Nice, comprehensive post. I would have to disagree with TMac's stat's going all the way down to 21 ppg, much less being the second option. TMac is a top 5 player. Yao simply isn't yet. Also, I don't see Kobe factoring that heavily in the MVP race. He's a fantastic all around player, but then so was TMac in Orlando.
Kobe will avg 32 pts a game and propel his team into the playoffs unlike tmac's worst team in NBA season. I think Kobe could go crazy this season with Shaq gone and the trial off his chest. I love Tmac and think we could win a championship with him but i would take Kobe over him any day.
I agree with you to some extent. I think the ideal big man for Steve would be Amare Stoudemire. Amare doesn't work in the low post, but rather has good ball handling skills and just drives straight to the basket with his athleticism. I don't know about a Dirk Nowitzki because I don't think Steve has the awareness to be able to find a shooter consistently in his favorite spots. For this Orlando team to contend in the East, and I think they can, a few things need to happen: 1. Dwight Howard needs to develop into that Stoudemire, attack the basket mold of a player. This will take a few years as he is nowhere near as physically developed as Stoudemire was when he entered the league. 2. Grant Hill must become the full time point guard. I think it is now painfully obvious that Steve Francis is not a point guard. He cannot pass, cannot control tempo, and is flustered when basic full court pressure is thrown at him. 3. Steve must be put in a position where he is allowed to do what he does best - create for himself off the dribble. This means he must be relieved of all playmaking and ballhandling duties. I repeat, the Steve Francis as a pg experiment must be abandoned and labeled a complete disaster. 4. Steve must be flanked with players who do not duplicate his flaws and virtues. Cuttino Mobley made huge strides last season under JVG, but it would be to both his and Steve's advantage for the two to be seperated. Steve needs to be running alongside a point guard who can run the offense and get him the ball in a position to create. Perhaps a smallish backcourt of Nelson and Francis can get by in the East? A team with Steve Francis as it's best player will never win a championship but can certainly contend in the Least if built correctly. He needs to be surrounded by players that cover his flaws and put him in a position to play to his strengths. I disagree with you about the point guards you listed. KJ, Payton, Stockton, Isiah, and Jason Kidd all succeeded with great big men because they were point guards. They knew how to control a game and get people the ball. Steve Francis is NOT a point guard. TheFreak - You're right in that he is not a point guard. Put him at the shooting guard and he suddenly doesn't seem so physically superior. But my point was that out of all the players who played at the point guard (whether or not they belonged there), Steve is head and shoulders above the rest. I am a huge KJ and Isiah fan, but come on, you can't even compare these guys athletically to Steve. These guys were great players, not great athletes. Steve is a great, great athlete. T-Mac is far and away the better player, but I think you'll agree that if we win a championship, it'll have to be because of Yao. For this, JVG will force it down his throat. I don't think T-Mac will have an opportunity to score more than 21 a game.
To me Steve needs to play with some very specific teammates in order to maximize his effectiveness. First off he needs to play with a very particular backcourt mate. The whole "is Steve a PG or a SG" is just semantics. No matter which position he plays, he needs to dominate the ball, and needs to play with a PG/SG that is big enough to guard SGs around the league. I guess it would be nice if he played alongside a guard that can bring the ball up against fullcourt pressure, but in the halfcourt set, Steve still needs the ball in order to be effective. Because of that, he can't really play with a traditional PG that runs the offense and gets guys involved. Steve needs to play with a guy that is looking to swing the ball around and can catch and shoot instead of a guy that is supposed to create something for his teammates. Personally, I think Mobley is perfectly fine in that role, and a guy like Brent Barry would be good too. In terms of a big man, Steve needs to play with a guy that attacks the offensive boards ferociously and is athletic enough to finish those alley-opps that SF loves to toss up so much (i.e. the numerous times that Steve drove into the lane and lofted up an alley-opp for Cato). This guy might just be Howard because from all indications, he is currently a big effort guy that needs to learn some offensive skills. And he would also benefit from playing alongside swingmen that can grab the rebound and push the ball right away. Steve is pretty poor at leading the fastbreak, but he is pretty good at filling the lane. And even though he is one of the better rebounding guards, he doesn't usually push it up the floor, so he needs a guy that will do it for him. Or else, he has to change his role of bringing the ball up and let the other guard do it. So that when he grabs a board, he passes to the other guard who pushes the ball, while Steve runs the floor. But like I've said before, Steve still needs the ball in his hands in the halfcourt set. The bigger question is, "How far can a team go with a 6'3" guard dominating the ball and mostly creating for himself and occasionally throwing up some alley-opps?" It's hard to say. I doubt you can win a championship like that, unless the team also brings a dominating defense. But you can certainly win some games, as Baron Davis and the NO Hornets have showed us. I think this will be a good move for Steve. The focus is back on him, and he'll be able to just do his thing and mostly just try to create for himself. If Cato, Mobes and company can bring a bigger emphasis to Orlando, then I think they will definitely be a playoff team. And depending on how Dwight Howard develops defensively and offensively, they might have a decent future in front of them too.
Yes. We like to compare Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Vlade Divac, Chris Mihm, Brian Grant, Chucky Atkins, and Kareem Rush to Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, Drew Gooden, and Andrew Declerq. tcab- My hazy memories of pre-injury KJ were of a pretty fantastic athlete. I would argue the league has gotten more athletic since KJ's time, but similar to Wilt being of Shaq-like proportions, I'd think KJ's athletic advantage over other PGs of his era is similar to Steve's. What other PGs in the early-mid 90s had KJ's athleticism? Off the top of my head, the Derek Harpers, John Stocktons, and Mark Jacksons of the world come to mind, not any supreme athletes.
I agree that Steve has lost a little physically, but are you talking about this game? http://www.clutchfans.com/game.cfm?gameID=302 Steve scored 16 of the teams final 18 in the 4th after getting knocked down by Wallace. I think any decline in his scoring after that was a result of Yao's progression that season.
thacabbage Steve has not lost anything since his first couple of years...the only difference now is...THE ZONE D. He's best as an isolation player, which is not allowed anymore so it affects his numbers. I think he'll put up big numbers this year, but his FG% might be in question.
None of these guys played in an offense where they had to come down court, dump it to the center and wait for a shot. Isiah Thomas never even played with an all-star foward or center. Kidd had Mcdyess and Martin, two players who go to the basket. Payton had Kemp another player who went to the basket. Stockton and KJ were in offenses that had some resemblence of post play, but Barkley was definitely a mobile foward who also could post you up, and I said that Stockton is the one player who I think could have thrived in an offense based on the center. As far as Steve not being able to get a player like Nowitzki shots, just look how many shots he got Glenn Rice whenever Rice got a chance to play. Steve consistently got him open shots.
M-Cable: I completely agree on all points. It's a difficult situation. He needs the ball in his hands to be effective but then causes too many mistakes to warrant having the ball in his hands. You also have to worry about covering up his shortcomings, so much that you'de have to specifically build the team around him, but that becomes difficult when he is making the max. Essentially, a max player who needs the ball in his hands, but will make mistakes with it in his hands, and has to be covered up for is not a max player. It becomes increasingly clear that Steve just had to go. 3 other guys who need to show up this season are Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, and Kwame Brown. All three have shown flashes but have been huge disappointments thus far. I find Chandler the most intriguing. Along with Yao Ming, these 3 make up a quartet of the most recent young big men to enter the league and were supposed to carry the torch. I'm glad we got the one that we did.
