Rocket fans, please get to the point! Wink is a problem.

Yep

 

Agreed,

Our "franchise" player won't lead, won't pass, and Clutches April fools joke sans the power forward part is probably not to far off.

 

Well, last year I think most people thought Francis was too unselfish. He was hitting his outside shots with more consistency and not making as many bad decisions, yet he was only taking 15 field goal attempts per game last season, which is not very much at all for a teams <i>#1 option</i>. This year he's shooting the ball about 17 times per game, which is second on the team to Mobley, so it's not like Steve is a complete ballhog this season, but his poor play may be making it seem that way.

But what gets me, is after making great strides last season in improving his outside shooting and decision making, its all suddenly deteriorated. What else can this be attributed to but the ridiculously wacky season that Steve's gone through? Ever since he had the stupid foot problem and the recurring migraines he's never been able to get into any kind of rhythm. I can't even recall Steve playing good in two straight games.

On top of that, last season Steve's defense didn't strike me as being so glaringly in need of work like it has this season. Nearly every part of his game has dropped off this season from last. I mean, has anyone else noticed this or is it just me? I wasn't here last season, but were people really this critical of Steve during 2000-2001?

Basically, the stats may not show it as much, but I think Steve was a lot better player last season. While his decision making and turnovers were still negatives in 2000-2001, he had improved in nearly every category from his rookie year, and I had no reason to believe he wouldn't have continued that improvement this season if it hadn't been for the cursed health problems the Rockets have had to play through for the past six months. So, while I admit that Steve has had a very discouraging year, I'm not even considering the possibility of giving up on him yet. I just hope he and the rest of the Rockets can overcome their health problems over the summer, and if all goes well I'm sure Steve will be back to form in the 2002-2003 season.

 

Like it or not he is our Franchise player and Rudy is not going to trade him , so the only solution that i can think of is to sign a good versatile player that can play like a Pg and lead our offense (Odom).

 

Nicely put...

 

It's very possible that the caliber of players he has with him is the problem.

Who could realistically start for most "good teams?" Mobley, definitely. Perhaps KT, if it was a team driven by a couple of super stars. Langhi, Collier, and Morris wouldn't even get minutes on most teams.

I can't believe I'm hearing complaints that Francis isn't giving Langhi enough shots...

Francis is going to have to learn how to fit his game in with the rest of the team's. That's something that many players don't learn until relatively late. It took Iverson a few years. It took Stackhouse the better part of a decade. Carter hasn't figured it out yet. Antoine Walker has not.

I think that most of you view Francis' problem as too unique. Because he's your team's star, you view a relatively common problem as some sort of apocalyptic problem. It's not. Hopefully, it'll work itself out. But I think it's a question of maturity and time.

 

I think that he has not adjusted well to the new zone defenses.

He usually can beat his man, but instead of a clear path to the basket, there are now 2 or 3 other defenders in the way.

This is not a problem if you use your penetration to draw the defense in to you and dish out to an open teamate (which is what Rudy wants him to do), but Steve has yet to learn the dish portion of this play, and that is the most frustrating part of all.

DaDakota

 

Agreed 100% haven,

We have two really good scorers on our current non healthy roster in Steve and Cuttino. KT is like haven said a Rick Fox/Derek Fisher type on the Lakers. Thus, Steve has to score for us to win.

A lot of people in this forum like to point out our players faults, especially Steve and Cat, which isnt necessarily a bad thing. The problem is the way you guys do it, we beat a playoff team, Seattle tuesday night and you would see more than 50% Steve or Cuttino didn't do this or that. We frickin won. This forum seems to be spoiled watching Dream in his prime and how he carried a cast worse than what Steve has to a title and has put unwarranted expectations on him.

Yes, Steve isn't perfect, but he is in his 3rd year and 2nd where he really has had to be the team leader. Give him time and you will be happy. It takes maturity to learn all the necessary things about leading a Winning NBA franchise. Jordan took three years himself, and many others the same or more. The only exception, I can think of is Duncan in the recent era, and he had a good team surrounding him.

Why don't we wait until we are fully healthy next year before we make judgements about our talent. We won 45 last yr as a healthy team, and we added a good 3 pt shooter in Rice and a future franchise talent in Eddie Griffin. We will be fine.

I hate to make excuses but injuries cost us this lost season.

 

Why do these posts come out when Steve scores 16 and we lose? Where were they when he scored 30 on "the glove?"

 

These people were sitting down satisfied that their team finally did what they were asking for. Running the break, passing the ball and playing defense, at least in the 4th quarter.

It's not bashing to point out weaknesses hoping the player will improve. Steve has been playing stupid lately. It's not just him it's the whole team playing like that, but he is the leader and should take the initiative, especially being the point. Haven talked about the other stars and what they do, point taken, but those guys aren't supposed to run the offense. Kidd gets even the nobodys on the Nets to look decent, as well as Payton. Stephon Marbury is criticized for being a ball hog, yet even he averages around 8 asst a game. How many did Steve have last night? 3. Duncan had more for god sakes. You can't blame it on his teammates either, he forced things too much last night.

Steve played better last year.

 

Have you considered the rules changes? The failed experiment of Francis as a point guard is being exposed by zones.

 

Doesn't Steve have some kind of shoulder problem that is hampering his shot? Add that to migrane and foot problems and it seems this has not been his year.

 

I can't believe you people. How can you talk about trading the most electrifying point guard in the league because of some boneheaded plays. Damn the guy is only in his third year, has no teammate who can hit a jumpshot on a consistant basis, and have no big man presence to neutralize the defense. I mean the guy is getting doubled and tripled team every freaking play and you complain about him not doing this and that. What about everything that he does do. Out of his three years with us I have yet to see Francis leave his game in the locker room. He always leaves it on the court. Maybe his teammates do but not the Franchise. The guy is the leading rebounder once again, that alone should tell you how much he hussles. Now when we had Maloney and Price, you guys were complaining about needing a guard like Francis, and now that we got him, you're wanting to trade him, get real. I guarantee if we had an inside presence and a consistant outside threat, then Francis would eat this league alive because no one player can hold him one on one without help. Have you seen how helpless these defenders look when Francis is crossing them over. So Francis is not the problem, the real problem is Rudy T. It's up to Rudy T. to get these guys ready to play in the first quarter, and not the fourth. If Rudy would just borrow somebody's playbook and stop using plays that he discovered at the Fonde then we would probably win more games. I barely see one offensive set run per quarter, everything is one on one. And we're not even going to start talking about the lack of defense. Why is Rudy not implementing better defensive schemes? I've said it once and I'll say it again, if I were Les Alexander, Calvin Murphy would be my coach to start next season.

 

Wink and Moochie's Fro were the only two things worth watching this year... not to mention Langhi's 8-9 FG game and Catomic's ten 10+ reb games in a row. I hope you eat your words next year when we are in the playoffs.

 

Problem is he is not the most electrifying shooting guard in the league, which is the position he appears to be playing.

Stat Police...incorrect.

Steve looks pretty helpless laying on the ground as the defenders grab the ball out of his hands, too.

Or the problem could be that we have a 6'3" shooting guard celebrity who is afraid to be schooled by and Kobe and McGrady, and all the great 2guard defenders like Christie and Jones, so he is forcing poor Rudy into reinventing the wheel to allow Stevie outmuscle the point guards and be that quarterback he always dreamed of.

I thought it was up to the quarterback to get guys off in the first quarter.

So, how do you propose we get one.

Hey, I have an idea. Trade your electrifying shooting guard who is forcing Rudy to call him a point guard for Yao Ming, who knows his position and can actually redefine it rather than slip on the court doing cross-overs.

Francis reminds me of Ralph Sampson, another player who wanted to be a point guard instead of his natural position. Someone who is living his autobiography in his own mind and wants to be known as someone who changed the game. Yao Ming is going to change the game before Francis will.

 

haven is exactly right. we have two people on our team who steve can feel any comfort at all in passing the ball to. more often than not he passes the ball out and our boy langhi bricks it or tmo shoots an airball. the guys who he know can hit the shot our sitting in streetclothes and have been there for practically the entire season.

his shot is still very nice, this hasn't changed from last year, though fg% doesn't show injuries. last night you could see he was knocking him down until one drive in the first or second when his shoulder got shaken up again. he missed the two free throws and wasn't the same for the rest of the night. this is a season you throw away and try not to read too much into even though it's really hard.