The Rockets need to trade Steve (with apologies to MacBeth)

A Train- Sorry I cant agree with you , well not completely. I think that Steve Francis is such a great player that its in our Rockets interest to have him on the Team. Yao Ming needs this and another season to realy adapt to the NBA Style of playing and to discover in himself moves and positions not yet realised. Hakeem mostly discovered himself while playing for the U.ofH. Steve Francis is a hybrid player with atributes of great athleticism, determination and scoring ability. playmaking and passing to the post are his problem areas. His strengths should be developed to their maximum, while his playmaking leadership should be reduced only to a back up role. Finding a Point Guard with determined playmaking skills would be the priority of the Rockets if they want to develop Yao Ming as a dominent Center. Steve Francis is too good a player to trade away, one hopes that now being with a strong Coach that he and JVG will adapt Steves Game towards him being our Shooting Guard of the future.Go Steve, Go Yao, Go Rockets!

 

what were u thinkin when u stated this thread ??

 

5-1 and let's trade steve. 6 games into the season and we still do not have:

MoT
EG
Pike
A Griff

AND ALL WE CAN COME UP WITH IS:

Trade Franchise

 

You dont want to trade away your best or second best player so the other player can get more confidence in himself. If the 7-6 Yao needs to have Steve traded to let him realize that he has skills to dominate, what the hell does that tell u about Yao

 

Yao cant do it alone. If we didnt have steve right now, we'd be
1-4. Steve isnt going anywhere.

 

I'd try to trade Mobley first. Yao isn't taking as many shots as Mobley, and I think both Mobley and Yao believe that MOBLEY is the 2nd option.


I'd be open to a summer trade of Steve Francis, Kelvin Cato, Mo Taylor for Rasheed Wallace, Dale Davis, and Damon Stoudamire.

Reasons:


1) Financially, the deal benefits us tremendously. Rasheed Wallace is well worth the max sicne he's a 20/10 big man IN THE WEST. Cato will not be making his worth next year, and I think this team has a ceiling (albeit high) with Cato at PF. Mo Taylor makes too much money. Damon would be on his finaly year, Davis on his final year (or two) and Wallace with a brand new deal that reflects his value.

2) Rasheed Wallace is PERFECT for Yao Ming. He has superb range, great shotblocking, great rebounding. Him and Yao complement each other very well, because Yao can set up near the basket, and Rasheed anywhere in the paint.

3) Dale Davis will be MORE than adequate backing up the 4/5. He won't have Cato's energy, but he'll put in just as much effort, bring more experience, and can hold down both spots easily in case of injury.

4) Damon Stoudamire is undoubtedly a shell of his former self. However, he's made huge strides being a team player recently. What intruiges me most about him is his play with Arvydas Sabonis. Stoudamire's performance was TREMENDOUSLY enhanced when Sabonis was around. Sabonis passing skills and Damon's pick and roll skills were stunning, and I remember them burning EVERYONE on that play time and time again. I'm confident ao and Stoudamire will work great together citing Stoudamire's experience with Sabonis. Besides, he comes off the books in ONE year, so that's great.

5) We're free to add countless pieces the following year, only big contracts being Moochie and Wallace. Yao will be signed to an extension, and Stoudamire + Davis will come off the cap. Sign pieces that will take this team from West contender to championship contender.



Ofcourse, this is all assuming Portland doesn't trade NOW, and also assuming we don't acquire a PG and trade Mobley. However, I think this can at least make the West Finals:

Yao/Davis
Wallace/Davis
JJ/Boki/AG
MobleyPike
Stoudamire/Moochie

 

Everyone just take a deep breath...Lay off the caffeine for just a second and chill.

We have 2 great players on this team and we now have a determined coach that will pull out a whooping stick on guys for not playing within the system. Give it a chance.

I was watching TV. last night and I see Cuttino on a commercial with his Rockets gear on representing our Beloved team. It feels good to be a Rockets fan right now. Lets allow Gundy to work with what he has and if it doesn't work then we can start looking in other directions for this team. I think Steve wants to make the playoffs and I also think he needs to work on his passing to the post to get us their. But its still early in the season and I am going to hope for the best. Go Rockets

 

Sane,

No disrespect, but that's borderline inSANE.

You are intitled to your own opinion, but I don't have the energy to tell you why that will not help OUR team.

 

Rasheed is a walking time bomb..hell of a player, but still.

Damon is so sometiming...To see him replace Steve would stop me from being a fan altogether.

And keep in mind, making that trade will not end up saying the rockets any dough. Rasheed will cost to resign him, Damon will make 15mil next year and Davis will want some cash as well (he's not really wort it in my opinon)

We don't need a trade like that.

Here is a thought......

We need to find a way to get Jamal Tinsley here without giving up too much. Moochie has to go, don't know how..but the fact remains the same.

 

I dont think that everyone on the board watches the same games. i get frustrated with the franchise all the time while watching the games,,i want it to go straight to yao no matter what BUT,,,have you every stepped back and seen alot of the stuff steve does? its increddible esp this year ,,,he is more of an asset on the court an on our team then he would be otherwise,,,,,hes a top 5 PG in the league, hell develop with time chemistry with yao let them have some time to gel,,he has obviously given in to JVG's new system hell eventually completely figure what type of player he should be

 

Even if Francis is messing up Yao, how could it be rectified by trading Francis? Anyone worth giving up Francis is going to be Francis' caliber of player, which means Yao will STILL not be the clear-cut #1 option, short of getting a pure all-star pg(only Kidd's name comes to mind). Besides, considering Yao's stamina problems, I'm not sure he can be option #1 for the whole game.

I can see this trade perhaps a few years down the road, should Yao ever totally dominates and Stevie starts getting pissed about playing second fiddle. But certainly not this year.

 

Suppose we want to trade Steve.

Who the heck are you going to trade him for?

Unless it's for Tmac or Kidd, there is no point. Maybe Brand. Unless it's a trade for another superstar, we would end up in the losing side. I wouldn't trade him for a second tier guy like Paul Pierce, ofr instance.

So just forget it. He's not going anywhere.

 

agree with Meh,

never really thought about it that way though....stamina problems never really crosses my mind

if we did run through yao everytime down the court he wouldnt last the whole game

i hope eventually he can take a beating for about 40 minutes a game...if we need to do so

 

I have always loved Francis. He is a world class 'talent'. But the problem with being simply a talent is that he is not a very intelligent basketball player.

I don't know how many times he or cuttino have a pick set for them, but instead of passing to the rolling player they try to swing it another way. It seems not that he is trying to be selfish, but that he doesn't have the awareness or bball IQ.

I know we are 5-1, but the fact is we've beaten up on Denver, Bulls, Miami, NJ (only decent team but w/o K-mart) Orlando and lost to Memphis. I would think NJ is the only one that will make the playoffs out of that group.

I am weary of how his lack of b-ball IQ will affect his ability to succeed when his athletic ability diminishes.

 

Off the subject but,

Paul Pierce is not a second tier guy...he is no question one of the top ten players in this league.

1DUNCAN
2SHAQ
3GARRNET
4SHAQ
5KOBE
6TMAC
7IVERSON
8KIDD
9DIRK
10PIERCE
11 JONEIL

 

Why does ANYONE assume that Steve is a top tier guy?

Duncan
Shaq
Pierce
Kobe
T-Mac
Jason Kidd
Nowitzki
Garnett


That's the top tier, and here are some secnd tier who are arguably better than Francis:

Yao
Baron
Marbury
J O'neal
Brand
Rasheed Wallace
Ray Allen
Iverson


Francis is top 20, but not top 10.

 

Sane, u seem to put too much stock on Wallace. There must be a reason the focal point of the offense in Portland is Zach Randolph, and not Rashed, right?

 

Also Elton Brand has led his teams to so many winning seasons.

 

LeBron is in the top 10

The NBA marketing force says so...

 

How many playoff games has Francis taken his team to again?

Francis is the second tier player, not Pierce.

F. D. Khan has it correctly, Francis's basketball IQ is very lacking. For the Rockets to be successful this season, the offense MUST run through Yao Ming, NOT Steve Francis.

The reason for Yao's lack of aggression on the court may have something to do with him not getting the ball. Ever notice when Yao does get the ball, good things happen? An easy basket, a good pass that leads to a basket, a foul.

Yao has the basketball smarts that Francis lacks.