Caught the tail-end of the Steve Francis interview on 97.9 this morning... no REAL news but just thought I'd share a few things I remembered: He was talking about how he had plenty of options after he left New York, but wanted to come back to a place he was familiar with and comfortable in. The crew asked him what he thought about the Rockets' chances this year, he said it is day-to-day and that we shouldn't be making predictions at this point. Not very optimistic, from what I sensed. When he was asked if he was going to be in the starting line-up, he replied "I better be!!". Went on to say that when training camp comes around, hopefully things will work out on its own. When asked about injuries and how it may affect him, says that it is something most NBA players go through.. mentioned his knee tendinitis. Still believes he can go out and score 30 points on any given night if he "needed to". But as of right now, he feels fine. When asked if Steve Francis is hard to manage, he jokes around about being hard to manage if his paychecks weren't on time. Says that he isn't as bad as someone like Rasheed Wallace (lol) and that even if we ask Jeff Van Gundy, Francis was all about winning and being aggressive. When asked if he would have come back if Jeff Van Gundy was still head coach, he ignored the question, everyone laughed a little, and the interview promptly ended.. haha. Feel free to add anything I missed...
Yeah I heard the hole interview from what I'm hearing the interview is not through as of right no.... yep its still on .... and yes all the that's all true I think he really wants to start....and for all u haters steve is a real dude
**** steve franchis and his ego. he will ride the pine if asked to do. Steve as a first string will **** up our offense. I highly doubt he will score 8-10 points and get 12+ assists. doubt it doubt it doubt it.
Okay, well if possible, could someone update me with the rest? I'm at work now.. and would like to know what else Franchise has to say
I doubt that too. Who the hell does that? I've never even heard of a player averaging stats like that.
Jesus man. This team has no interesting, positive, fun to listen to characters on it anymore. Hell even JVG has become a jolly and insightful analyst since his departure. Better resign Mutombo or its gonna be rough.
Yeah, I doubt it will be that low- 17-19 is more likely, with 7-8 assists. But you never know, with TMac's fragile health, stevie could easily be in the 20 point range.
Hey, as long as we win games and go deep into the playoffs, I could care less about not having interesting players to listen to. And JVG has always been like that, even before his departure. JVG the analyst and JVG the coach are two completely different people.
Let's be realistic here. If he could still play at that level, he wouldn't be unceremoniously bought out and then signed for $2.4 million. But what we can get from SF will be a huge boost from last year's pathetic PG situation.
He could definitely play at that level for a bad team, if his heart was in it. On a good team that's stacked like the rockets? Who knows. I think he could certainly be a Sura like sparkplug and that is what I am hoping for. In fact we now have pgs that could conceivably fill that role. Awesomeness.
Well, he didn't play to *this* audience. Seriously, Jeff, do you think most fans want to hear him say: "I better start!" or "I want to do whatever it takes, from scoring, rebounding, to carrying equipment, to bring this city an elite basketball team. I've learned a lot in my NBA time, and it's not about who starts and who gets points." I was (ignorantly) hoping for something a little closer to the latter.
So you think he's lost nothing since he left Houston, since that's what he did in Houston the first time around: put up 19-21 points and 6-7 assists for a bad team. I think he's lost something with the knee issues and his athleticism isn't as good as it used to be.
I knew francis hasn't changed or been humbled one bit from his experiences the past few years and these last couple of interviews have been concerning. He thinks he should start? He should be behind james, brooks and alston on the depth chart. But I guess he still thinks he's a superstar in his mind, instead of the washed up player he currently is.
wow, he better scores b/c he'll be facing the worst perimeter defender every night from now on (since most PGs suck at defense nowadays outside of jkidd and jkidd will guard tmac a lot). he's cocky but we need that. as long as he knows his role and not over-do things like over-dribbling, turning it over, complaining about minutes, we'll be good. i think he knows our chances are good or why the hell did he sign with us? to be 3rd-string after tmac and yao? i think not. he could have gone to the clips and be taking the most shots since elton brand gets a lot of double teams.
I don't think he's lost that much, no. I have no real evidence, but I believe his medical issues were overblown and he was just sulking and butting heads with management in NY. He put up those numbers a year ago in Orlando. There were certainly stretches even last season in NY where he put up numbers like he usually did, including the end of the season.
it does not matter if he lost anything or not. it's whether he's a smarter basketball player or not. i don't care if he's the steve francis of 5 yrs ago. we wouldn't win with that guy even if we have tmac and yao b/c that steve francis (though deferred to yao, but still over dribbles like a mutha). what we need him to do is know his role. when he's past mid-court, run the offense. adelman does not allow for a lot of dribbling so if he sees that, i want francis on the bench. we need crisp passing and great movement. even in the games where he plays well w/ NY, he needed a lot of minutes. he had a lot of touches b/c NY was basically cruising at the end. he won't have that w/ tmac and yao. if he thinks he's needed to score 30 pts anymore, he's crazy. we need him to score 12-15 pts, get 6-7 assists, hit his open shots or when he's open, drive and go to the line.
