The psychology of Steve Hate or Steve Bashing! Why do so many true Rocket fans want to cut down the teams most valuable player? Why do so many true Rocket fans want to make excuses in defence of his failures? 1. Because Steve Francis is a super elite talent capable of leading the Rockets to a Championship. I would not trade Steve for any other player in the league. Not even Shaq or Kobie. Without Steve we rebuild, he is the key, the cornerstone, the Hakeem Olajawon of this team. He will be the guy that gets us there with the current cast of players. So the longer he plays the higher the expectations that this team gels into a contender. 2. Because he plays point guard the expectations are much, much higher. Not only does he have to learn how to get his points (which he has down), how not to fight through double teams for his shot, how to pass out of bad situations, But he must also learn to run (quarterback) the offense. He must learn sooner how to make those around him better because they are at his mercy. It is similar to when our offense ran through "Dream" and we just dumped the ball down to him, he had to learn how to get others in the flow, not force things and pass. But for a point guard this is much more magnified. 3. Because it is painfully obvious that he is a great scorer and just as obvious that he must master the offense for everyone else on the team to acheive their potential. It is a team game and a team will win the championship. We all want Eddie, Mobley, Yao, Cato, MoT, etc. to make their contribution, but without Steve's development they will be hindered. 4. Basically whether you think Steve is fine leave him alone, or you think he is hurting the Rockets it is a function of the fact that he must get it done or we don't get it done- Another Houston Rocket Championship. It hurts to watch right now because we know with the right execution and effort this team can become a championship contender. We know we are so close to being back in the playoffs with the team and yet we also feel we are not too many years from the Grand Prize. So I do put alot of responsibility for winning on Steve, just like I did on the Dream back in the late 80's- early 90's. Steve is the man- I believe Is a championship guaranteed- No We are still an unknown and alot of potential and we all feel the excitment for this team and want the playoffs this year. This all will come down to Steve (not by himself, but I am saying he is the one player that absolutely cannot get hurt or falter in his game) That creates all the love and the hate. Steve could become a hall of famer without a ring as easily as the greatest point guard to ever suit it up- with several Rings. So no matter which side you are on pull for Steve to develop. Most of the criticism is deserved, he is the Franchise. But remember stay humble stay hungry- I for one believe he is the one. It's too late in the game to look for another.
A-Train, oops you're right, what about some big Rudy bashing in case we tank and I can get the jump on everyone.
Seriously, where do all these [insert Rocket player here]-bashing threads come from? Is there a computer somewhere that analyzes the box scores and randomly spits out preprogrammed threads? It's amazing how similar all these posts start to sound.
Steve is playing fantastic. He is the consistent thing we have had for 4 games. He even brought his assists up. Yes, we lost, and it was in the 3rd period when Steve was on the bench that killed us. We were up by 1 at half and down by 16 when he came back. Seattle was simply on fire. I don't think any team is beating them when they hit 77% and a ton of 3's. Now we are starting to see others do well too. Cato has been real good. EG showed up. Mooch shot better. KT will certainly get back to form. Rice is finally playing. MT has one more game to go. We haven't had to use Collier (thank god). Yao Ming got more PT (It's the only thing that is going to get him up to speed - and he has a need for speed!) As long as we can stay above .500 for the first 20 games, that should be enough time to get some real good rotations going and be ready to step up to the next level.
That is all I had to read to realize the thread was just a joke. Steve is a great player and will get better, but I would take Shaq on the IR over SF. Furthermore, I would take: Kobe- without batting an eye McGrady- and laugh all the way to the finals Tim Duncan- any day Nowitzki- oh by the way he is even younger than SF Garnett ...and would seriously consider: Pierce Ray Allen Its a short list, but a list none the less that you would have a difficult time saying no to.
I do believe we need a reliable third scorer. Maybe Mo Taylor could be that, especially if he starts off games for us like a couple seasons ago.
Your going to hate me but... Those 9 assists were not exactly indicative of running an offense efficiently. At least one was an Alley Ooop to Mobley, one was a fastbreak assist to Mobley and a third was a long rebound (or maybe a block of EG by Jerome James, don't remember exactly) out to Francis were Griffin already had inside position for a dunk. Regardless of whether it's 9 or 6, 5 TO's in a lot. For the record, yes we were up by 1 at the half but... We were down by 9 when Francis went to the bench with his 4th foul. Technically, there was a 10 point swing with him on the court and then 7 more with him on the bench. Sorry to be so picky, but these are the facts.
Hey, he got more assists.. I'll take it. I don't think the dream team could have cooled Seattle down in that period. You are just going to run into that once in a while. Hopefully we will be dishing some of that out too real soon.
I'm not Steve hater and I admit he's a great star. But he should get more assitants and involved more passing, more players. At present, Rockets plays like one man play, 4 man watch, completely not a team play. If this situation continue, definitely Rockets can't go to playoff.
I think you might want to leave Allen off that list. Actually, you totally should. Allen is basically just a taller Mobley with a nicer 3 pt shot. Hell, if Mobley were Allen's size, I think he would be a better defender. And I'm not sure about Nowitzki either. I mean, somebody has to show me how Dallas would do without Finley or Nash.
Stevie is not the problem!!!!! No movement and no plays make him look selfish. Nobody is teaching him the right discipline and skills to play the 1. Why isn't Calvin on the staff to help him out? Francis is becoming one of the elite scorers in the league, but without help from his coaches all he'll have is numbers and no W's. Walton 4 Head Coach! SAY WORD!
Its Steve and Cat together. They don't work well with the team. Trade Cat and Mooch then make Steve learn to be a smarter player. Other players need to be involved more, period.
And sncns further noted earlier in his thread that if Francis doesnt' become smarter...then trade his ass, too. see...I told you it is rooted in Dreamcasting. If we subtract enough, the next addition might be Lebron James.
