francis is in a no win situation. if he scores a lot, then people complain about him taking too many shots. they complain about the isolation offense and about francis not passing it to yao. when francis defers to yao, then people start complaining about him not scoring enough. lately, the rockets have been relying too much on yao, taking away from francis' game. yao may become that 25 pt, 12 reb guy, but he isnt one today. the rockets need to find a good balance between using yao and steve. yao doesnt have what it takes to be the go to guy on every possession and neither does steve.
I dont see why Steves copping the brunt of the blame, look at Ming's stats for the past 10 games - 11.2pts, 6.4rebs, 1.7ast, 0.9blks, 39%fg How are they any better than Steve's. Theyre not better than Steves, theyre worse. Yao Ming's supposed to be the DYNASTY but when it counts he cant come up with the goods. So he's a rookie, and ya's all say hes worn out and needs a rest. But the fact is the guys choking just when we need him to come up big. Hes a pro just like the rest of the team and he's payed to play ball like the rest of the team. So before you start paying out on Steve and saying he's the main reason were losing down the stretch, have a look at the other blokes on the team and dont use lame exuces like "but he's a rookie" to explain why some arnt performing.
Where do I sign up? I am sorely dissapointed by Francis. It makes me ponder a deal this summer which includes Elton Brand.
You guys are lame. Completely ignoring the fact that Francis is making the MAX,a 4th year veteran, second behind Mobely among starters and is the leader of this team. Yao has 25% of Francis' experience and makes about 40% of Francis' income, that's an average of 32.5%. The same comparison can be made with other players too, except for Rice. That's why Francis needs to take the most blame than others for the Rockets meltdown simply because of his contract, experience, and leadership status. Francis deserves to be singled out for his utter failure in this stretch because he is the leader and no one else. Nobody denies other members of the team are doing a bad job, but you know what, it starts from top to bottom, not the other way around. That's called leadership.
People should not jock Marbury too much because he was getting the exact same criticism last year in Phoenix and when he was playing in New Jersey that your giving Francis right now. Marbury and Francis are identical in being a shoot first pass second point guards, the diffence being Marbury has more experience.
I was not going to jump into this but... For the entire second half of the season all of the pundits have told Steve "you play dumb basketball, you play selfish basketball. Start the offense through Yao Ming and it will make everything easier for the whole team and the offense will be better. You are the PG so stop trying score so much. Move the ball around and only shoot when open." Well, Steve did that. His shots per game went way down, and only very few times in the second half did he take over a game offensively. He passed the ball to his teammates. He let his own offensive game rot. Offense comes with a rhythm. You have to stay sharp offensively. They took all of his aggresiveness away. He was no long the Steve Francis that was a headache for everyone in the league to play against. He was Matt Maloney or Avery Johnson. Dribble up and pass the ball and hope that you get an open shot. Well, don't complain when this "Team Ball" concept of offense gets you shut out of the playoffs. I guarantee you Phoenix isn't worrying about "Team Ball" right now. And they are not worried about "Getting Amare the Damned Ball." They are not worried that their ugly, selfish, guard oriented offense is putting them in the playoffs. They are putting the ball in the hands of their stars and saying pull us over the hump. In fact, it was Starbury that saved their season by scoring basically 30 points a game for much of the second half. The more Phoenix let their star PG take over and pull them home, the more we worried about getting ROY or trying to play damned 50's style Boston Celtic offense. And it's caught up to us. And now to hear the same people that were telling Steve to quit shooting so much now say "well you're supposed to be the star, you're paid all the money, and Yao is only a rookie,...do something!" - tears me up. If that is the case, and Steve is the star and he's being paid the big bucks and Yao is a rookie and can't be depended on to carry the team to the playoffs, then it makes sense that you put the ball squarely in the hand of your best player, your star, and let him carry you offensively. You tell Yao to do the other things to complement Steve - not the other way around. And you let the Franchise be the Franchise. I blame this collapse on everyone that got infatuated with Yao and decided that running the offense through him was smart ball and anything else is stupid, ugly ball. Yao is not and may never be ready to carry the offense consistently. And all the other teams in the league are happy that they don't have to defend Steve slicing into the heart of their defense every play getting their big men in foulf trouble consistently. I go back to the beginning of the season, in the first 15 games when Steve was averaging 24.4 points a game, we were 9-6 and one of the top four or five seeds in the west. Since the all star break and Yao ball has been in effect, we are 13-17 - a losing record - Steve is averaging 18.6 points a game. We are a below .500 team since we took the ball out of Setve's hands. So, I don't think you can blame him very much at all. You can't have it both ways.
You are absolutely dead wrong. That 9-6 you are so proud of and use as justification that Francis should shoot more included: * 2 victories over GSW who had yet to buy into Musselman's offensive strategy. * The Shaq-less Lakers who started the season with many questioning whether they would even make the playoffs * A split with Seattle who is now playing better w/o Payton but with their offense built around Allen and Lewis * Non playoff teams - Nuggets, Cavaliers, Raptors (Carter played 6 total minutes) & Wizards. * A home and home split with the Blazers. We are supposed to be impressed by this? This is the basis of your "Francis should shoot more and pass less" theory? How about we go just a little past 9-6? How about game 16? Francis took 17 shots had 4 assists and 4 TO's in a drubbing by the Kings. Game 17? The teams only win vs the Spurs. Number of shots? 12. Parker? 3-13. Perhaps some dfense was played? Game 18? 28 shots in a loss to NO. Game 19? 17 shots in a win over the Sixers. Game 20? Win over the Kings. 17 shots, 5 assists, 2 TO's. Game 21? 23 shots in a loss to the Grizz. If you don't see a trend and/or you continue to delude yourself that the Rockets can be successful with Steve Francis going 1 on 3+, you are severely delusional. The problem is not getting the ball to Yao Ming. It is what the stagnant Rockets' offense does once Yao gets the ball...stand on the weakside perimeter and watch.
If you don't blame him, you have to admit that he's just not that good. I don't think you can have that both ways.
Hi, dude, you dumbass. Didn't you see the stats: Mobley: 6-23 (26%) Griffin: 3-13 (23%) Yao: 5-22 (22.7%) Francis: 7-34 (20.6%) Norris: 1-7 (14%) Yao didn't take away Francis' shots. Your so-called franchise still got the most shot attempts, but they didn't fall in. Did it also have something to do with Yao? F*** you off!!
Everyone sucks, it's a team effort... Franchise should take the criticism and run with it because true leaders learn from there mistakes... I'm not willing to throw in the towel on Stevie, but he needs to step up... It's mostly the players fault, but the coaches are to blame too as someone said...As the leader goes, so goes the team...
ever think of what happen when Francis have the ball on offense? it is the same situation..... everyone is STAGNANT also.... o, Francis like to ISO..... and the coach will let him do that all day long and ask all other 4 players to stand a side? all the players have to be responsible for the collapse.... but seriously, I think there's something not right about the coach..... they seems to never teach the players to move off the ball..... u want Francis to get his teamates involve? first, get them to MOVE!!!
Starbury wasn't far from the truth either - he is the playing like the true Allstar. He is better than Steve now and has always been but Steve enjoys a better pub and rep around the league. Steve cares but he does not know how to or maybe he does not have all the tools it takes. Newgirl On the "Yao Ming Only" fan thing, I agree with but only dumb and infantile BBSers use that stereotypical term. They often use as an escape route to a discussion. I agree that they maybe some fans who care more about Yao than the entire team but that is not abnormal phenominon, it has always been with us for all time (great athletes draw more pub and new fans to the sports and/or teams). Yao is a special person and a great great talent - I am glad he is on my team.
Good point and u know what? Team ball is a 2-way street. The other guys will stop moving if they continue to do so and does not get the ball! This is not as much a player's problem as it is the system. Most of us played pick-up ball before. Have we not all learned it is useless to move without the ball in that environment? The Rox are a lot like that. We have 5 players but not much of a team!
I'm not saying Steve should pass less. What I am saying is, to be succesful in the NBA, you get your best offensive threat going. You prove you have someone that the other team can't guard one on one. You then cause the other team to have to send help to the defender. You then are able to get open shots for others. Yao Ming doesn not need to be double teamed most of the time. How many times do I have to see a 6'10 guy push him 18 feet away form the basket. Watch Yao dribble three or four times trying to back his guy in but ironically still ending up 18 feet away from the basket. Watch Yao pump fake and sling up a fadeaway that bricks. That is ugly basketball. I mean how many times does Yao actually get a shot in the paint? He's always pushed too far out. The new focus of our offense has made this team much more easily guardable and less explosive. Say what you want about him, Steve has established that he cannot be guarded one on one in this league. Yao has not. So I think it is foolish to automatically say you're going to go though Yao all the time. If Yao has an advantage, great. But when he doesn't you need to go where you do have an advantage. I am not blaming Yao for the Rockets problems by the way. I am blaming the philosphy. I think Yap has done a great job this year considering what he has been through and I don't think it's fair to put the offensive burdon on him. We should have just let him contribute what he could but kept the offense geared around our proven all star.
This is pathetic. The blame should be given to the team, period. All this thread has become is yet another Francis v. Yao argument that gets us nowhere. Steve and Cuttino have just faded, playing 40+ mins a night will do that to you. Down the stretch neither of them have played the way we want, that's life guys. Yao as a rookie had a great year and he was a good pick for the team, but there are flaws in his game that need to be addressed and he needs a rest. Next season we will have to make some changes and I expect to see three or four guys gone. To all Franchise and Ming fans: These guys are going to be playing together for the rest of their careers, get used to each of them. Can somebody like Stockton and not Malone or Malone and not Stockton? I am not enamored with Ming, he hasn't shown any character, but I still like him enough not to go talking smack when he makes a mistake. You guys have to realize that bball isn't just about your favorite player.
