I care....Steve can finish his play and score. He could come off the bench and give us help that makes a difference in the outcome of a game. Go Rockets!!!!
I would offer head for simein then sign francis. I think the rox really need a more atheltic 6'9 guy. They seem too small for me. At least Francis can run the point better than head.
The biggest thing about francis is that he gets to the free throw line which puts even more pressure on defenses. You get teams in the penalty faster, so they have to play softer on Yao.
yup.. ny only needed 2 pts to send it to ot.. not sure why sf stepped back to hit the more difficult 3..
Straight up!!Francis got game than Alston and better shooter and penetrator to hole. I'll take Francis anytime!
It should be a no-brainer IMO for the team to sign him. Why in the world would they not? I cannot believe so many fans are against it. It would be the move that actually pushes the team over the top. And all this specualtion that he would get anything less than the full MLE is completely assinine. Anyone that thinks he would get less than the full MLE needs to look around the league at teams that need a PG and at the free agency crop and what teams have money. The Lakers would jump all over him at the full MLE. Let's not get carried away, the vets min or the LLE? That's just completely unrealistic. It's very very apparent that he will be the point guard next year, and also for everyone thinking Rafer would be the starter........... All I can say is you must have never watched a game.
I would love Francis back on the Rockets!!! Even if he doent work out he will have trade value and can be traded for a better fitting role player. But I was thinking, what if he was bought out, proclaimed to want to play for Houston......then asked for a trade kicker and pull a Mike James and sign with another team? What if he goes to Dallas?
we'd be lucky if francis pulled a mike james and came to us for 1 really good year, then sign for huge money with the mavs, and then stink up their lineup the next year, like mike james is doing in minnesota right now. lol thats even better than a trade is francis could stink up the mavs, and take a whole crap load of their money preventing them from signing anyone else. but the mavs arent that stupid. only teams with the #1 gm in all of pro sports could do such a thing
I agree, he definitely deserves the MLE. Its not like he is an undrafted rookie or a washedup 35 year-old. He is still young enough to be the player he once was. And he would without a doubt be the starter. He is much more proven than Raf
A little late to the party, but what Deuce said is interesting. Moving Grant Hill here and having just a look of him with McGrady, like what Orlando envisioned originally, will be interesting. Of course, both players have evolved now. Hills no longer the slashing and dunking monster, and Tmac's no longer the 1-on-5 type of scorer, but if I remember correctly, Orlando had a pretty good record when both Mac and Hill were in the lineup, albeit for only little stretches. Now, with Steve Francis, if he could be had for cheap, of course he becomes an option we should look at for a talent upgrade. But talent is secondary to cohesiveness on this team. And Stevie "Franchise", just does not bode well for the kind of cohesiveness our team strives to foster. A leopard can change its spots, just like a player can't easily change his tendencies. Anybody who talks about how Steve has matured obviously can't see that he's still the same overdribbling, low basketball IQ Steve Francis. Check NY's record before and after he came into the rotation. They did well with Curry as the focal point. Even Marbury was buying into the scheme of things. Then Francis came in and did his "I can slash and finish plays if you let me have the rock" thing again. We don't need players like that. He's a good talent, but bad fit for the team. Look what happened with Stromile, and now Bonzi. In the end, it's not just about how good you are, but how you fit the team as well. There're only a few coaches I know who can change players' mentality of the game; Larry Brown, George Karl, Phil Jackson. If even Brown couldn't do it with Francis, JVG definitely can't, and he HAS proven that he can't totally change Francis into a PG who is willing to run everything through Yao, or even McGrady for that matter, like what Brown did with Chauncey Billups. And to be fair, Francis just doesn't function well as a distributor too. His skillset is all predicated on scoring off the dribble, you take that away from him, you take his whole game away from him.
Why not? Looking at the way the Rockets are trying to build their team, they are trying to add players to the Tmac/Yao core that can play well with them. Guys that are system players. Battier and Hayes are great guys for our system. If you add in a Grant Hill, you get a smart veteran player that can play off of Tmac and Yao. And you get a player that is long defensively and can pass the ball offensively. We wanted Bonzi to be our 3rd scorer, but he couldnt do that for this team in limited minutes. A guy like Hill probably could, and probably would fit more seamlessly with Yao and Tmac. And on nights when we need a 3rd scorer, Hill's midrange game, ability to slash to the basket and pass to create offense, would really help the Rockets during offensive lulls. And again, having a guy like Hill who could handle the basketball, just makes Luther Head at PG more of a working option because Luther's handles isnt as much of a concern. Hill would give us more options rotationwise. And I think he would also help us match up better with teams like the Suns and Mavs.
Grant Hill for the MLE? Sorry, I'll pass. He's definitely pass his prime and I don't want to spend the MLE on a injury prone player. Although, I'll sign him for the vets min. or LLE. But the last thing we need is to shell out money on an aging player with a long history of injury problems.
I've always loved Stevie, but I'm actually torn between him and Rafer. I know, you're shocked and abhorred . But Rafer is actually an excellent point guard minus his ability to score. I don't know if Stevie is as good of a defender as Rafer, either. To have both of them in our backcourt would be an interesting sight, but that would mean Chuck would lose his starting spot to McGrady. I just don't know!
