The Five Man Offense, who gets it who doesn’t and why?

Texas Stoke, i thought that comment was odd, as well. I watched more of that game again, and I think your description nails it. Francis likes to dominate the ball. He like assists, indeed, but he seems to get most of them in a one pass possession situation.

That said, it is clear on tape that rarely are we ISOing as people recall last year. Francis is often working a two man game, at least. The rest of the team is getting a flow going.

Francis is getting very easy 18 footers working that 2 man game. Like Kobe though, I think he should wait longer in the game to dominate the ball, so much. I can totally believe Rudy has told the team a 2 man game with Francis is a major option, and that the first option off those different plays (I saw another besides 24high in the 76r game) is Francis to take the shot, like Calvin Murphy would. The defenders are not even jumping sometimes, and note that AI (all 5'10 of him) was guarding Francis sometimes. I could totally see Rudy calling the 2 man game ... that seems to be a major play. I did not see the 2 Shakes ISO through 3 quarters, though.

 

Texas Stroke:- Recently I was hammered on Clutch BBS for my insisting that Francis must (must) pass the ball if we are going to have Team Basketball.
I am so glad that there is ONE other person on this Forum that is backing up my point of view! If Francis wants to play Shooting Guard, thats OK but we need a Point Guard to lead this Team!!

 

There are high school players with more experience than Steve at point guard....Give him a break, Rudy T picked him for the job, because he is far more talented than any pure point guard..Steve is still a work in progress,,guided by RudyT, in RudyTs offense and trying to do it RudyTs way.....

 

rudy will be the first to tell you that he tailors his offense around his players...not the other way around. so the responsibility for running the offense successfully ultimately still falls on francis' shoulders. he isn't failing because he's "trying to do it RudyTs way". he fails as a point guard because steve francis - as a point guard - sucks.

 

He's not a point guard. I think Rudy is even experimenting some with making both Steve and Cat dual role guards. Neither is identified as a PG or SG. This may be part of his plan to develop the offense around Yao Ming. Either side of the court has an effective ball handler and scorer outside. Instead of dribbling, passing from the strong to weak side creates an equally strong attack against defenders out of position. It doesn't suck that our forwards are capable of scoring in bunches as well!

 

Now we are back to the original point of this thread. RudyT is a match=up coach. Last year Steve was our best match=up against everybody, that is why he was an NBA All=star. Now comes Yao, Rice, MoT, KT at the 3 and a young team with one more year expierence. We are going to have a whole lot of favorable Match-ups. Thus the new plays, more movement of the ball etc. ........Give Steve some time , he has the talent to revolutionize the position he plays ..whatever you want to call it.

 

It really doesn't matter whether Francis is a PG or SG. Today's fashionable term is "combo guard." CGs are players who can handle the ball and can shoot.Both Francis and Mobley can be successful CG.

PG traditionally is the guy who bring the ball up the court. He is the best ball-handler of the team. But who cares who bring the ball up the court. What's important is to put the ball in the hands of the best PASSER and decision-maker of the team once the ball is upcourt. The best handler is not necessarily the best passer (look at the White Chocolate).

Also, even the best passer can't pass unless the other guys are moving without the ball. So the failure of the 5-man offense is just that: the failure of 5 men.

 

guys:

How many assists should Francis average to make Clutchcity happy? What is the balance between scoring and assists? Will 1-2 more assists really make a huge difference in this team and make everyone quit talking about it (if he were in the top 5)? Are we making to much of this stat since his in the top 15?

seriously, consider the folloing when you comment:

-Steve averages about 6.5 per game, which places him around the 13th ranking in the league (were it not for injuries/games played). Some notables near his per game ranking are Cassell, Stoudemire, Armstrong and McGinnis.
-The top assist leader in the league is Andre Miller at 10.9. To put him in the elite 5 in assists, he will have to average about 1.5 - 2 more per game.
-Out of the top 10 leaders in assists in the league, 6 guards play for teams that either did not make the playoffs or were knocked out in the first round
-Steve averages about 22 per game, so this would place him in the top 10 or so in the league in scoring.

 

I think that was because you were complaining after a game where Francis had 10 assists. The next he game he had nine assists.

I agree he needs to pass, and there have times this preseason where he's a done a terrific job of it.

I do think that there can be PG's more similar to Thomas back in Detroit's championship days that do pass, but are also a major scoring threat.

I'll also admit that there have been times when the offense has fallen apart, and it wasn't pretty.

I may be wrong but my observations weren't that you were ripped apart for saying Francis needs to pass, just that you complained about his lack of passing when made 10 assists in that first game.