I'm so sick of hear negative stuff about steve francis. Every time he is brought up somebody is there to bash him no matter where they are. Francis came to our team when it was rebuilding and did what he could without any supporting cast. He avg 20+ pts, 6+ assisst and 6+ rebounds for a few years and at that time magic, grant hill, and one other guy were the only ones to every do that. When francis was here our team did a whole lot of standing around, nobody ever wanted to shoot it but francis, our team was very hesitent so what was he to do beside look for his own scoring. Mobley at the time was the only other one that wasn't afraid to try to score. The McGrady trade was stupid. dont' get me wrong i love tmac but it was stupid. We traded one of the best back courts in the leage away, not too mention a pretty decent back up center in a league where a true center is hard to find. Mobleys defense was underatted, i remember when we lost to the lakers 4-1 he locked Kobe down, (as much as he can be locked down). Everytime i hear someone talk **** about francis i want to punch them in the face cause they obviously don't understand basketball. All Steve and Cat needed was a veteran on the court to help them settle down and let Yao mature. If yao played like he does now then, we would have already gotten a ring. Ok i feel better.... this is just a vent session
The Cat has it BAD! Don't worry Cuttino you can still be w/ Steve during the offseason! Anyways I bet u'd be "punching" me in the face all the time becuase I think the trade for YOU & Steve was Awsome. It was a one sided trade w/ the Rox being on the winning side. I know the truth hurts cat but T-Mac is a much MUCH better player than you or Steve could ever be!
3 yrs, 10 posts, and this? hahaaha. I'm glad your frequency is so low. Didn't mention how Steve's doing nowadays, huh?
i agree francis gets bashed more than he should. i too was very curious to see where the Rockets woulda gon without the Tmac trade but the trade was for the best for the Rockets. I don't like to admit it cuz Francis is one of my favorite players. ppl only see his turnovers and faults but no1 recognizes his heart. i havent seen many ppl take a loss as badly as he did during game 1 of the playoffs against the lakers. it's a real shame to see where he's at now. i just dont like the knicks. he needs to com bak west. funny how ppl r like "ya look at francis now." right now francis is averaging 10 pts 4 boards and 5 assists shooting less than 10 shots a game but hitting 50% of them and 40% of 3pt land and 94% fts. In a way I'm happy for him but in another, I feel he's playin too much like a role player. I still believe francis is young and athletic enough to b an elite guard. i believe he woulda been on the same lvl as some of those right now, but things just didnt work out for him with all the trades and teams he's played on. heh. ya. when i looked at Francis bein one of the most hated rockets of all time, that bothered me. I haven't seen any1 on the Rockets play with as much passion as Francis. Well good luck to him ... Knicks just can't go anywhere though. Any1 else notice that he's better than Starbury?
Francis sucked, he is an amazing athlete but not a winner. He has no idea how to play winning basketball....good riddance. DD
I dissagree. Will we get a ring or not? I dont know but what I do know is we have a better chance w/ Tracey than we ever would w/ Steve!
I've always been a Stevie fan, and I agree that he gets too much crap on this board. I think you're going overboard when you say that the TMac trade was bad. TMac was a bonifide top-five player, and is still upper rank even with his shooting woes. I've been seeing the light lately that Steve -was- a ball-hog in that he took too long to shoot. We don't need to see your fancy dribbling, my friend. I'd take him back and put him on the bench as 6th man. Better him than Bonzi. P.S.: How to get your post count up, by A_3PO: (relax, I'm just giving you a hard time. you usually contribute well to conversations)
I didn't think Steve was the best backcourt match up w/ Yao. So I disliked his presence, but I don't think he deserves this much hate. However it would be utter lunacy to think that Steve is better than TMac, and it would be just as absurd to think that Houston got the short end of the TMac trade.
Francis was 99% heart and 1% brain. That being said, I had serious Francis/Mobley withdrawal after the trade simply because the game seemed so different without the dramatics that they brought to each game. While I loved the trade, I simply missed Francis' presence until the 2nd half of the 04-05 season, where I finally saw a brand of Rocket's basketball that was simply beautiful to watch. In addition, I think Sura's fiery competitiveness somewhat displaced Francis in my Rocket's heart. Every game Francis reminded me of that brave but foolish warrior stereotype who would rush out into the midst of battle only to die a heroic yet unneccessary death. It was both entertaining yet maddening all at the same time. On the other hand, I would say Mcgrady is something more like 60% brain and 40% heart.
I liked Francis' heart even though there were times that I wanted to throw a shoe through the TV when he was playing. I think the trade was a mixed bag. The last Yao / Francis team wasn't that much worse than the first Yao / T-Mac team with both being defeated in the first round of the playoffs. The other downside to the trade was that a very young athletic team was dismantled for an older, but smarter, team. That older team showed some great promise but also got hit badly with injuries to too many of their players including both of the stars. With a Yao / Francis team Yao still might've been injured but Francis still would've been there along with Mobley. I don't think anyone can definatively say where the Rox would be if the trade hadn't happened. Obviously there were some huge weaknesses to the Yao / Francis teams but at the same time there's no telling what two more years of maturing together and playing under JVG would've done to Francis, Mobley, Cato et all.
Isolation dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble Turn over
