This argument is so old and stupid. If the offense was designed for Francis to get a lot of assists, believe me, he would. Steve's job is to try and score. Passing is a last resort in this offense. You want Francis to get more assists? Talk to Rudy.
I for one do not believe that he could. Steve has learned to play PG watching the defender in front of him and not watching the defense when he is dribbling. This would be a difficult habit to break.
I prefer for the ball to be spread around early in the possession. Moochie and Tito do this fairly well, much better than Francis. usually when that happens you get a high team assist average. it just seems that style of play is more beneficial to the rest of the guys.
Wouldn't you agree that 8.0apg and 3.0tog is the almost the same as 6.0apg and 2.5tog? I'm giving you two assist per .5 tog. See, Francis WILL NOT achieve 8.0 apg. Why? Because he's a SG w/PG skills. So, let's say that Francis maintains his 6.0apg. That would mean he would have to get a 2.5tog average in order to match (efficiency) Kidds turnover ratio (more or less). Basically what I'm saying is that if Francis is going to maintain a 6.0apg, then he can't stay at a 4.0tog ratio. That's unacceptable. And 3.0 is not good enough either. Not for a 6.0apg average. By the way, 8 assists and 3 TO's is NOT normal. I misread your post.
I am not interested in looking up statistics. I am just too lazy for that. But I think posting someone's assists could be misleading. Looking at the TEAM'S total assist would be a much more reliable indicator of how effective the point guard is and how much ball movement in the offense.
That's because Francis IS a SHOOTING GUARD with some passing skills. The mere fact that Kidd (PG) numbers are close to Francis (SG) is amazing on Kidds part.
Interesting observation. Payton and Kidd see through their defenders, and beyond. Francis watches his defender (tries to show them up, Rucker Park style). He's simple minded.
Francis is not a more talented playmaker than Moochie. Maybe he will be in a few years but he's a slow learner.
Tito Maddox is a great playmaker. He is actually pretty intelligent. He knows what he is going to do before he starts the action. He doesn't just run into hell and try to force something. He sets people up pretty well. If he could shoot, he would not have been a second round pick or a third string point guard. He just needs to work on his scoring. He drove inside nicely but then was blocked on each of his 3 attempts. Maybe he shows the ball to them or is a rookie. But he needs to find a way to score. If he can work on making his shots, he could be pretty good. He made three very nice assists. OKAY. Moochie does not have as much pressure as Francis. But Moochie did a wonderful job. He was very confident and calm. It was beautiful. But I don't think he can do it consistently. And our team is screwed if the rest of our players cannot make their shots. I wish Francis could be like Moochie...in a way. If he could pass...it would provide him with more shots. I don't know...he just forces things. Maybe Moochie should teach Francis. Gary Payton and Sam Cassell looked great. They won their first game together!!! And they still have Michael Redd and Desmond Mason!!! Their team is looking great. AS AN ENTIRE TEAM, we had 26 assists. That is amazing. We average 18. That's like the 2nd lowest in the whole league. I wish we could move the ball more. Maybe they can keep up the passing against Boston.
Moochie had 9 points and 9 assists...as well as 5 rebounds and 1 steal. WITH NO TURNOVERS. Francis averages 22.6 and 6...as well as 6 rebounds and 1 steal. Francis has 4 turnovers per game. Moochie played 40 minutes. Francis usually plays 41 minutes... NOW I DON'T HATE FRANCIS. But Moochie did pretty well. And Moochie is a not a defensive specialist...but Jason Williams did not score very much...didn't pass very much either. Francis makes up 6 rebounds.....BUT WHY SHOULD HE!?!? He's a guard. He should be letting our big men get the rebounds. With Francis out, it didn't matter. Moochie had 5. Even Mo Taylor had 5. Cato had 6. Yao had 7. Griffin had...a lot. Posey had 8. Everything was spread out. It was great. Now Moochie can't do this every game though. But I wish Francis would learn to pass...I don't know what type of plays he is running sometimes. Pick and roll all the time or give it to Yao. I guess we have to be patient and allow them to develop chemistry...
Well, passing the ball to someone and having that guy hit a jumper is not my idea of a very good assist. That's why assist numbers are sometimes misleading(See Miller, Andre). I wish there were people who would actually go in and watch each basket to determine if the passer actually set up the shooter. Assists are not really Steve's problem, the turnovers are. Though, if Steve could collect more assists, the turnovers would be easier to swallow.
Its funny how people think they know what francis is thinking, hes in the nba for a reason, hes a great player. I think that just like the mavs. took a while to start jelling together lets say about 3-4 years, the rockets will do the same but hopefully a little faster, just give them a little time, and then im sure francis assists will go up.
Thats great that you arent "demanding" paytons numbers because payton has been in the league a lot longer then steve.
The blame shouldnt be on steve, they are inconsistent, and they are in the nba, nobody said they were bad players, they just have to be "more" consistent. There have been plenty of times when steve has passed the ball to an open man and they havent hit the shots. Its just going to take some time, i was reading a post about someone say that if steve passed the ball to yao for an easy layup then his assists would go up, this is true but yao has the get in possition before steve can get him the ball that close. Its going to take time for all of this to happen and people are being impatient, yao has to get stronger, the team has to build chemistry, it took dallas 3-4years to be where they are right now, there are a lot of new player on our team right now. You just have to be patient.
Actually i wasnt liking how tito mattix was play last night, he didnt have turnovers, but he did get blocked a few times, he was taking the ball where he shouldnt have been taking it, he wasnt passing when he should have been either. To me it seemed as if tito was trying to hard to show rudy what he can do, and thats expected but having those mistakes arent going to help you.
