Agreed, And my point is that the 2 best players, in fact, all the players have a better chance of playing consistently as long as Yao is the focus. DD
i have to agree that I think steve is maturing and realizing that winning is more important to him than his own stats. Did you see how pumped he was after yao got the and one late in the game today? he plays with as much heart as anyone in this league i really wanna see us win a ring with steve at the point, but i just wanna see the rockets win a ring period if that means w/out steve or yao so be it but i would want to see them both on the floor when we are in the finals
I think the Yao/Steve Shaq/Kobe comparison is interesting. How is it that Shaq and Kobe can both average over 20ppg and Yao and Steve do not? I would like to see Steve and Yao win a championship together, but if they can't figure out how to become an effective 1-2 punch, there's no point trying to keep Steve.
I've been pretty impressed with Francis' hustle in the last two games, particularly some of his clutch D. On top of that some of those crazy shots he does both livens up the game while giving the opposition some major problems trying to defend him. Like many of you Francis' turnovers and boneheaded plays have given me fits but right now I'm very glad we have him.
I have to totally disagree with you on this one. This is still Steve's team. I think the reason that Steve has been struggling and Yao has been playing better is because Steve is constantly getting double teamed. Yeah I know that Yao gets doubled but that only when he makes his move to the basket, but Steve is doubled alot of times when he reaches half court. I've been one to criticize Steve also this year but teams are focusing on getting the ball out of his hands. It will eventually become Yao's team but he's not ready to carry that torch.
DD, they go hand in hand. Winning, points or turnovers (lack of). It's the lack of points and constant turnovers that cause the inconsistenty in winning in the first place. They're all tied together. So, to say "as long as they win" is overlooking how they get the wins in the first place. Francis must go!
no need to worry or rush anything. We will offer him the extension after next season before anyone can start talking to him, and most likely he will take it. Just don't make the mistake Nike did, offer him the max out right. I will go mad if Les gets cheap this time and loses Yao.
yeah... if question marks could pop out on top of my head that's what would be happening to me right now too... be yeah credit yao for taking over the team and displaying leadership in only his second season.
Very good point. I almost started a thread about this exact issue today, but about Hakeem and Clyde. It's hard to score 20 ppg. There are some excellent players who can't do it consistently. Hakeem and Clyde managed it. Looking back, there are several advantages they had over Yao/Francis: 1. Although those Rockets were never high scoring, they still averaged about 10ppg more than the current version. 2. Clyde ruled on fastbreaks. That gave him a lot of points that Francis doesn't get. Clyde was a one man avalanche on the break. 3. When Hakeem checked out, Clyde took over. When Yao checks out, it seems the team tries to use Mo, Weatherspoon, or Cato as Yao-surrogates.
Consistent = Yao Inconsistent = Francis Consistent + inconsistent = Francis is holding Yao's team back. Yao ends up having to "bail-out Steve" most of the time. Consistent = Yao Consistent = Kirk Hinrich, Andre Miller, Mike Bibby, Sam Cassell, etc... Consistent + consistent = Those PG's help Yao's team greatly because they don't make very many mistakes. By the way, anyone see Francis's "great" behind the back pass to Dirk?
I don't think that Les will be that cheap and dares not to offer Yao the max. And it also depends on whether Les opens up his wallet and makes some trades to make Rockets a contender this summer and next season. If Yao sees no hope of championships, he and Yao team will probably decide to go to the greener pasture.
David, Yao is the opposite of consistent. One week he is struggling to get 12 points and 7 boards a game, the other he is dominating Shaq, KG and the Mavs. Both Steve and Yao have been inconsistent this year, with Steve being even more consistent......consistently bad
You must be watching a totally different NBA season. Yao gets DT even before he touches the ball! SF only gets DT when he goes to the hole or dribbles pointlessly into corners. You can argue as much as you like about Yao's not showing domination consistently, and I will argue that SF has rarely provides a few dominating performance the whole season. If by your standard Yao is not ready, then by your standard SF is not doing the job.
do those three words all mean the same thing? personally i'm waiting out the season and the playoffs to see if francis can develop some consistency. it's not like we know he's innately inconsistant.
I agree. I get mad when Yao goes into one of his slumps. Yao himself said that consistency is his biggiest goals! He said it not an excuse to have a few great games and then have some stinkers. So, he knows this. This is great wisdom for a 2nd year player. Francis is in his *what* year? 5th? And he's still making rookie mistakes?
why would u want a guy that shots 39% to take more shots. If im not a genious, steve should take less shots.
