This is a test for Steve

Actually, I think that one of his concerns will be that he'll be the third fan favorite on the team. If you'll remember last year, the fans were chanting Eddie Eddie Eddie. I've yet to hear them chant Francis's name during a game. If the reported comments are true, then Francis needs to learn that there is no "I" in "Team". That's what makes a player like Jason Kidd so attractive. He's more interested in W's, than he is in stats & personal accolades.

Grow up Steve. You can control the team's destiny & your own, by becoming the leader that we, as fans, all envision. Ya' just gotta do it!

 

Fair enough. I'd like to add a couple of comments to Francis as well.

1. Rudy has set a high and good standard about speaking negatively or even ambivalently about Rockets players in public. He doesn't do it. Sometimes he bends way over backwards not to affirm the obvious failings of Cato, Rice, et al. He does it for you, too, Steve, even when you cough up huge turnovers and take dumb shots. SHOW HIM THE SAME RESPECT. Imagine the hissy fit you'd have thrown if Rudy had said on TV right before you came to Houston, "I've never been able to coach a player like him before, so it remains to be seen how he'll help our team."

2. Robert Horry badmouthed the Thorpe-for-Drexler trade on TV right after it happened. That was the last time I saw him badmouth it. He saw how good Drexler was and how hard Drexler worked the boards, and he shut his trap. You can be forgiven for your ignorant standoffish remarks about Yao, as long as you don't continue them once it's clear how wrong they were.

Basically, DR has it right. Steve is off to a bad start, but the test is just beginning.

 

No question Ming will the thing in both Houston and the NBA. Generating hype about him makes excellent business sense. Just think of how many people of Chinese nationality will be attending games that maybe haven't before. We're talking all NBA teams with large people of Chinese nationality showing up just to see Ming play. Dollars make sense.

Sorry for veering off topic.

It is possible that Steve could be second banana to Ming, but so what? The Rockets plan to take care of him (max), so all he has to do is find a way to work with the players the Rockets surround him with to get the wins.

 

I agree with your post except for the first part of what I quoted.

Since when has Francis become a leader for this team?

If you say last season, then you and me must have been watching a different Rockets team.

Leaders don't question higher authority and throw temper tantrums akin to 3 year olds, either.

 

Steve needs to know that there is room for one more superstar on this team. If he doesn't like it, let's try to get Andre Miller, honestly.

 

Great players make everybody around them better.

Ming's potential does not entirely lie in his own hands. Steve Francis must elevate his game so that the game comes easy to Ming. It's really up to Steve if Ming reaches his potential or not. Maybe he is forgetting that.

 

without him Rockets only won 1 out of what 20 last year?

this is his team, period. It doesn't matter if Ming comes to this team, he will still be the nucleus of the team.

 

Doctor Robert, Will, great posts. Good topic for discussion. I agree totally.

Ming really will be an interesting player for the team. He will come in as the #1 pick in the draft and at the same time all he wants to do is just be a "cog in the machine" versus coming in thinking he is "all that" and a "future superstar."

He is not going to come in with an attitude or a "me first" philosophy. He just wants to come in and contribute to a winner. Through the corse of his career in the NBA I see him taking more leadership responsibilities but from the onset I feel he will just want to come in and be accepted by his team and help the team win however he can. He will get a lot of spotlight but it will not be of his choosing.

Ming is a special player and if his potential is fulfilled then this team will have a real gem on their hands. Ming's future teammates need to do everything they can to welcome him into the family and not go out of their way to ostrocize him just because of their OWN ignorance about him.

The Rockets are going to draft Ming. There is nothing the players can control about that, they have to accept it. With that said, it is up to them to decide whether they will do their best to welcome this new teammate, someone that can really help them, or just ostrocize him and hurt their OWN team in doing so. Cut off your nose to spite your face? I hope not!

Chris

 

This argument is weak. Why? Because if you want to look at records, then with Francis, the team was only something like 27-34 last year. Not too great either.

I can't remember any team in history where one player can say, rightfully, that its his team, yet have failed to lead that team to the playoffs even once.

Maybe Steve and Ming will develope Shaq/Kobe's love hate relationship that works for them?

 

Winning cures all ills. It wasn't until Shaq and Kobe checked their egos at the door and saw that they NEEEDD each other that they became a devestating duo which led the Lakes to their championships.

It wasn't until Jerry Stackhouse checked his ego at the door and became a team leader and someone willing to sacrafice his OWN game to help his teammates that the Pistons took off and had a great season.

We see these things happen all the time in the NBA. So why can't other players see these trends and modify their games to do the same? What, do they think that these things don't apply to them? THEY DO!

It is all about the TEAM, even with the talented superstar players. The Rockets are very young, they will learn. But the learning will come when they go to war together, in practice, offseason and the season.

Chris

 

Before Francis went down, the team had a winning record. I suppose it's safe to assume that if Steve hadn't been injured, we would have had a winning record this year. What about our winning record last year? If Steve isn't the leader of this team, who is? I don't think he just declared himself the leader because of his stats, he could have done that the last 2 years. After Olajuwon left, it was pretty obvious who the guys followed, who they trusted, and who they listened to. Not to mention he is they guy Rudy wanted to be the leader. So Francis didn't just DECLARE himself the leader, he just naturally became one.

I don't know how many times I can stress this. Ming will dominate his position, but he won't dominate games. Francis can dominate his position and he most definately dominates games. I say we all need to hope that Steve gets his head straight and realizes how good this team can be with 3 players next year who will be in the top 10 at their positions. If he doesn't, he could leave us high and dry because there's no way a trade for Miller or Davis will work out. And obviously we can't get Kidd. So any trade will be for crappy players and probably a future draft pick.

 

Oski-And the Rockets were still 26-31 with him overall.

He is not the end all be all for this team.

Francis was not a leader this past year. Rudy T was a leader for this young team. Kevin Willis and Glen Rice could be moreso considered the leaders than Francis. Leaders don't get caught drinking and driving at 2:00 AM when they're injured.

For this team to be great, we NEED Francis to step up and be a leader, but to say he's been that already is ludicrous.

 

I agree, this is a test. If Steve doesn't resign this summer like he said he would, then he fails. If a guy without his history didn't sign, I wouldn't be as concerned, but he has shown he is willing to hang a team out to dry.

 

I have resisted commenting on Francis' possible pouting about Ming, but wanted to offer these opinions.

All Rox fans have been spoiled by the Hall of Fame line of centers that have graced the CC and Summit. However, all of us are excited about seeing this new team develop, a new team that is lead by the dynamic guard that we have always coveted.

I bet every single person on this thread watched the Rox/Phoenix series in which KJ tortured Kenny Smith. All of us said, Man, why couldn't the Rox just have one guard that could create like Kevin Johnson. Even in the good playoff years leading up the championships, we all said, Man, Dream is great . . . but I sure wish we had a creator on the team to take some pressure off him. I know I watched Jordan, Payton and others and thought how cool it was that the other teams' best player could always get his own shot, while Hakeem had to rely on other players to get him the ball. I always felt that sense of fear when Payton led his Sonics down the floor because I knew he would do something with the ball that was going to torch us.

Well, Steve brings that same element to the Rockets, and I love seeing the fear develop in the opposition when he is just crossing midcourt. Shoot, Steve is not the player that he will be in a few years.

But just like Hakeem realized that he needed competent guard play to climb the mountain, Steve needs to realize that he needs some people to grab rebounds for him, take a charge in the lane, and defend centers and power forwards that Steve can't guard.
In short, Steve cant climb the mountain unless he is standin on Ming's and Eddie's shoulders.

TroyBarros, if you read this, pass it on the Steve. It's still up to him to bring us to the promised land. To think otherwise is to sell himself short. If he wants to do that and is that afraid, then all of our confidence in Steve is misplaced.

 

Thank you, NIKE.

Although, I understand where Doctor Robert is coming from, you've stated my rebuttal perfectly.

 

I want a better leader...


p.s. : it can still be Francis.