I watched his interview in entirety, and geez, Rockets-R-Us, a) get a life, b) I think some of us only listened to what affirmed your previous biases. He said they try to get Yao the ball as much as they can, he said they don't know how to win "consistently" yet, he harped on the youth we have in our post positions and their inconsistency(which even with Yao this year, is true). Yes he took a slight jab at some ESPN guys, but so what. He is right in a respect, we have the talent, but its not fully developed/matured yet. All I can say is the Francis I saw was somebody maturing into a leadership role not this idiot me first player. So I ask you, did you practice selective listening during Steve's on air segment? Because you surely ignored a lot of the other comments he made.
DVauthrin - I don't disagree with you that bias could have colored my perception regarding what Francis said. But in addition to the statement you quoted, what I also heard was the statement that "we try to get the ball to Yao EVERY single time"! Had he stuck to just the "as much as we can", I still would have objected, but not as vociferously. When I listen to true Champions, they talk about what THEY need to do to improve, and how their teammates help them to whatever success they have. Instead, Steve is constantly having to defend himself. Wonder why? I NEVER hear Steve give credit to his teammates. I think his ego is seriously holding us back. In fact, I'm beginning to believe that Steve's narcissism is behind only Rudy's amazing lack of creativity as a hinderance to the team's success. I truly think the Steve Francis = Stephan Marbury of past years is pretty much right on the money! And, I will further add that if Yao does become the PRIMARY go to guy on offense, Steve will want out of Houston the same way that Marbury wanted out of Minnesota.
You annoy the frikin crap out of me, Rockets-R-Us. And you know the things Francis says about getting Yao the ball are much more practical than you made it sound. Read this article from ESPN Steve has no more of an ego than any other star player in the league. When someone is good, they know they're good, and they're bound to let the fact that they know slip here and there. They all have the ego, but they don't all have the heart and work ethic that Steve does. And yes, IMO, he does have the willingness to learn, too...
Yao,I am glad your different from the band of the headband gang.Don't chang for nobody. KEEP IT REAL. ______________ GO YAO GO POSEY
I'm surprised nobody has brought up the fact that Yao had what? About 30 some odd touches last night. He got to the point where he was unstoppable, either scoring or getting to the line, and he got the ball. If only that little wiener Madsen (hey, I bet he's one of the gay Lakers. Now to identify the other one...that may be tough) hadn't latched onto Yao and drawn a BS foul like that, we would have won.
Steve needs to keep his mouth shut to the media, his play speaks enough for his game. That aint a complement.
Yeah, you're right, I've now seen the light of all you Francis haters, he's terrible... I can't believe we haven't traded him for Derek Fisher or Tyronn Lue yet...
Lets face it, Yao Ming is the only player on the Rockets who is untouchable. Right now, he is the 2nd best center in the league and possesses the biggest mismatch for almost all other teams. What team in the NBA besides the Lakers/ Spurs would not want to build a team around Yao? If our Center is that good, I think we need to look at what is wrong with the other 4 positions (power forward, small forward, shooting guard, and point guard). It's that simple. Is coaching the problem? Mobley no longer fits into the system and Francis makes to many bone headed plays. I will reiterate Francis is not a good point guard (turnovers). Move Francis to shooting guard!!!
*lol* Some of you guys are amazing.... C'mon. Use your head! Steve was NOT talking about Glen Rice; he was talking about ESPN analyst Tim Legler who has been openly critical of Francis (along with other players) and the Rockets as a whole. The highlight of Lelger's career was winning the three-point shooting contest and...well, that's it. He was a bench-warmer for the most part during his career as a member of the then Washington Bullets. Geez - I am critical of Stevie @ times, but damn, seems like some of you look for anything -- I mean anything -- to criticize him about.
Ouch! As a Chinese Rox fan, I would like to say Francis did nothing wrong on this interviw. He may bigmouthed something however I didnot think his focal point was Yao. So just walk away from this thread. Stevie and Yao are BOTH untouchable players of our team and lacking of either one' effort plainly can not lift our team high! Let's face the reality and hope these 2 kids get more chemistry.
My one supplement to the last post. Stevie should realize that he made a big mistake while he mentioned Yao like "a 22 yrs old rookie,like EG 20 yrs old"...This is something realy stupid and out of sight. trash talk.. Yao led his town team to Chinese national championship. Yao led his national team to Asian championship. Yao led his national team to world championship game and stood high against teams like Yugoslavia,German, even team USA. So keep talking his in-experience was plainly knowlege-less and stupid. Looked at how Yao did his 2 free shows 8.2 seconds left there. He is mature,cold blood and ready to raise up the challenge.
Well, comparing to Francis, I think Yao would be more untouchable now given the rareity of centers and his sky-high potential. Plus the fact that you can truely build a team around him. If the Magic were to offer you McGrady, or Boston with Pierce for Francis, it would almost be a no brainer that you would say "Yes please!" But McGrady or Pierce for Yao? You would have to think twice about it. Same goes to other trading scenarios. If the Mavs were to offer us Dirk for Francis? You would probably think twice about it, but Dirk for Yao? Most likely a "No thanks". Don't get me wrong, Francis is a very good player, but with the situation that the league is in right now, a young, up-and-coming center like Yao would be more valuable in the eyes of most other teams. Take a look at the poll currently running on NBA.com asking people who they would build their team around, and Yao is one of the 5 choices along with Kobe, Ducan, Garnett, McGrady. Obviously Yao is not in the league of those above players, but atleast it gives you an idea how highly he is regarded around the league interms of what he 'could' achieve. -G'day-
I strongly disagree with your post my friend, you see Steve is one of the 5 best all-around guards in the NBA. Trust me when I say this, but if you take him off of the team and leave Yao as the primary option it would not be so rosy. Yao is obviously going to be a great player, but I think that like any player he needs a compliment or Steve needs a compliment such as Yao. How can you guys bash Steve so much, none of you know what goes on in the locker room and we all know that the team's struggling. Do you remember when we were hot at the beginning of the season? As I recall, and please do correct me if I'm wrong Stevie's number's were great then..., accept it as the truth, he is the franchise.
Jevjnd, Steve is currently better than Yao on the team no doubt. But when you talk trade, you dont just talk about how good a player is on his team, you consider other points such as his age, potential, the position he plays etc. Heck, even salary comes into great importance nowadays, and Yao is a bargain for his worth. Steve is the best player in our team right now, and I am not here to argue about his value to our team, but if you would ask most GMs to take a pick between Yao or Francis to build a team around, or simply trade with one of their own, its almost a sure bet that most would pick Yao due to the things I said in my earlier post. -G'day-
RocketGuy3... Sorry. I never intended to annoy anyone, and have gone to great lengths in this thread and others lately to honor those opinions opposed to my own. I will offer you the same respect as well, even if the courtesy is not returned. As I have stated repeatedly, if you don't agree with me, that's fine. I am an emotional fan. I recognize that my emotions affect my thoughts relative to this team (and others in other sports...). Also, I view this forum as mainly entertainment and information (mostly the former). So, I don't take mine or others posts THAT SERIOUSLY! Having said that, I will continue to voice my opinion and thoughts for as long as I have the ability and access to do so. I hope that in the future we can find common ground and that you don't have to be quite so "annoyed" with me...
