or maybe rafer plays so many minutes because he gets the team into the offense early and doesn't turn the ball over. steve had his chance at making the rotation. he lost out to these guys. if they have an off night or two it's no reason to change the rotation...especially at 5-1 and on top of the western freakin conference.
Agree with the other posters, call it nostaliga, call it delusion, but I absolutely absolutely refuse to believe that Steve is not better and more talented than luther head even with a little extra weight. I just don't understand adelman's reluctance to give him a try, the guy is clearly not hesitant about being innovative ( a huge problem i had with jvg) as evidenced by his twin towers lineup he against sa or his numerous small ball lineups with shane and bonzi playing the forward positions. Just don't understand why he won't give francis a chance, could he really really be that godawful to where he doesn't even merit an opportunity. Just can't bring myself to believe it.
82games.com says that our D is good when Luther is on the floor, he seems to be the team glue we need when he is out there. James' TO's suck so he better start paying attention, but he is being the scoring spark we need. Both have positive roland ratings. Rafer's shooting sucks, and his personal production vs his opponent is horrible and he has the lowest roland rating on the team. Not sure what Adelman is seeing in practices of Steve - not sure how many he has. But to's would go up, production would go up as well as it would be hard for Steve to suck as bad at scoring as Rafer.
Alston actually, ran the offense alot smoother than James and Head. All three had off shooting nights, big deal. It happens in the NBA, but the important thing is that we the game and we're 5-1. I doubt we have another night where all three of them have bad shooting nights. What I like about head is that he doesn't force the situation. He averages from 2-4 shots a game, I really don't care how well he's shooting. We won by 16 points, stop being so damn picky.
after starting 5-1 on one of the toughest starting schedules the Rockets have had in a while...I agree, we better make a change right now...we can't stand to win anymore games in such a pathetic fashion.....
Just because we are winning doesn't mean a luther for steve francis change in the rotation is detrimental to the long term future of the team. Currently we are winning in spite of our guard play. That needs to change if we are actually serious contenders. Just because a team is winning is not necessarily a reason not to continue to evaluate and make adjustments, especially on a team as revamped as ours.
First of all, I'm really tired of everyone thinking they know better than the coach. First it was JVG, it was his fault none of our superb bench players ever saw minutes...he was in the wrong. Now we have a new coach, but the same mentality. Everyone loves playing armchair coach here without any knowledge of what is going on. Adelman said before training camp started he thought Steve would start. As training camp went on it became very clear that Steve wasn't ready. From what we saw of him in preseason he looked lost. Luther on the other hand, in very limited minutes mind you, plays in Adelman's system very well. He makes good cuts and he provides a good outside threat. The idea that we need to change preemptively just doesn't make sense. First of all, I don't think we're winning in spite of our guard play. In our very young season there have already been some really big games from Mike James (and yes, he's also had some very off nights too). The only game we lost was Dallas and I'm sure many people will point to Rafer as the reason we lost (that's Rafer, not Luther), but all the blame can't lay squarely on him. The bottom line is you don't experiment with a lineup that is working. Everyone wanted to put in V-Span last year because despite our winning season he would clearly do a better job. Now he's gone and Steve is here. Every game we have the same thread, win or lose. It's ridiculous. I wish they'd let Steve play, let him crash and burn as he's not ready to play in Adelman's system yet just to shut up all these ridiculous threads. I wonder if other fans whine as much as Rockets fans...it truly does get old. But, hey, maybe I'm in the minority...we DO need 50 play Steve threads. That's why this thread is rated so high I guess...
yeah clearly its a grudge, not that Steve isn't in shape, playing well, or learning Adelman's system. Before you just dismiss me as a "Francis Hater" I was really excited when we signed him. I expected him to start and was ready for the return of the Franchise. But, the bottom line is, he's not the same guy he used to be. He may crack the line up later - but I wouldn't mess with the lineup we have now because people as nostalgic and all the fans want to think they know so much more than Adelman... This notion that EVERYONE has gotten a chance except Steve is just plain wrong. I don't recall Landry, Novak, Brooks, or Snyder playing. Yes, Mutumbo has got a few minutes - but I'm pretty sure Francis couldn't have filled in for Yao - just a hunch. For guards, Mike James and Luther Head are ahead of him on the bench. No team just goes to people outside their rotation when people go cold. You don't see good coaches look down at the end of their bench at players who don't play and put them in because the players ahead of them are having a bad night - it just doesn't make sense. We don't play a 12 man rotation and we wouldn't want to. Let Steve earn himself a place in the rotation based on merit and current ability, not based on history.
It's not about wheather Francis is better than Luther Head or Head is better than Francis. It's about fitting in. The question is can Francis play the role of Luther Head, which requires patient and let the ball come to you and shoot when you're opened and not jacking up shots?? No! That's why Francis don't fit.
This concept of "the coach knows best" that you appear to have is really cute. It reminds me of the way my 3 year old niece looks at me. Other than that, I think its pretty evident to everyone here that bonzi and/or snyder would definitely have helped us in the playoffs last year. But obviously according to you "the coach knew best". And you absolutely do make changes even if you are winning because as stated previously by numerous posters as well as national media, the rox are not serious contenders until their point guard situation is dramatically improved. We are absolutely winning in spite of rafer, just like we did last year. And as "great" as luther looked in adelmans system in the preseason, could you please provide me with a viable explanation as to why that has resulted in absolutely zero tangible regular season contributions? I don't think steve francis is necessarily the solution at the point, i think mj undisputedly deserves to be ahead of him in the guard rotation (despite the fact the guy has no point guard skills) but his scoring off the bench is invaluable. But steve should definitely be given an opportunity to learn the system during the regular season and not be shelved for the season based on a couple of poor preseason games, or shelved because of conditioning issues, we saw how well that worked out with bonzi last year. But of course, the coach knew best I agree with you to an extent, he should be allowed to play, even if only for the purposes of crashing and burning.
I think the question you need to ask is can head play the role of francis? Can he slash when the offense stagnates and create for himself or teammates as he has pathetically been attempting to do this season? Can he rebound or not be a defensive liability the other team attacks relentlessly every single time he steps on the floor? Steve brings a lot more table than the limited, one-trick pony game that head does, that is why he is considered talented, and head is not. Hence, he should be given the opportunity to take head's mins and see what he can do with them, particularly given the fact that head has done nothing this season but been torched by every player he has attempted to guard. Dallas game ring a bell?
seriously, I'm sick....they shot a frekin 4-22 from the fiel combined! thats >20%!!!!! geez...what does it take to get francis in. i'm sick, and i think as fans we all should be. our PGs singlehandledly put the bucks back into the game
I just got home from going out. I saw Steve Francis at the bar at Hotel ZaZa. Man I so wanted to go up and say something to him like, "We are glad you are a Rocket again." But being a grown man I left him alone. There was an all black Rolls Royce Phantom outside. I wonder if it was his. I remember seeing pics of him in a white Phantom with Franchise written on the plates.
Look, Rafer can't shoot. End of story. Head has looked bad so far this season. James gets cold at times. What are you supposed to do when that happens? If we don't have a PG that can score when unguarded, our superstars are going to get doubled up. With Francis, a known offensive threat, in the rotation, it's less likely we'll have a PG that's a liability. I think Francis needs to start taking Head's minutes. We wouldn't be replacing a turn-over prone, bad shooter with another one, we'd have two possibly turn-over prone bad shooters (James, Francis) instead of one (James, Head). The more I see Head play, the more I think he looks like JLIII with more upside (i.e. he looks great until the games really start counting).
I would like to see some playing time for francis too, i could careless if he suck, atleast I won't have to doubt "What coulda been?" (kinda like last year with bonzi....). And I honestly can't see how he could be worst then MJ/RA (4-20, 20% shooting).
we won the game because bonzi stepped up...we expect yao and tmac to have decent to good games... last year this would have been a game we may have lost, we got a third scorer tonight.
