There are a couple of ways to effectively (as effectively as possible) guard it. It seems like the Rockets have taken the position of having the big man pick up the guard for a few seconds and delay him before our guard comes back to re-pick up defense. Occasionally Yao get's BLOWN by on these plays. More occasionally, though, he has become effective at moving his feet and delaying the offensive set. You can't ask him or any other big man to simply pick up defense on the entire play on a guard. The problem is that even when Steve starts to or fully re-picks up his man, he is quickly blown by again. Personally, I'd change the defensive strategy and have Steve play behind the pick, or essentially slide through, especially if it is Yao's man setting the pick, as he is a real tall person to shoot over. Note tht the pick-n-roll wasn't nearly as successful when Jim Jackson was playing defensive, or at least they didn't go to it nearly as much.
No one was open, but Steve should have taken the ball to the hole. SA is a terrible FT shooting team.
That was the default play. SF jacking up a shot after dribbling. Actually that is the default play for most of the game.
Pgab, That is my biggest gripe about Steve this year, he seems to not grasp the concept of drive and dish... By the way, on that last play I would have set Yao up for the shot....no one would be able to block it and I hear he is a good 3 point shooter. DD
I love that commercial! As to Francis, he was just being Francis, love him or trade him. Read the scouting reports on him before he was drafted. They are prophetic. He is performing EXACTLY as predicted. Sorry, I don't have links, but they have been posted on the board before. Surely some kind of move is coming in the offseason if not before. We just need a better "fit" for this team. One game (against the World Champions) isn't really the issue; it is an almost five year pattern. I had seen enough about three years ago.
Did you actually se Ginobli's shots? Did you see the angle he took? Yao would have to have a monster verticle to block those shots. Most players don't shoot those becaue they can't make them. The angles are bad, you've got to hang in the air, and you're off-balance. But if you can hit them - they're damned near unblockable. Reminds me of Kevin McHale. Sorry, you're not looking at the shots Ginobli actually took. No C in the league can do anything about them. Maybe Hakeem or Robinson could have.
I tend to think if Manu had the presence of mind to shoot it over Yao, then he picked and hit two very clutch shots. Notice how he didnt just hit a big shot, he chose his shots well too...
http://www.ibiblio.org/craig/draft/1999_draft/Players/francis.html Looked terrible both times against Duke, so this evaluation may be more negative than it should be. But I have real doubts about how good a pro Francis is going to be. He's an extraordinary athlete who is as much fun to watch in transition as anybody in the NCAA (well, maybe Baron Davis). But he's not comfortable at all in the half-court offense, either at point or on the wing. He's not a particularly good long-range shooter nor does he distribute the ball well in the half-court. He's very intense, but he's often TOO intense; he tries to play beyond what he can handle in big games and makes crucial mistakes. He's a good rebounder for a guard and a decent man defender. Francis is too good an athlete to wash out entirely. But he's awfully short to play off guard and will have to learn half-court point guard skills almost from scratch. If he can't do that he may end up more as an elite 6th man, an instant excitement off the bench type, than as a starting point guard. And you really don't want to spend an early or even mid- lottery pick on that kind of player. Very high upside, but I like other point guards better in this draft. Very high in the draft lists of teams. He adds instance excitement and athleticism to any NBA team. With the need for PG expected to be high among the top teams in the draft, he's a sure top 5 pick. The concern on Francis seems to lie in the fact he tends to play more like a SG than a PG, and he doesn't have the hieght to play SG effectively. Neither does he have the range of a SG. Some people see an Allen Iverson type when they see Francis, but he just does not have Iversons speed. Francis is a great player in transition and loves to run the court, but his ability to run a half court offense has been questioned. Certainly last year was his first year against top notch competition, so its expected he still has a fair upside to develop and while le learns a different role on the floor. When pitted against the tougher competition last year Francis did not respond as well as some scouts had hoped. The transition to the NBA may not be easy for Francis, but in three years he will justify his draft position. PG's are notouriously slow to develop in the NBA, and Francis has to change his game to play PG in the NBA. I cannot think of an NBA player that Francis resembles coming into this draft.
He also had 11 boards and 2 steals .... When you look at all of his stats combined he is still one of the top point guards. I know many of you want a pass-first point guard that doesnt turn the ball over, but I hate to say that is a very rare commodity in the NBA right now. I'll take SF over 90% of pg in this league. He still would be better at the 2, but not until we are able to find a PG, but its not like there are too many for the taking
