bench and/or play along Francis from time to time. A couple of years ago I'd have been happy with Mark Jackson, but he's old and retired now. I'm coming to the realization that Francis is and will always be a SG who grew up wanting to be a PG. There's no way he makes this team better with that bullheaded, bull-**** brand of leadership he brings to the court as a PG. If we had a 6-7 assist/game PG with a 3+ assist:turnover ratio to play alongside Steve and his 3:2.2-2.5 assist:turnover ratio, we'd be okay. I don't want to trade Steve Francis UNLESS WE COME OUT SMILIN'. But we couldn't get Mike Bibby for Francis straight up right now, and I can't say that I see that as a marked improvement these days, and the same goes for Starbury and Baron Davis (neither can shoot, but are both better passers and ball handlers).
If that is true, then it is indeed very very very pathetic. I mean come on Steve! Dead last in AST/TO? A frickin' blind man with no arms could do better than that! I don't know why the Rox refuse to see the light. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, knows that SF is NOT A PG!!! During the off-season I firmly believed that in order to be a play-off contender, we needed to address our inadequacies at the 1 and 4. Now that we are into the season, and after the on and off court debacles, I still firmly believe that we need to address the point and power. Compared to the other Western play-off teams, we are seriously overmatched at the 1 and 4, and if this remains unaddressed, we are in serious trouble. Bring in a true point guard!
This is where I'm at (above post)... The way I see it is this...Francis is better playing a "Kenny Smith" type role. Diminished responsibility (add some extra things that KS could not do)... That means, if he's not good a running the team, or making plays. Don't put him in that role. That's what JVG is doing. With that diminished role, his numbers are down (18.5pts/4.7ast/5.9reb) which is to be expected. Now, some might think that 21/6/6 is better. It's NOT!!! It's pick your poison. The old Francis was ISO mania, taking over games, being more individualistic....sure. But that type of game improved HIS game (numbers) but really didn't do much for the team. The way that Francis is playing now IS hurting the team less. So, you can't have it both ways. The old Francis helped himself. The new Francis hurts the team less....But either way really doesn't "make the teammates better." I think it's important to know that fans can't expect Francis to do the "super-star" thing in his new role. It just wont happen anymore. The reason? You can't create what is NOT THERE! No matter what role Francis plays, he will always have the same tendencies. Want proof? His assist for this year are 4.7, right? His turnovers are basically the same at 3.75. True, we've only played 16 games. So that TO number might drop. But the fact that he's playing a "K. Smith" role, getting on 4.7 assist because of it, yet still turning the ball over at the same rate, should tell you something. He can't change!!! He just doesn't know how! Simple as that. He is, what he is. Now, it's up to you if you want to take it or leave it. I'm willing to wait out the season. Even though the team is learning a new offense, I still see the same fundamental mistakes. Francis just doesn't turn the ball over on assist attemps. He turns the ball over dribbing up court, or drive down the lane, or running on a fast break, you name it, he does it. So, making him change his role really doesn't improve his game. IT JUST HURTS THE TEAM LESS by having him play this lesser role. The whole "new role" for Francis is a strange thing. Normally you don't do that to your "star" players. You don't digress their games. You usually let them "take over" the team. But this has not happened. Why? Because we know what occurs when that is done (wild and woolly). Here's another example....take Nash... Let's say you are his coach. You say, "We want you to play like Stockton. Pass first!" Nash would oblige, points drop, but starts averaging 9 ast per game, at the same time keeping his TO rate around 2.7 to 3.2. Hmmm, 9 apg with a turnover rate of 2.5 to 3.2. That's NOT bad, huh? Now, lets say that you did what Nelly did (this is what happened Nash'es 2nd year at Dallas). You told him this..."Nash, you will not be like Stockton this year. We want you to score more! But still be yourself..." Nash proceeds to go out and get 15 to 17ppg, and around 2.5 to 3.2 turnovers per game. Hmmm, lookly!! His turnover are around the same!!! That tells me that this player THINKS the SAME (smart) no matter what situation he's in. You are what you are...
So, as F.D. Khan said. Bring in a PG, put Mobley on the bench, and move SF to the SG spot. Oh, and get a real PF.
"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. " F.D. Khan Khan, The halfcourt is not the only problem. We have to find someone who understands spacing and can run the break. Steve is terrible at this, but a teriffic finisher around the basket. If we get him on the wing, and not pusing the ball from the middle, we would be feeding his strength, not exposing a weakness. In the halfcourt, he has proven to be very effective running off screens and picks, a la Iverson/Miller. This is why we MUST have a tall passer/shooter on the top, playing the role Steve is now. That is why I would trade Mobley for a guy like BBarry. He is the type who excels at making the entry to the post, then waiting for the double to either take the open shot or swing it around. To use Francis for this purpose is a complete waste of his talent. Again, make no mistake, SFrancis IS one of the truly elite athletic talents in this league. But he IS NOT ever going to make the most of all that natural ability while constrained to playing the point. The sooner JVG, and more importantly Steve himself, conceed this fact, the sooner we can move him off the ball and bring in the type of talent that will maximize the offensive potential of our two cornerstones, Steve and Yao. To trade Steve, we would have to be blown away, and that won't happen. Even if we did land another superstar like him, we would still have a point guard problem, so making the deal to get complementary players (read a real PG) seems the best course right now; if there is still a problem, we would have exponentially more bargaining chips with Steve as bait, rather than Mobley. I believe a change is in order for Steve, but not in uniform, just position.
Steve is trying this year, no doubt about it, and though he does not run the fast break well he does get in to our half court offense in decent time. You guys are thinking of moochie too much when he dribbles too much to start the play. SF has improved this year, he is a different player, altough sometimes he acts like his old self, most of the time he is quick to start the play and pass the ball. And i belive that SF wants to learn, and is willing to do waht ever he can to win, but every player can change so much... The guy is trying, ( except on defense sometimes ) He is the best player we have at this position, and the best player that we can currently get at this position... i trust in steve, i trust in my rockets
As much as people use to complain about Kenny Smith, I would love to have him right now. Check out the comparsions of these guys. I picked Kenny's 93-94 season, when we were at peak 'dump it down to Dream' offense. .............PPG APG RPG SPG TO FG% 3pt% MPG Smith .....11.6 4.2 1.8 .76 1.6 .480 40.5 28.32 Francis....18.5 4.7 5.8 1.7 3.8 .421 30.2 38.7 This wasn't even Kenny's best statistical year. If kenny didn't have the up and coming Sam Cassell to take away a lot of his court time, imagine what kind of numbers he could have put up with 10 more minutes? Probably very similar to Steve's...yet Kenny wasn't paid near as much as the best players in the league were at that time.
I don't know if anyone else has brought this up, but with about 7 or 8 games left last year, it appeared as though Francis was about to become the first player ever since Elgin Baylor to have a rookie season scoring over 15 ppg and still improve on his scoring average all of his first 4 years in the league. Quite an accomplishment... I don't know what happened the second half of last season or this season... but in 01-02 and early last year, Francis was looking like he could consistently do amazing things when he wasn't ailing. He was looking like Best of the Best of the Best material in the league. Then his shot fell straight into the deepest chambers of hell...
Where did you come up with that stat from? And why is it a 'big' accomplishment? Especially considering Steve's improvement has been in small increments. Compared to the other guys that did the same thing... Niq Wilkins, Tom Chambers, Karl Malone(okay his rookie year was 14.9 ), why is it important?
Answer me this: would you rather have Nash/Mobley or Nash/Francis as your starting backcourt? If you pick Nash/Francis, then you agree with me that the team is better with, than without, Francis. If you pick Nash/Mobley, I'd love to hear your reasoning.
actually, your reasoning is flawed. you forgot to take into account whether we would be better off with nash/mobley or francis/mobley.
egn stated that if we bring in a legit PG (a la Nash) that the team is better off without him. so i proposed two scenarios, one with and one without and both containing his legit PG. i don't see how that is flawed.
