Bingo. He's holding himself back because he knows Rick Addle-brained is itching for any excuse to bury him at the end of the bench again. Very sad to see.
its just playing with the starters, there is no chemistry. steve had no problem in the pre season playing with the second unit. its an adjustment, hopefully he makes. with that being said, there was no problem in the first half of the toronto game, I don't know what has happened since then.
He just looks really tentative as the starter. When he was coming off the bench he was all over the place, but in a bit more control than his first stint here. Now, I think he's playing to keep his spot, rather than playing his game. We need the Steve that played against the Suns on a regular basis.
SF3 is playing to T-Mac and he is not the only one who is catering to T-Mac. The whole team looks scared out there playing with T-Mac. Even Scola plays different when T-Mac is in.
I think there are so man on point posts in this thread, and a couple of haters! Overall, I think Steve needs to understand that he can't imitate Wafer, or he may as well stay on the bench. If he plays the SAME game as Wafer, then I would understand why Rick would pick Wafer over him. Steve has to show he has a different game than Wafer. He has to penetrate and score. Make the defense honor him on the court. Shoot when he is WIDE open! (and hope he makes a better percentage than Wafer). I don't know whether he is hurt or not, but I don't wanna make excuses for him. But he has to not be afraid to take shots away from Tmac and Yao because that is the only way the floor will open up for those two more, if he becomes a scoring threat as well. He just has to learn how to balance when to do his thing!
Francis plays best when he is free and has a green light to shoot. So far Tmac and Adelman have basically buried him- Adelman with yanking him out at the hint of a mistake and Tmac for implicitly trashing him several times in the media. I wouldn't be surprised if our locker room chemistry is genuinely messed up this year and I don't see Adelman being a coach that would be good at mediating that.
He's being asked to bring the ball up, then initiate the offense by setting up for a dump off pass to the wing or post. Sounds easy enough, but he sucks at both. He's too slow bringing it up, then he picks up his dribble too soon to make the pass, making it harder than it has to be, then he throws wounded duck passes. He's much better as a finisher, when he's the receiver instead of the QB, allowing him to penetrate and dish/score, like in Phoenix. He had some sweet drives and dishes to Scola and Yao in that game. And of course he had the game winner while playing that role. He's being asked to be a PG, which he's not.
If Francis is consciously passing up wide open looks that we get in the flow of the offense, with the shotclock running down, because he doesn't want to be perceived a certain way or because he doesn't want to get benched, then he is somehow even dumber than I originally thought. It's really not rocket science. Get the ball to Tmac or Yao. Let them initiate the offense. Shoot the ball if you're open.
Yep. Steve isn't a role player and never was. The Rockets are asking him to be a role player and it just isn't in his DNA. It never has been. Unfortunately I don't think being one of the best players on a team is in player makeup any longer. what you see is what you get now. Good on some nights, but still unable to shoot and lacking in ability to lead a team for major minutes.
What coach in his right mind would give a player who has never been a consistent shooter, like Francis, the green light over Yao, TMac and even Bonzi?
RA has clearly stated that the team is expected to take the first good shot, no matter who it is. That's what his whole offense is predicated on. Steve can't hesitate if he expects to keep playing.
Maybe that is why RAs "shoot first" system is producing such lousy results. RAs system needs better shooters.
IF only Yao and Tmac have the green light to shoot, then don't expect the supporting cast to do anything.
Oh, they didn't MISS him as much as they PRETENDED that version of Francis never existed and what we saw 4 years ago was some sort of mirage...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5377879.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5377878.html
I like how Adelman trashes Francis for a few sentences and then at the very end says that he can't point at Steve because it wasn't a very good game all around. What's with him and T-Mac trashing Francis in the media? Steve could be hurt. I've never heard Mike James criticized like that in the media by the coach or his teammates. I've never heard anybody speak about Rafer that way. Is Alston's ego too fragile? Will he go on another crime spree?
I think Francis is getting trashed because like Tmac, he can do something about the problems he is having. Alston can't help he can't shoot worth a lick. James can't help he doesn't know how to pass. Head can't help he can't dribble. Francis CAN help that he is out of shape.
