[SI] If the Knicks were to release Steve Francis...

exactly. right now tmac and yao havent played together as much this season and are still defining roles. We don't know who the "third guy" will be ultimately - battier or bonzi, or maybe even Juwan. Add snyder to the mix. I expect him or Bonzi to play some tmac minutes ultimately. Where does steve fit in this?

plus this used to be steve's team, with yao as second option before tmac came here. are we willing to risk team chemistry to give a pg/sg that has stubbornly refused to better his game a chance? I'd rather have some athletic rookie without the baggage.

 

True, but...

If he is doing all of that, why are the Knicks considering buying him out?

 

Cuz it might save them money and they have plenty of PG's, if Marbury is healthy. The move to acquire him made no sense from the beginning

 

yeah that's good business sense. buy out a 40 million dollar contact to save yourself some money

 

How do the Rockets afford another Max contract, they don't? How do the Knicks pay Steve 40 mill to go away? They don't. How could this work? It can't. If Steve has matured, if his knees aren't shot (and word is, they are), if he is willing to take a big cut in money, if cows learn to fly...........

Admittedly a team of Yao, TMac, Francis, Bonzi and Battier (all healthy and in top form) would be scary.

 

I have used the Francis/poor man's Wade comparison also -- I think it's very accurate.

Another point I think people severely overrate is his poor shooting. I posted most of what i'm about to say in another thread but didn't get any responses. You would think with the way some people evaluate his shooting ability that he was some selfish Ryan Bowen caliber shooter that only scored points because he shot 300 times a game when in actuality his shooting percentages are surprisingly not all that bad at all.

Francis is a better career shooter than Baron Davis, Kidd, Iverson, Marbury, Tinsley, Jason Williams, Eric Snow, Darrell Armsrong..the list goes on.... Those were some of the better PG's during his prime and he's a better career shooter than all of them. With the exception of Nash, Cassell and maybe one or two others Francis was one of the better overall shooting PG's we've seen in the past five years. Hard to believe, right? He was a better shooter than Payton at everything except from the field by a slim margin and was about the same as Nick Van Exel.

For some more recent comparisons: Francis has very similar career shooting numbers to Arenas and the only edge Tony Parker has on him is from the field. His career shooting numbers are actually much more comparable to a player like Bibby -- a guy everybody used to consider a lights out shooter.

My point is not to make Francis sound like some kind of great shooter because he's not. However, this little "OMG I SWEAR HE CAN'T SHOOT TO SAVE HIS LIFE!!!" crap needs to stop. Francis can still help us and let's not lose sight of the fact that you don't bring in a talented, aggressive and versatile player like Francis simply to make him a spot-up shooter. His ability to attack the basket, penetrate/dish, slash and finish combined with that crazy passsion we all loved him for are all qualities we could use on this team.

 

that's why it hasn't happened. knicks are trying to pull a larry brown on him, but francis isn't falling for that.

 

Ill work on finding it. It was from a show on Fox Sports. It was on late one night. Like Beyond the Glory: Steve Francis. But it wasnt Beyond the Glory. Something like that though... Ill research and get back to yall.

 

Whoops. It was Beyond the Glory! Lol. Here is the only summary I could find of the show. I didnt really try very hard though.





http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cach...ory"+"steve+francis"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us


The one hour program was a certifiable documentary on 'What not to say if you're an NBA point guard'. Hell, Stevie 'D-League' Franchise's comments were so bad, that even his entourage was calling him out.

Remember the season where Francis suffered intolerable migraines that turned out to be a serious inner ear infection? According to Steve, that was a blessing in disguise. He actually said on camera that whenever coaches told him to pass him the ball, he could now turn his partially deaf ear towards them so he wouldn't be able to hear. You want to talk about pass-last point guard? How about pass-never point guard.

Francis has played with two of the best young centers in the league in Yao Ming and Dwight Howard. Don't you think if you were a guard and you were playing with Dwight Howard, you'd do everything to adjust your game? In the long-run it's going to pay off. Your life will be easier on the court. Look at anyone that plays with Shaq - their lives become that much easier as the defense has to focus their energy towards guarding the big man.

If Francis can’t make things work with guys like Yao and Howard, how many touches do you think Eddy Curry will get? Not that he gets that many right now with Marbury.

 

Uh, yeah....sounds like he was kidding. It also is a far cry from him trashing the rockets organization (btw Rudy was the coach when he got his ear thing, not JVG IIRC).

 

if steve and cuttino were a great duo,
then steve and tmac would be awesome!

steve loved playing for the houston rockets. that's why he would be good on this team. the passion, thats what the rockets are about.

 

Steve and tmac pick and roll would be awesome

 

Steve is a much better PG than Alston any day. He can be our third scoring option by pentrating to the rim!

Lets bring him back!!

 

some good points brought up. francis can shoot decently but his main strength is what it's always been ... driving the lane, which I think the Rockets don't do enough of. and if anyone keeps up with Francis earlier this year, you'd probably say that Francis currently plays like a role player. He's only shot 10+ shots TWICE all year. And with his 26 minutes a game he gets u a fairly decent 3 reb, 4 assists w/10 points. his turnovers are down and when I saw him play for the few times I was able to, he was passing the ball more than I've ever seen before. We all know he's got one of the sickest handles in the league, but he's no longer just iso'ing all the time bak like in 99 (even tho those were fun to watch). Francis gets most of his points from the line and for some reason he's shooting 93% from there or w/e. He's a changed player. Though I don't know what it'd be like to have him, tmac, yao, bonzi, battier, skip all in one locker room, i don't think stevie would complain about being the 3rd or 4th option. I mean, he's like the 4th or 5th on the knicks ... and they're the knicks.

if you guys are worrying about him causing more harm than help, you havta consider that with the team we have right now, if completely healthy, i don't think we're yet good enough to win it all. if we could get francis and if he continues to play selflessly as he has so far this year, we'd definetly be up real contenders.

but ... there's too much talent in francis for him to be just a role player. hopefully jvg can do what he did earlier and make him play the best basketball he possibly can though.

 

Steve's downside: potential team cancer and turnover machine

Steve's upside: Better shooting than Rafer and turnover machine.

 

turnover machine?

If he comes to the Rockets I'd expect limited minutes for him. In NY he had lowish turnovers for his minutes. I doubt it will happen, his not going to turnover at Vspan rates

 

was steve ever a cancer to the rockets...

and dont mention the superbowl incident.

 

Good point! Many fans critisizes how Francis played before, but Rockets is a totally different team now. When Francis was here, he has to be the one who shoot and score. If Francis plays for Rockets now, there are so much more opportunities he can create and so many plays he can make....

Compare the old Rockets team and now

C: Yao '06 > Yao '02
PF: J.H. >= Mo T.
SF: Shane Battier>Jim Jackson
SG: T-Mac > Mobley (any question?)
PG: Alston < SF3

Even our bench this year is a lot better than the 02 Rockets...

 

i think it'd be cool to see him come back actually. he'd be on thin ice and play limited minutes but he'd definetly be a difference maker come playoff time with bonzi off the bench.

he did say during a half time show that he'd have to talk to sura about getting his number back, IF he ever came back. now that'd be interesting to see. that, or there wouldnt be any talking because bobby could get cut/traded