Steve Francis Interview(s) - did this strike anyone else?

Im not too worried about Stevie, since he is expendable. I hope he realizes that too.

 

I haven't seen Steve's interviews, but I think it sort of goes the other way around, too. I did see Tracy's interviews when Steve joined, and Tracy went "if Steve isn't the most humble individual now, then something's wrong". I think that might have pissed off Steve who still has a big ego.

Anyway, glad to have him on the team, let him say some complimentary things about Tracy and we should be fine. Rather have a lot of talent than not having anyone outside of Tracy and Yao who can put the ball in the basket (Utah series...).

 

I agree to an extent, but my 2a and 2b analogy wasn't necessarily a reference to a tangible stat like ppg, it was more of a reference to amount of plays run, handling the ball, importance to the team, etc. Thats where i think steve might clash with tracy. It seems like he recognizes and appreciates why yao is going to get the majority of the touches and the offense will run through him but in regards to tracy he feels like they are peers (which they are absolutely not in any way, shape or form) and thats where his ego may get him in trouble yet again. Again, i could be way off-base with all of this since it is all speculation on my part, just one person's opinion of the state of affairs.

 

His ego is exactly what this team needs. Steve is potentially the first legitimate 3d scoring option this team has had. I hope he gets a lot of minutes and tries to assert himself rather than blend in like most of you guys seem to want.

 

I agree wholeheartedly, what people appear to be concerned about is that he recognizes he is a third, possibly fourth (behind bonzi) option and doesn't attempt to usurp tmacs role as the second option.

 

Did you watch any of his final season as a rocket?

 

Is it not possible that the Rockets Management now think that it is about time for Yao to break out and make the Rockets his team? I thought it was common knowledge that their intention was to develop Yao Ming as the superior talent and expect him to be the leader of the team.

 

Well, I'm not sure which interview you're referring to. Or the Chinese reporters again made up fake stories.

This is what Steve Francis said when he was asked how he viewed the current Houston Rockets:-

 

Im not sure if I want Francis doing much in crunch time. That should be on the shoulders of Mac & Yao.

 

That's 63.058 W's!

If they were together for all 82 games, there would have been much better team chemistry, which in turn would have made the team run its offense and defense much better than it did last year (which was already pretty good, at least on defense). Oh, if only!

 

I kinda don't remember him saying anything like that.

 

Steve needs to understand that he ain't no Stevie Franchise any more and he is a role player at this stage of his career. Tracy will have the ball a lot more than he does on the perimeter and he needs to live with that.

 

There you go. No more doubting Francis.

 

This is probably nothing to worry about, especially once they start winning big. I think Francis will love playing with McGrady. Van Gundy said that McGrady is the second best playmaker in the league behind Nash and I agree. Francis will get a lot of easy baskets because of McGrady. If Francis pouts and tries to make his status on the team an issue then he will be shipped off and the Rockets won't miss a beat with this loaded roster.

 

Yes. Read post #23 in this thread.

 

If SF dribbles the ball all over the court and then bounces it off his foot, there is going to be a big problem for the short time he is not sitting on the bench.

If he gives up the ball to Tracy (or Yao) early in the clock and gets his points slashing to the basket, he (and everyone else) are going to be very happy.

 

When the game is on the line, I want TMac to have the last shot. I remember many times in the old days, Stevie would put up the final shot for the win at the buzzer and it would be a brick.

Yao and McGrady are the heart of this team. Stevie should know that just by looking at the payroll. Scola needs to be involved in this offense too. Yao is a good passer and I expect him to hit up Scola when the big man draws a double team. Stevie needs to adjust to his new role as a distributor to all these weapons, or James will be our starter. I would also like to see TMac and Stevie playing unselfishly with each other. Stevie loves to do ally-oops, as a passer and as the one dunking. I would like to see some of that in Adlemans system.

 

I'm not worried about anything that was said. Nothing seems bad or liable to spark any chemistry problems on the court as far as I'm concerned. All I'm worried about is that, without his 40-inch ups, Stevie will just be a crappier version of Mike James this year.

But as far as his skill-set, if he can bring to the table what he had a few years ago, basically Mike James with better penetration and finishing but a worse jump shot, that would be perfect for this team. Adelman's Kings never had a true PG, after all. We just need Scola to be as good as advertised.

Hopefully by 2008-09 Brooks is a better version of bother James AND Francis. Like that episode of Thundercats where Liono had to be faster than Cheetara and stronger than Panthro and gayer than Tigro in order to convince them that he was their leader...

 

People here read too much into the littleist of things.

Francis has mentioned McGrady plenty of times.

 

Well he used to play with Yao but I don't see anything special in his interviev. I think they'll make a great trio together