This is what I don't get about Houston sports writers. Isn't there a reporter who can find out what shape Steve's in? How his rehab is going? I personally don't think he'll make a come back but this seems like an no- brainer story to cover.
I think a month or two ago a fan asked about Stevie in one of Feigans blogs. He said Steve looked very good and actually surprised a lot people in the Rockets staff.
Thanks. I guess that's what I'm talking about. After all the hype/media coverage of Steve coming back to Houston, you would think his rehab would be more of a story than a blurb in a blog. Steve lives in Houston, how hard is it to find him and get an interview. Hey, how about interviewing the Rocket's conditioning staff. Seems fairly simple to me.
Maybe there's no story because there's no story, i.e. SF remains at the end of the bench or in street clothes.
I sure hope not. Stevie wants a ring, and he wants to actually contribute rather than be on the bench. He'd be an idiot not to work his butt off. Talk about who's better or more important or anything like that but Tmac/Yao/Francis are all in the same desperate state. Dying to make it past the first round for the first time in their careers. I don't see Francis as a guy that is just satisfied with collecting his pay and not playing at all. He's a competitor. You saw this year after that DNP's when he finally got minutes to shine, he made the most of them. He was grateful for 10-15 minutes on the floor and he hustled his butt off from start to finish. He's bringing this season and is going to be a key player behind Yao/Mac/Artest. And heck if Tmac goes down, there's your insurance right there. Rockets (Mac hurt team.) PG-Alston/Brooks SG-Francis/Barry/Head SF-Artest/Battier PF-Scola/Landry C-Yao/Deke/Dorsey I would not panic a damn bit with Tmac's injury with that kind of lineup. We'd still hold it down.
It's either going to be Steve or Aaron in the rotation.. and I think it's up to Steve which one plays.
I kinda like steve coming off the bench better than starting (if does show up in form). That way, Steve can come in and do what he does best, score, without having to worry about being a real point guard as much. This team gets so much deeper if he returns to form. We would basically have two starting caliber players coming off the bench (francis and battier), combined with a quality veteran (barry), and legit young athletes (landry, brooks, maybe dorsey) and a defensive specialist for spot duty (hayes). It's kinda hard to imagine we went from Sura/James/moochie Wesley/Barry Tmac/Bowen Howard/Padgett Yao/Mutumbo to Alston/Francis/Brooks TMac/Barry Artest/Battier Scola/Landry Yao/Mutumbo Rockets 08 would run circles around Rockets 03
i hope steve francis is working on his spot-up-3 point shooting every day. He needs to shoot as good as rafer if he wants to play. We're not going to run isolation sets for him over TMAC or artest. He's never been a good spot up shooter...he'll have to change his game if he wants to play. That and hustle every minute he's on the floor, especially on D.
Francis is our wild card this season... I am going in expecting nothing...so he might be a big positive surprise!
I think that is the best attitude to take with Stevie, from both a fan and coaching perspective. Expect nothing and plan accordingly. If he shows up, great. If not, you were already prepared to go in another direction. I have to believe this will be Adleman's outlook based on the unmet expectations of last season.
this is my fav. thread this offseason, right after the artest one... finally someone mentions that there is some good in him..
Illmatic posted: -------------------------------------------------------------- "You didnt prove anything. based on the below stats, Yao took 48% jump shots, 11% dunks and 2% tips(layups included). Now, do not let the 39% close shots or 52% inside shots decieve you, inside just means its inside the 3 point line and close means its in the paint area. Yao predominantly plays in the paint, so this is no surprise. So before you assume you proved anything or start pulling stats out of your ear, crunch the numbers and make sure they equal 100% before you start using it in your argument." -------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure if anyone responded to this as I just clicked on this thread, but I had to respond. Particuarly to this part: "Now, do not let the 39% close shots or 52% inside shots decieve you, inside just means its inside the 3 point line" Wait a minute....so if the 52% is just inside the 3 point line does that mean...Yao took 48% of his shots from 3 point land? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA Leave.
After not wanting him back last season, getting my hopes up after he signed and then getting them crushed, I'm burnt out on Steve Francis and tired of hearing about him. This supposed good news regarding him getting into shape should be taken with a grain of salt. Late last summer, one of the local stations had a blurb showing him working out very hard in New Orleans. Next thing you hear, he falls behind during training camp and pre-season because he's not in shape. If you want to blame everything on his injury, fine. Whatever gets reported about him until training camp means absolutely nothing. When Adelman gives off good vibes about SF after a few days in camp, I might take my guard down and start hoping. My gut tells me it's very unlikely he is part of the team. For now, I don't have him penciled in.
Yep. Training camp and pre-season will tell the tale. He is -only- 31 years old so he does have that going for him. Often we talk about players attempting a comeback and they are 36,37,38 or so and they fail. At 31 I still think a successful rehab is within the realm of possibility. Like many have said, training camp + pre-season will tell the tale.
Yep. If he can provide some meaningful minutes at backup PG, that's icing on the cake. If he can miraculously come back enough to do even more and throw in some veteran leadership* on top of it, that might be the cake itself. * Never thought I'd see the day when I'd associate those two words with Stevie, even hypothetically.
Steve Francis Tracy McGrady Ron Artest Joey Dorsey Yao Ming..................................... this lineup would be awesome!!!
