He has always been a GOOD passer, Steve is below average at best. I just think Steve is a scorer, and asking him to pass is like beating your head against a brick wall....painful. DD
what was he supposed to do. Pass to the heavily gaurded JJ or Cat for another fadeaway three, or run up for a spectacular layup, with 3 seconds left down by 3 with no Timeouts left, and then run up the court in 2 seconds for the game winner. Steve sure had all the options.
Give the team time. Last time i checked, there were 11 other players besides francis for not making the playoffs. Are you going to b**** like this when the "Dynasty" or shall i say "Great Wall" will not win a championship. There are 30 teams in the nba. Only one wins the ring. And only a few in the history win with one star. Using your logic AI, T-Mac, John Stockten, Malone, Baron Davis, Marbury, Kidd, Brand, Dirk, Garnett and a **** load of more are bad leaders.
There is one reason you don't go for a 3 at the end of the game. And that's when there's no time on the clock after the shot. But with 15, or 6 or 3 seconds. You can hit the 2. and take your chances if nothing else is there. Francis doing the iso shuffle is the worst thing he can do because he's not good at that. The less dribbles he takes the better he shoots. The least amount of time for a catch and shoot is 0.3 seconds. I've seen games won on that. So, with 15 or 6 or 3 FULL seconds, I'd say that playing the odds on a missed Spurs FT is better than a forced 3. I agree if Francis had the shot at the beginning of the pick, he should have taken that. But not after the play broke down. He's just not that good in those situations.
If this was directed towards me, then let me clarify. I'm not saying I'm excited about Steve Francis's contract. I'm not saying I want him to be our leader. I'm not even saying I want him to be on our team anymore. I don't think I do. I am saying that comparitively, it isn't so bad. That's all.
your crazy. I would choose a fadeaway three anyday over a run the lenght of the court less than 2 seconds shot!!!!!!!!!!!
farhan007, no one said that Francis had to take the 2 with only 2 seconds on the clock. Although, not this game, but it also depends on how many timeouts you have.
All Steve had to do was race up the court and attack the basket for a layup. If they collapse the defense, he can kick it out for the 3. If they don't he scores with about 10-11 seconds left. That leaves plenty of time to foul and get the ball back. Instead he does the hesistation dribble wasting 99% of the clock. If the same situation presents itself (close game less than 24 seconds left) , he is going to do the same thing. He even stated as such in the post game interview. Bottom line is he needs to be traded once the offseason rolls around.
sure, theyll trade him, after we make the playoffs and finally are building some chemistry. But why build on something good. Why not be like the suns and just start all over. The fact is, no matter how steve francis sux, he is a very important part to the team, and if we trade him for another player, the chemistry is totally gone. And the rockets will have to start from scratch again.
Steve is NEVER going to be one of the best point guards ever. I wanted him to be that great player we all thought he could be, but it is painfully obvious he is just another overpaid player that is all media hype. In a few more year he will be Penny Hardaway.
The Rockets have the worst offense in the league despite having 7 players who have averaged over 16 points per game for at leat 1 season, 3 of them 20. What chemistry is going to be ruined?
It's just utterly amazing how few people on this board understand this surprisingly simple concept. We get caught up in the numbers...the contract $, the A/TO ratio, the ppg, the minutes played, the 40" vertical.... The economy of movement is something Francis will never comprehend. Doug Collins said it best during the Spurs' game..."The pieces just don't fit".
My man, do you even watch the NBA?, the same Chris Webber who hasn't played this year, is in 30+ years old, and makes about 5 million more? The same Marbury who has always been the floor general of losing squads and makes 3 million more dollars? The same Jason Kidd, that got his coach fired, and also shoots less than 40%, and has virtually the same record only in the Eastern conference? I think that you only go by the names of these players, Steve's not a bad player at all. You know, I think that we should try playing without him again just to remind some of you of those 20 point losses to Phoenix and such so that some of you get the point.
