I'd be remiss if I didn't tackle these 2 statements. Walt Williams has been about a 40% FT shooter for the past 5 or so seasons. Steve's penetrations helped, of course, but you make it sound as if Steve taught him how to shoot that open 3. He was getting them and hitting them before Steve was around. The same is true with Matt Bullard. Matt's shooting out at the arc stinks this year. But wait... he's on a different team this year. Holy cow, it was Rudy's system that made him great before and while Steve was around. I nominate Rudy as a superstar!! Ssssoopa Stah! As for Mobley, somebody help me out here, but wasn't he playing injured much of the time Steve was out? I think he also missed a couple of games during that stretch. Steve's important to this team and is the MVP of the team. That doesn't make him a superstar.
Between injuries... yes. Although the real question is, "did Hakeem play well on that team." And the answer to that is: sort of.
Steve Francis 21.36ppg, 1.36stl/g, 7.68reb/g, 6.44 apg, 32.5 3p%, 80.1ft% 43.46fg% Vince Carter 25.6ppg, 1.61stl/g, 5.6reb/g, 4.5apg, 37.9 3p%, 77ft% 43.2fg% Steve leads Vince in every statisticle catagory except points and 3pt % and steals per game. Steve also leads Vince in rebounding which says a lot considering that Vince is a small forward and Steve is a point guard. What is it that makes Steve so special? Its that he does so many different things at such a high level. You might have some players like Vince that give you a lot of points but do not play defense or rebound very well for a player of his position. Or you might have some like Jason Kidd that is so good at getting his teammates at passing the ball and rebounding. Steve covers all of those areas including making up for what has been a rebounding deficancy by our front court. I don't think that there is another player in the league that contibutes to his team in so many different ways. I still think Steve and the Rockets would be team if he played the 2 but Steve is clearly a Superstar in my book.
Re: The Rockets' record with and without Francis this year. When the Rockets started the year 5-1, they had their full compliment of players, something that hasn't happened much since. Almost everyone's been injured or out some this year -- Rice, Cato, KT, Walt, Torres, etc, and I'm sure that while Francis was out, some of these guys were also out at the same time. So, that has to be figured in somehow when you say the Rockets are "13-12 with Francis". Also, what about the games when both Francis and Mobley were out? I know that happened at least once, at home against Sacramento, yet that apparently only counts in the "record without Francis" column.
Also, crash, please quit saying how Francis puts up "Jordanesque" numbers. In Jordan's third year, he was averaging 37 points a game, while shooting 48 percent from the field. As a rookie, he averaged 28 points a game, 6 assists, and 6.5 rebounds, while shooting 52 percent from the field. Francis is not in that league.
My quote was Jordanesque numbers with a little less scoring. Sorry but you can not dispute that. 6.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds a game are even certainly Jordanesque for a guard. 21.5 points a game falls short but like I said I qualified my statement by pointing out less scoring. Dispute over.
I believe you but the reason I but Forward is because that is how he is listed on the all star team. Yeah I know they list Jordan as a guard when he has been playing the 3 most of the year...go figure. You are right about Vince though.
Not to mention that Jordan got those numbers as a 2 guard...maybe we should move Francis over there. DaDakota
Francis is AWESOME! He keeps this team together and he plays his heart out. He's a guard doing good on points, assists, AND rebounds. He's a pretty well rounded player. That's not something many other guards can claim. This team has been plagued from the very beginning by some horrible injuries taking out multiple key players for extended periods of time. It's no surprise that the Rockets have a bad record. But Stevie Francis, while not a SUPERSTAR yet in many ppl's eyes, is at least a STAR, and I have no doubt he'll become a SUPERSTAR. To me he's already a superstar.
Well said Nova, and welcome to the boards. A very nice first post, you allowed for difference of opinion while elequontly stating yours. Here here !! DD
