is quite possibly the most overrated player ever to enter the n.b.a..giving 40 mil to cato made more sense than giving "franchise" the max.
Are you feeling okay? You just had to say that? Well...you either pay Steve Francis the max...or he just leaves to another team. And heck no. Cato should be making minimum. Francis is not overrated. No one ever talks about him. He has not received any rewards. Most fans just think of him as a highflying dunking machine!!!!!!!!! Yeah...corny. Anyways.....he's one of the best dunkers in the NBA. No one cares about running offenses. Most people care about crossovers and spectacular layups and impossible shots that are made. Francis...he shouldn't deserve the max I guess. But Moochie doesn't deserve 3.6 million for sucking and partying. Francis...is a scorer. Well... anyways...
20 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 6.5 APG and 1.6 SPG for his career. Co-Rookie of the year and two time NBA All-Star starter. You are right, he is overrated.
Agreed.. One of 3 players, I think, to average 20pts, 5asts, 5 boards for his career.. The others: Oscar Robertson, Grant Hill.. Talk about overrated..
When I read that I threw up a little bit in the back of my throat. What on earth are you thinking? He's one of the top point guards in the NBA. You don't have to like him but at least you could respect him. The only reason everybody wants to move him to SG is so he can average 30+ a game without losing his assists and rebounds. Which I am not opposed to so long as the team improves with the move, which is not something i'm convinced will happen.
im not saying that the steve deal is worse than the cato one, but i would have to disagree w/ you on steve being one of the top PG's in the league. he is a great scorer, but i dont think that he is a good PG and at this point i cant ever see him developing into one. i dont think he has the ability to be a floor leader. he gets a decent enough number of assists/gm., but they are totally negated by his frequent turnovers, careless ballhandling, playground moves, ect. i see the desire to move to SG more as a acknowledegement that the rockets will NEVER go anywhere w/ steve running the point. im a pessimist though. i dont think that steve is a max player, but how can you not give max to a guy who you were calling "franchise" after his rookie year? the guy who you said could be the best ever at his position, before steve even played in the nba. he has been touted as a max player since he got here, not really ever truly earning it. before one gets a max deal shouldnt they at least prove that they can be winners in this league?
Alright, sorry fellas. A friend of mine used my computer to start this thread. Stevie franchise is the man.
In defense of Steve: Per Game against other point guards (ESPN Stats) Scoring Assists Turnovers Rebounds Steals Blocks 2nd 11th 1st (bad) 2nd 2nd 1st So what we have here is a scoring point guard who it is generally agreed doesn't shoot enough, which would have to mean that he passes too much. He clearly plays hard on defense and scores enough to keep his team in the game. He makes bad passes which I would put more on the coaching staff than him. Our offense is not passer friendly, players don't move to the ball so passes are almost always around defenders. And considering that he's only 3 turnovers past Kidd for the season with the same per game average I think we can live with that. So he passes less, shoots more and the TO problem resolves itself. Some other interesting facts: Our FG% is 10th best but we are 21st on defense so we aren't making them earn their shots. Houston is 10th best at not turning the ball over, but 26nd at creating turnovers. We're 26th in the league when it comes to blocking shots and 10th when it comes to getting blocked. Leave Steve alone guys its not his fault we don't win enough games. The team doesn't play consistent D, the role players don't perform their roles well enough, the offense isn't designed for passing, and the coaching staff doesn't seem to know how to fix any of this, nor do they appear willing to admit there is a problem with any of this. Blame youth, blame defensive intensity but don't blame Steve.
I agree with you! Since he's 11th in assists, that means there are 18 starting point guards who average fewer assists than Steve does. Everyone likes to look at that one bad category (turnovers) and not the other 4 where he's in the top 2. I don't blame Steve for anything really.
Having been given the max contract, Steve Francis should be all of the above. 1) A Leader of the team (by example and motivation) 2) First or Second option on the team 3) Make smart plays He successfully fullfills the first two requirements but often lacks the ability to make the right play down the stretch of the game. I think next year should give a pretty good indication about this teams ability to play at a championship level with Steve and Yao as our one two punch. If Francis is unable to make the adustments then I say toss him to an Eastern Conference team who seem to be content on building their teams around guard oriented offenses.
This year should be telling but i'm more interested to see what the coaching staff does. There is a lot of work to be done. There are so many young players to be groomed (taught to play a disciplined game at both ends of the floor). We need to see a team game on offense or we're never going to be a contender. Team Game does not mean everybody putting up shots, team games means Know Your Role, work together to win. You don't see that when you watch our team play. If things don't improve next season I say lose Rudy, not move him to the front office, lose him. Honor him for his time served and put him out to stud. His moves have cost us too many productive players (Najara, Prizybilla (not real productive but he's a lot better than Collier), Rogers, etc) and not brought a lot in return (Collier, Langhi, EG, MoT, Moochie, Hawkins, Rice, Pippen, Barkley, etc). Other than Drafting Yao and trading for Steve and Posey I can't remember one move i've really supported in the last few years. I know the players love him but maybe they need somebody to kick their a$$ instead of fetch them ice packs when they have an owie?
I like Steve and think he shows great potential but I would never think of him as one of the top NBA Point Guards. He strong willed and is one of the best NBA Guards and scores over 20 pts a game. A Point Guard is a Playmaker and Steve is not that type of Guard, also he is weak in defence.
He is 2nd in steals among point guards? He is special.... I think.....within 3 seasons.....he wil be the top point guard in the NBA...behind Jason Kidd. Baron Davis? He's all right. Francis has been in the NBA for 4 years. Marbury 7 years. Marbury is currently better. They are the same age... Francis should develop. Along with Yao Ming. And Eddie Griffin. And Bostjan Nachbar. They are our future. Surround them with shooters and other role players. I hope Francis can still dunk when he's 30...
I see it this way. The only PG in the league that I think could have similar if not better stats than Steve on the Rockets is Kidd. Steph is sorrounded with very athletic players who love to play around the basket, so it is so much easier for him to find players for easy buckets. I don't think Payton would be able to put up with the Rockets lack of an offensive scheme. Bibby... pass. Davis, he was very overrated last year (this year he has been injured too much to be overrated.) He was put in the right place at the right time on the Hornets.
