I guess nothing satisfies some people out there like verse. Steve has been asked to be the team leader and call the shots on offense by spreading the ball around and you complain he doesn't score enough. Then we he does go off, you complain about his lacks of assists or too many turnovers while he's probably winning us the game. You don't have to be a dominant shot blocker like Hakeem, an excellent passer like Magic, or a spectacular shooter like Bird - Steve excells at the game of basketball. He's one of the best in the league, no offense but if you're gonna keep complaining about him, I gotta say f**k you. Read the sig
ok heres the deal. steve francis is our POINT GUARD. its not his job to average 30 ppg. he happens to be a point guard with a great ability to create buckets for himself, but i'd much rather him average 20 points and 5-7 assists/game than 30 ppg. i'd be willing to say that for every 3 assist he makes, he could probly score himself on at least one of them, if not 2, but his first job is to make great passes to other guys and score for himself when the opportunity arises. so when you say you want a point guard to be a dominant scorer (avg. 30 ppg), you are saying that you want a ball hog. who wants that? the players we compare him to the most shouldnt be kobe, KG, TD, t-mac, etc, it should be jason kidd and marbury, and stevie really has the potential to be as good as jkidd and better than marbury any day, no question. just be patient and in 5 or so years, i think we'll all be really happy.
Your street mentality shows you have no respect for a sincere Fan making an attempt to carefully examine the pro and cons of the Leader of our Team, Steve Francis. This Forum is here for members to express their opinions,desires, theories and feelings about the Team we all care so much about. This thread needs to be considered a serious work of analysis which helps us to understand the many aspects of a position and the intricacies of the struggle for perfection. A fan can benifit by trying to understand that the author is realy giving us a series of considerations to think about.
I'm afraid that unless the Rockets have some tremendous success very soon... it's inevitable. Even if they do... then look at the Lakers w/Shaq and Kobe. When you've got two stars that are so damned different, that's going to happen. Yao and Steve are more different even than Shaq and Kobe, and we lack the success to smooth over the differences. They play different games, come from incredibly different backgrounds (and if you think culture doesn't matter in the debate... you're from another planet)... but they both need the ball. They both need to be the focus of an offense. It's hard to truly feel equally approving of both of them when there's genuine competition there and a choice has to be made. Maybe Jeff can... but I know I can't.
In a way I have to agree with Verse. I don't think SF has the mentality to excel at any one skill. He has some amazing skills and talent but makes so many mistakes, and leads a basketball team that doesn't play like a team, runs the team like it's playground and does that stupid hop step.. Yes, his lack of ability to master and excel at the top level at least some part of the game and define this team around that talent, is hurting the Rockets. He's not a smart player, therefore how could he true excel at anything? I love the Houston Rockets and always will, but I don't believe deep down inside that SF will lead us to a ring. I did believe that about Hakeem, because you could see his greatness. I don't see that in SF. Sorry. Maybe another player will come along and be the great one while SF becomes a 2nd or 3rd option.
I hear ya Vibe! His name is Yao Ming. SF can be a component of a great offense, but I dont like him running the point. I think that he expends ALOT of energy bringing the ball up the court and would be a much better threat slashing from the wing and coming off of screens.
Easy...Penetrating.. I know of no man that can handle Steve 1-on-1. Of course, with the zone, no one man has to handle him. anymore. But still he does it well.
I was going to bring up Larry Bird to refute your argument. If you bring up how great Larry Bird was because he could dominate a game by not excelling at one aspect, but at the same time your thread is about how Steve does a lot of things well but doesn't excell at anything, then why can't Steve win when you are basically saying he is more like Larry Bird than a Michael Jordan. That's the point, Steve dominate a game in every aspect (except defense which he needs a lot of work on). Now obviously before anyone chimes in with "LOL, are you saying that Francis is as good as Bird?" That's not what I'm saying, I think a player can be dominate when they do well but maybe in all categories except excelling in one.
Couldn't help my self to get piece of the action. Intended or not, this thread has turned into Pro-Steve VS Anti-Steve, and to be honest, I am enjoying the argument.. So lets get down to the business. As verse puts it, we need to analyze both positive and negative aspects of steve in order to develop Francis into better player which in turn will translate into better performances as a "team". While I can't agree more with this statement, the "argument" has essentially turned into "Steve isn't as good player as people think him to be because he can't do anything (mainly scoring) which is out of these league". Isn't this argument being bias and concentrating on one aspects of the game, instead of taking wider aspects into account.. Beside, in order to fully understand Steve, it is only right that we take him within the context of the team, instead of trying to understand the team by just looking at Francis characteristics. Furthermore, if Franchise is adequage many aspects of the game, which not many player can do, and then isn't that part of the game in which Franchise "excel". The question we need to raise is that in order to develop into Championship winning team, do we need Steve to be most dominating player in the game? Or rather what role should Francis play in the team. Second question we need to raise is how can Rockets coaching staff can get "synergy' out of Yao, and Steve combo. Instead of concentrating Steve alone, we need to see how we can get best out of two players at the same time. As Jeff pointed out "There is no need to conclude that both Yao and Francis are mutually exculsive". Of course, in order to create good partnership both players need to evolve sacrificing parts of previous individuality, but instead of vaguely saying "Francis have to be more true PG", or "He has to be more natural scorer" we should ask how can the Rockets as a team incorporate Francis as a more willing passer without loosing his current production. Of course that is why coaching staffs are there, and get payed to answer these questions.. Thirdly, we have consider how we can complement the core talent of Yao and Francis. Do we need another third scorer, i.e Cat, Do we need banger in the middle? Do we need shooter? and so forth. And once we analyzed our needs, we need to find out ways in which we can meet our needs. The core is already there in Francis, and Yao, IMO, what we need to do is instead of asking Steve to make major adjustment, we have to complement our core. Steve has to make minor adjustment, but not a major one. Beside isn't role players there to make core talent better? Not other way round.. I agree with Jeff we need action. Man I am getting bored.
I agree with this, Steve has to make adjustments, but the Rockets need to get other players who fit Yao and Steve. One good start would be to get Eddie Griffin to live up to at least part of his potential. If Eddie scores 13 a game and grabs 8 boards while shooting above 47%, the Rockets make the playoffs. That's not too much to ask from someone who they thought was the best player in his draft.
Yeah that's all good, but people need to stop criticising Steve and just support their team. A player doesn't need need to be totally dominant and he doesn't need to be perfect to lead his team to a title. Stop gripin bout em and enjoy watching him win us a few championships soon.
for reals yall. if EG steps it up just a notch or maybe 2 notches, which i think he will in the next few years, and we can get cuttino to take better shots, get SF to play a little smarter, get yao to bulk up some and average 20/10, and get some good role players like posey, i think we will really have a shot anywhere from 3-8 years down the road. all of those are fairly minor adjustments that can be made by a good coach and staff, which we now have. lets just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Hmmm, I'd have to say.... ...It's Francis'es stop and pop! The 18-20 foot jump shot (mid-range). He's unstoppable at at. That's my favorite move he does (especially when he uses the pick and roll).
Good point(s). Rudy's offense didn't help Francis's game develop. He promoted the ISO. Rudy wouldn't have changed unless the fans complained. Which we did! And even then Rudy kept giving us excuses on how we still would NOT be using a "motion oriented offense." The offense changed a little. But I think it changed more because of Yao's presence, rather than a conscious effort by Rudy to revamp the system. In reality, I think designing a sophisticated offense scared the hell out of Rudy. He just didn't know how. Rudy preferred the "Give the ball to your best man and get the hell out of the way" offense. As far as Mobley. He needs to take a back seat to Yao. Less touches for Cat. He has to accept this.
verse, Francis excels at the give-n-go 3pter for the game winner. hehe seriously, I believe Francis as an exceptional midrange game. He will destroy you with his quick jumper on a PnR if you do not switch or trap. This ability of Francis drives much of the opponents defensive decision-making as no one wants to let Francis elevate for a jumper in the 15-18' range. If he gets his feet under him agains every PG in the league and jumps straight up...his money. now for the bad news...he is so good at this that teams rarely ever guard the PnR without trapping him or doing a trap with a delayed release. And he is not very good at beating traps...so he sees a steady diet of them.
Many of us Fans that criticise Steve Francis are great Rockets fans. Our criticism is only because we see Francis as so important to the Team that we ONLY want him to be as good as he can be, from a Team point of view. He isnt going to win any Championships ! The Rockets Team might in a few years. Please realise that there is a lot of talent on the Rockets and Steve is needed to be their Playmaker.
