Many people think that either Mobley or Francis should be traded. As I have seen in recent threads, some of you guys think we should trade Francis for a "pass-first" point guard while others may think about trading Mobley for a PG and then move Francis to 2. I am not sure which one is a better option ,or both of them may not be a good choice. But we gotta consider seriously about placing a 6-2 guy (official report stated SF is 6-3, but isn't it overestimated?) as a SG. Even if Franics can play as good as AI offensively (which I really doubt about that), it's no way a 6-2 guy can defend a tall and agressive SG like Kobe and T-Mac. As you can see in 76ers, Kobe and T-Mac are guarded by Eric Snow or McKie, which is really a mis-match! Kings and Mavs sometimes may let two PGs play together but they still have Christie (+Jim Jackson) and Finley in case they need them. But how about Rox? A short SG is always a disadvantage in a team. We should let Francis to play as a PG. If he can play well, let it go. If not, trade him. Moving him to 2 is not a solution.
...unless we get 6-7 Marko Jaric! Seriously though, I'd rather just let Steve play point. Mobley showed how good he can be against the Grizz.
Mobley is only 6'4", in other words he's only an inch taller than Francis. I don't think Francis guarding the 2 guards in the league would hurt him or the Rockets too much. Although, he may get worn down more by having to play the Kobes and Tmacs.
So from a purely defensive perspective, the only difference between Cuttino and Steve is 1" in height? I woudn't be able to build an argument statistically, but IMO Francis would get torched by the WC SG's. Other than my opinion all I have to offer is that Mobley seems to enjoy playing D more. His on court body language suggests he likes the challenge. And he can focus on that when he is the 3rd option on the offense. My question for you is this...do you think SF is a good defensive PG or just average? If he's not at least good at the 1, why would he be any better against the taller 2'S?
It seems to me that being stronger then the other guy would be a bigger thing then being a couple inches taller.
As of now, Steve Francis' effort on the defensive end is the MAXIMUM he can give considering his scoring, playmaking, and rebounding responsibilities. He does, in fact, put more effort into defense than the average NBA player, BUT, the guy just has no clue HOW to play Defense. Defense is about effort, experience, and just knowing HOW. Francis has enough effort, but is short on experience and know-how. He will, however, be an average defender at some point, but I doubt he will ever be the defensive player Gary Payton is, for example.
No, I only was talking about the height difference because the poster that I was replying to talked about how Francis would have problems guarding the 2s because of his height. Stevie might get scored on more than Cuttino by the 2s, but Kobe, T-Mac, etc. are going to get there points regardless of its Cuttino or Stevie. Would Kobe scored more than the 52 he had on Mobley if Francis was guarding him? Maybe if he had to chase Francis around all game instead of Mobley, he wouldn't have as much left on the offensive end (Ok, Francis had a bad night). I'lll admit that Mobley does seem to get more into playing D then Francis, but I really don't think Francis' offensive game is geared to play the one at this point. I'm not sure if it ever will be either. I think he's a great guard, but I think he would be more effective as a 2 that's all.
no im not sure. Im starting to think that Mobley is a cream of the crop shooting guard when he plays alongside a point guard who doesnt think he's a new age point guard. Give this team a old school point guard who despises the new age point guards and this team will finally play like a team, and Mobley is one of the guys who will benefit the most.
Is that really saying much? I mean...it's the grizzlies. Practically all of mobley's shots were on layups, except for a few threes. I mean...how many left-handed layups did Cat get? it was ridiculous...you'd think they'd cut off his left side after he got a couple of layups.
Francis and Mobley doesn't differ much in height and weight. Francis at the 2 will make the opponent harder to drive past him, but easier to shoot over him compared to him playing the 1 spot. So it's a wash. The difference between Mobley and Francis' defence on 2s will be marginal, and it's further offset by adding a good defender at the 1. So if Francis is to move to the 2, the prerequisite is either a big pg that can defend sgs or a pg that plays good defense.
