Francis has to go. I've seriously come to the conclusion that he can't lead this team. We all saw how well the Kings passed the ball yesterday. I don't know how many times I counted Francis coming down court and jacking up an 18 foot jumper. It sickened me. He needs to go. Some might say that he's just in a slump, but when your season high in assists is 8 and your team manages 6 fast break points in the last 3 games, than ther'es something wrong. This team has so much talent. I know Van Gundy wont put up with this much longer. I really do believe that we'll see a change before it's all said and done. I'm out.
Trade Francis and you have a worse team. Yao will be smothered by defenses, his problem with TO's will increase, and the Rockets plummet. We have hit a rough stretch and for some reason Francis has stopped playing D. I don't know how many people have ever been in management situations at work, or have watched how people in management positions operate. They don't immediately fire people every time a little snag happens at the office. They correct the mistakes and move on a better operation because of it.
I agree. With out Stevie this team would not exist. Yao is a great player but he needs Stevie to absorb the defense complementing his game.
This team doesn't know how to use Steve correctly. He's a great talent that is just wasting away on this team. He is by far one of the best athletic guards in the league. If anyone saw that dunk contest where he got 2nd place, you'd know what I'm talking about. The manner in which Steve is being used is like pushing a square peg into a round hole. Either the offense needs to adjust to him, or they need to trade him. Let him flourish on another team that can get him to play to his potential.
Darius Miles is a mega athelete too. The problem is that being athletic does not neccessarily translate into being a great player.
What I can't believe is that... after 4 years, there are still people saying give him time because he needs to adjust to the league/team/whatever.
the NBA is full of athletic freaks, but it's what you do with that athletic talent that matters. harold miner, isiah rider, kenny walker, etc. all won the dunk contest. i think steve is a great player, but we've already had five years of Steve doing whatever he wanted to and it resulted in zero playoff births.
Steve played better than anyone else on the team tonight, but he had one assist. As in one more than zero assists. I still think Steve is a better SG than PG, but in any case we obviously are having major problems on the offensive end. With our current lineup we don't have very good passers/unselfish players. I could live with Steve running the show if the other 4 guys on the team were very unselfish and good passers (see the Kings, Mavs, etc.) But when the other guys are exactly unselfish/smart passers you need a PG that runs the offense.
I don't know if you've heard of this but when you 'trade' a player you 'get' another or others back. Some of those players might even be better 'team' players than Steve. Ya think?
After averaging 12.75 pts and 5.5 assists in the last four games up to the Sonics, Francis thought to himself:"All right, enough is enough, I gotta get mine this time." The result? 28 pts and 1 assist. OK Steve, how about just admit you are not point guard material?
you never know.. maybe steve actually wants to play the two, infact he was talking about it last year.
How is he a better shooting guard than PG? Because he can score? Regardless of his scoring abilities he will never be able to hold down the opponent SG(hell, he can't even cover the rookie PGs of the league ) to a respectable number. He's a guard that can't play in the flow of the game, much less control the flow. Steve is a liability, plain and simple. After 4 years in the league he still hasn't learned anything except ME ME ME and it makes me sick when others here(not you) try to stand up for this dead head. We made a big mistake taking a chance on this spoiled kid that didn't want to play for the grizz because "He wanted to be a PG, not a SG." This dude doesn't know the first thing about running a team, and never has. What makes anyone here think he's going to pick it up after failing miserably time after time, and not even showing a glimps of improvement from his rookie year.
It's pretty frustrating to watch the Rockets with Steve Francis. I mean the Suns have Stephon Marbury and Marbury can pass and shoot. The Hornets have Baron Davis and he can do likewise. The Grizzlies have Jason Williams and he can pass and shoot as well. Why can't Francis do both at the same? The Jazz lose veteran John Stockton and replace him with Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez. They're rookies, mind you. And then the Jazz without Arroyo, beat Steve Francis and the Rockets? Then against the Seattle Supersonics - 28 points, one assist? There were games that he did have nine assists. But how many more losses should the Rockets endure before the point guard position is considered a problem? Steve Francis has played four years as point guard of the Rockets. And he gets beat by Raul Lopez and Maurice Williams? Or Luke Ridnour of Seattle? Rookies! C'mon!
No, but I do not at all think the Rockets are getting their return on their $90 million + investment as far as wins and losses go. I realize teams feel pressured to give their stars big money after their first three years in the league (because history shows if that team doesn't pay out, another one will). I just don't think Steve Francis is going to take this team past the first round.....ever and to tie up that much salary in a player like Francis can really keep a franchise down for years. Eventually, the Rockets will have to trade Francis for less than they could have gotten for him prior to signing him to the big contract...........that is if the Rockets' goals go beyond selling T-shirts because that is all Francis really brings to the organization. He's fun to watch, but he doesn't have a clue how to play winning team basketball and that's starting to become unacceptable this far into his career. Francis needs somebody to give him a good kick in the butt if he is ever going to change and I'm not sure the Rockets organization is willing to give him that kick whether it be through a trade, benching, etc. Trading Steve is not wise at this point because we will not get enough in return due to his reputation around the league. I think we're stuck with the guy so the best move would be as many have suggested, to acquire a starting point guard and move Steve to the two. Even that may not get the Rockets back into contention which is where so called "bad fans" like me want to see this team return to..........but hey, we're not real fans if we want the team to win at all costs.
HOw about just trade someone on the team for an adequate backup pg?? we are essentially 2 deeps in most position except pg. I don't think we have any pg behind steve. I think having someone else who is capable behind steve may force him to play better. we really should have gotten a guy like travis best in the offseason
