It's Steve's 4th year and he isn't growing as a PG, shy?

My answer has always been this:

Acquire Lamar Odom, and next season, run a GIGANTIC chink of the offense through Odom and Ming. That would make Steve incredibly, and he wouldn't have to face a size disadvantage against other 2's.

 

No, he's not a great PG. He IS a great scorer and all-around player. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses. I wish Steve and the Rockets would realize that.

 

I've been remarkably impressed with the improvements Steve has made in his decision making skills. Part of the reason he never gets many assists is the system he plays in. No PG ever gets many assists with Rudy.

Incidentally, I thought the Andre Miller obsession had ended by now. Isn't it perfectly obvious that he's remarkably ordinary both as a scorer and as a creator yet?

 

You solution won't work. Don't you still understand that even Odom is willing to pass more than Mobley (Mobley is improving actually), Steve+Odom wouldn't be that much of a difference to Steve+Mobley. Steve and Odom need the ball to create to be effective. Steve is not your spot-up or running off the pick shooter and will never be. So acquiring another ball-handling player would change that fact that Steve needs to handle the ball and could even limit Steve's effectiveness. And Steve+Mobley+Odom would be a bigger nightmare if this was what you meant. Yao and the other inside players would never get the ball.

 

You guys are probably going to blast me for this but I think trading Mobley for a guy that doesn't require a lot of shots would help.

Mobley is a great scorer however in order for Mobley to be effective he needs to take his shots. Francis is also a very good point guard however he is a scoring PG and also needs to take his shots. Then look at Yao Ming. He is a developing center with potential for an outstanding offensive game. In order for him to develope he also needs shots. Eliminating Mobley from the equation for a shooter (not scorer) or defensive minded SG (i.e. Adrian Griffin, Raja Bell, Greg Buckner type) that won't require all those shots would allow Francis and Yao to be more effective on offense. Nacbar could be that guy.

 

Sorry I meant "So acquiring another ball-handling player would NOT change that fact that Steve needs to handle the ball and could even limit Steve's effectiveness."

 

Think of Francis as AI.

AI is an amazing player but is not a PG. Neither is Steve.

There games are both very similar. Both can shoot, dribble, pass (Iverson gets around 5 assists). But the OFFENSE can not be STARTED by your primary scorer. This creates imbalance.

As many have said this before, for us to progress. SOONER OR LATER, Francis is gonna have to be moved over to the SG to maximize his potential. We need the Eric Snow type that Iverson has to go with our Francis.

 

Anyone see the game on League Pass last night? Mavs broadcaster Derek Harper kept going off on the Rocket guards, and how selfish they were. The whole game. Good stuff.

 

Actually, I agree. I love Cat but we need a real playmaker. Steve and Cat on the same team gives us a few spectacular wins and a lot more gray hairs.

 

If the Rockets are going to get to the top, they must admit that Franchise is NOT A PLAYMAKER and should fix that problem first before anything else. The Team needs a playmaker!

 

Are you going Shaq on us? ...

I completely agree with the sentiments of this thread so far. I know PGs take a while to develop in some cases, but his assist to turnover ratio is probably never going to comfortably break 2.0, and that just won't cut it. I'm so sick of seeing the turnover numbers without consistent 10 or so assists.

 

Actually, I think Francis is a terrible basketball player at this moment of his career. He is an increditable athele, but just not a good basketball player.

MJ was labeld as "greatest athele, just not a basketball player" by his teamates before he changed his way of playing. His best year, statitically speaking, was before the Bulls won the title. So maybe, just maybe there is hope down the road for the Rockets.

 

``Francis is a talented basketball player. He has a heart that other NBA player only wish they could carve a bit off for themeselves. ``

ok francis is putting up 23 ppg,6 dimes p.g and 7 rebounds p.g u cannot call him a bad ball player with those numbers and + he does have love for the game!

 

Well check out MJ's rookie yr:

84-85 Chi 82 0 38.3 10.2-19.8 .515 0.1-0.6 .173 7.7-9.1 .845 2.4 0.8 3.5 3.5 0.0 2.0 4.5 6.5 5.9 28.2

this is his 4th yr:
87-88 Chi 82 0 40.4 13.0-24.4 .535 0.1-0.6 .132 8.8-10.5 .841 3.2 1.6 3.1 3.3 0.0 1.7 3.8 5.5 5.9 35.0

this is his 5th yr:
88-89 Chi 81 0 40.2 11.9-22.2 .538 0.3-1.2 .276 8.3-9.8 .850 2.9 0.8 3.6 3.0 0.0 1.8 6.2 8.0 8.0 32.5

Saying that Jordan didn't have good yrs or pass to his teammates is ridiculous. Its just the fact those other players starting playing better and gave him some help.His asst totals have always hovered around 6, basically what Francis asst totals are at. For anyone to handle the ball that much, his asst should be higher actually.I do agree with the guy saying trading mobley for a person who recquires less shots is true,but make sure the guy can do something on offense. I think Posey should play at the 2 guard at times. Especially the way Morris is playing, i think he and Morris at the 2 and 3 should play together and rest francis instead of playing him at the 2 guard.

 

The only thing that I can give Francis is
that he's bascially a one year college
kid. And we all know how long it took
Highschool players to mature.

Francis is like Amare. He is able to ride
his atheltic ablity alone.

But, as time goes on, the flaws become
more obvious.

So, I'd say that by Francis's sixth year, he
should be matured.

 

Obviously, you've done some homework there, but I bet you didn't watch many of the Bulls games during those years. Stats can be misleading sometimes, it's very misleading in MJ's case. Don't argume with me about this one, I have watched almost every single game the Bulls played since 87, still have more than two hundreds taped games on my shelf. It's a well know fact among the Bulls fan that MJ was a ball hog before 1989; many of them still believed so even after their 2nd title. Fans sat close to the court could often hear him order not leting one player shooting because he thought that player had enoguh shots for the night. The stats just won't tell you the story, you have to follow the team & game closely.

The Bulls won with their superior defense, above average offense. The current Rockets team has the similar style with a better inside force. They just need more time to play together.

There are many great athelets in NBA, but not all of them are great bball players. J. Stackhouse comes to mind as one, H. Miner is the other one.

 

Odom needs the ball in his hands, but doesn't need to take shots. As for Mobley, it's safe to say we MUST take the ball out of his hands and make him an off the ball or rare ISO player. Francis, Ming and Odom take turns handling the ball. You don't take away the ball from Steve. You reduce pressure by sharing the responsibilities.

A large portion of the offense will run through Ming anyway next season, and getting Odom would be brilliant. Then we'd have 3 great passers on the team.

 

Odom would be great on this team. Brand, too. Cato and Griffen for them? Alexander would have to pny up some cash but, the deal works for caps and I'd make it in a NYMinute!

 

I'm on the Odom bandwagon, and I think his game is perfect for us. Interesting thing : I found this - searching under Odom + pass (sorry no pictures). Quotes from after game at Dallas.

Chris Ford: "We had our moments tonight, but we committed 21 turnovers and
it's tough to win on the road with that many turnovers. We had a great
game from Derek Anderson. He was absolutely fabulous tonight. Lamar Odom
certainly had his moments. He was shooting real well by making 11-12 from
the foul line. He finds new ways to score every game."

Maurice Taylor: "It's getting redundant. We say the same things after
every game. Until guys want to win we're not going to win, it's as simple
as that. It's obvious we have to play better together. We keep talking
about it, but we haven't done it."

Taylor: "Every time we came back in the 4th quarter, we shot ourselves in
the foot with quick shots and turnovers. It never fails. 3 times we cut
the lead to 6 points and then we turned the ball over. It's real
frustrating and it's getting redundant that we make the same mistakes
every game."

Lamar Odom: "If you watch the best teams in the NBA, they sacrifice for
each other on the defensive end. When one guy gets beat and another has
to step up, they rotate. Right now, we don't have none of that. It seems
like we're playing and then when we look up, we're down by 10. Anyone who
watches us knows that it is more than one thing. You just can't sit there
and say we're losing because we're not playing good D. It's more than
that. It's all little things and in the NBA, little things add up to big
things and that's what is happening right now."

Tyrone Nesby: "It's hard to win when we're just making one pass and taking
one shot. The coaches talk to us about that every day. We talk about it
before the game that we need to pass the ball around more and get everyone
involved. But at the same time, we're not doing that. If we continue to
do that, we're not going anywhere. We'll be lucky to win another game
because we play too much 1-on-1 basketball."

Dallas Mavericks 99, Los Angeles Clippers 90 at Dallas (January 27) When Taylor was Clipper! Sound familiar? That's our team, all over again.