Its not his Game that needs work, it's his BRAIN! SF is a super athelete. It's his mental decision-making that needs improvement and the only way he can improve in that department is to spend more time working with VanGundy and watching more tape and perhaps learning from more traditional point guards. If SF spent summer camp with VanGundy, I bet he'd understand the program that much better. As far as improving his skillz - these would be the areas I'd target first. 1. Improve your PASSING!!! 2. Improve your DRIBBLING w/ the first priority of PROTECTING THE BALL!!! 3. Work on post entry PASSING!!! There's no need to beef up with SF except in the brains department. theSAGE
I think he needs to improve his midrange J, the stop n pop, more than anything else. He needs a dash of Sam Cassell in his game.
Without taking apart Steve's game the one thing he doesn't have is that stop and pop 10-14' shot that Cassell kills people with. With Yao we desperately need guards who can do that. I'll always miss Sam.
Most of you know that I am no Steve Francis fan, but indulge me this. Let's use the "exceptional" test. Would you agree that most of the max-contract players in the NBA are "exceptional" players? O.K., then, what is exceptional about Francis's game? Is his decision-making? His passing? His shooting? His dribbling? His playmaking? His ability to run a fast break? His defense? His knowledge and execution of fundamentals? If you are truely honest, you know Francis is no where near "exceptional" in the above areas. Which leaves his exceptional athletecism, his rebounding, and his marketing skills which has convinced many fans that he is an All Star player. Isn't that the TRUTH about Steve Francis? '
While observations of stool density are given too much merit by average citizens, it is true that more fruit in his diet would give his stools more volume and, yes, probably lead them to float in the bowl. Overall, this would help his fitness regimen. Good point.
The Franchise and Patience Many so called Rockets fans on this site have been adamant upon the departure of Stevie Franchise opting for a great scoring talent in T-Mac. Most point to his turnover ratio or decisionmaking on the court. However, let's re-examine Franchise's history, which provides us clues to his current state. As most in this forum know, I have always been and still am a staunch Franchise supporter. Francis has always been an enigma--a 6'3 guard that can rebound, hustle, and shoot like a 2. It seems that he has all the tools--a powerful built that allows him to be fearless driving to the basket, athletiscism reminiscent of Isiah or Iverson, and the leadership and emotion that ranks among the top players of today. The question then is "why isn't he better than he is?" A lot of people forgert that he has never played the point until his first year with the Rockets under Rudy T. He played four years unsupervised under this system. Both he and Cuttino never played under a disciplined system such as JVG's. The guards including Moochie all freelanced and played with no structure. There were no quality veterans around. Mo-Taylor? The guy was ltrying to learn the game himself. Franchise, until this past year, never had any seasoned quality veterans that other players have enjoyed. Not all plaeyers need veterans, but I believe Cuttino and Franchise were 2 undiscilpined players in college to begin with and the lack of guidance and structure only made their situation worse. Baron Davis played in a good Silas system along with Wesley and Mashburn. You look at a guy like Duwayne Wade, who has Rafer Alston--a quality point guard and Bimbo Coles plus Brian Grant. Francis had the Dream and maybe he motivated Francis to become the leader, but he never had any point guard supervision. Moochie is an average guard that didn't have much court vision. Remember Iverson in his first2-3 years playing the point? Even today, he is 'turnover prone". Does this measure how great a player is? Everyone keeps talking about how much Francis dribbles, have you seen Chauncey, Vince Carter, Alston, or even T-Mac? I think francis has dramatically cut down on his dribble and has been more judicious on 1 on 1 situations. His turovers need a little work. I see one big problem and it's finishing on penetration to the basket. You gotta make those shots and it seems that all he wants to do is settle for free throws. All I'm saying is give the man some time. He is in a disciplined system now. We have seen improvements, leadership, heart, determination to get better. So why do we want him out of town? Is T-Mac really the answer. He isn't Kobe because his mind is not the same. T-Mac is not a leader and does not know how to win even with a couple of playoff experiences. Will Francis mature into a respectable point guard? Will he cut down on turbnovers and silly mistakes? We will see this next year if he's still around? Will he be better with the additions of better players? Why not just be a little patient and wait to see if he is right for this team before passing judgement.
And it will continue to be talked about until Steve gets traded and then only if the Rox start winning championships without him. Of course then we'd get the Steve-haters busting out their "told you so's". So I guess the Francis tug-o-war will never end until the clutchfans bbs implodes and ceases to exist.
I'm definitely not touching that textual blob of irrationality and illogical blind so called 'reasoning'.
His history provides us with the information that he is turnover prone and has poor decision making skills. You have posted like 50 times, unless you used to post under a different screenname, I don't think most in this forum know anything about you. I will grant you that he can rebound, though I don;t put much stock in a guard's rebounding. Every minimum contract roleplayer hustles, that is a throwaway adjective. Finally, the only 2 he shoots like is Allen Iverson. In fact, it doesn't seem like he has very many of the tools that make up a successful point guard. Outside of his hops, he is very ordinary. For some reason, Cat did not seem to have any trouble adapting, and he has done a lot more of it since becoming a Rocket, going from PG, to 6th man, to slasher, and most recently to spot up shooter/lockdown defender. You would think while Cat was learning to do all that, Steve might have figured out how to run a fast break or shoot without dribbling 15 times. I don;t know what improvements you saw, but I saw the same old Francis, only worse because he couldn't shoot straight. I don;t know why people insist on giving Francis more time, you are just chasing a mirage, it looks tempting, but will remain forever out of reach.
