Im gettin tired of people complaining about the Rockets need in a "true" point guard. Really lets look at some of the top teams point guards. Spurs: Tony Parker- Does this guy make his team mates better?? Umm no that would be Duncan doing that. He does score 14.1 ppg and 5.8 apg thats only .8 more than Francis but francis is averaging 3.4 more points and 2.5 rebs per game. Nets: Jason Kidd the best point guard in the leauge is he a pass first player yes 9.3 apg, does he make teamates better yes. does he score yes 16.5 ppg Kings: Mike Bibby again he scores 16.8 ppg remember him in the playoffs verses the Lakers a few years ago as the go to man on the Kings. Lets see he is averaging 6 apg wow damn i guess he sucks as well kings need to get rid of him New Orleans: Baron Davis now this is the guy steve could learn a lil from. Did u see that dunk to win the game vs the pistons good ****!!! This guy is averaging more points than steve and is dissing out 8.5 per game well it seems this guy is the greatest thing since sliced bread oh damn did i mention he plays in the east oops sorry since they have virtually no big men outside of O'Neal & Wallace you should take his numbers in perspective to competition level. Phx Suns: Stephon Marbury- If u think this guy cant score your just stupid hes avg 19.9 ppg and handing out 8.2 per. I guess it does matter who your throwing the ball to. Umm lets see if you just let the guy play and let the BEST player on the team do his thing you might get good results. My point is just like the statue quarterback the traditional pass first point guard retired with John Stockton. Style of play does matter If the offensive system is more up tempo to allow steve to showcase his athletic ability (and mobley) and the team would score more. Anwser this who was the last pass first point guard to lead his team to a championship???
Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas probably as far as the "leader" and the PG. Since Jordan was a 2, Dream was a 5... Timmy and D-Rob were pansies... or was that daisies? I don't think a PG was the "leader" since the 80's / early 90's.
hchustler, I totally disagree with your argument. You believe we should have a more up-tempo game so Francis and Mobley can show case their talents? Why? The Rockets have implemented the offense you are talking about the last few years. The result was that the Rockets miss the playoffs and the Rockets were forever lottery bound. So the up-tempo game and the so-called showcasing of talent aren’t all that effective. In other words, it's been proven that a guard-oriented offense isn't a formula for winning with our current combo guards. My question is why do you purpose a game plan that clearly doesn't work? If you really want to understand the real nature of the problem, you would realize that our guards don’t' make smart plays. They constantly dribble the ball for too long. They don't really try to set up players. Once a player has the ball they don't have any off the ball movement. They don't dish the ball inside in a timely manner instead they just wait till Yao has establish the absolute worst positioning and then give him a little bounce pass which couldn't be any more predictable and easy for the defender to defend against. When will people start realizing we can't win with our current backcourt...?
The system dosent work WHAT. Remember we won 45 game a few years ago with Francis and Mobely doing their thing. We also Had Dream as the 2nd or third option & Taylor in the paint. We were not averaging 80 points per game. True our guard need to make better decisions but in todays nba the John Stocktons are left out for to the cba. people Keep saying get a tru point get a true point please there are none. if we signed mark Jackson all you would see on this board is this guy suck on defense and why is our point posting up in the paint. Come on people. Also im so sick of people wanting to trade players after every bad game damn does your boss threaten to fire your ass after you screw up the Number for a meeting or fail to get an accout closed of make some ones burger wrong?? Lighten up even though these guys make mistakes so do u. dont give me there trained athletes Were u trained at your job? Do you still Make mistakes?well your boss should trade your sorry ass to
Last 12 teams to win the championship: 91- Paxson/Armstrong 92- Same 93- Same 94- Cassell/Smith 95- Same 96- Ron Harper 97- Same 98- Same 99- Antonio Daniels/Avery Johnson 00- Ron Harper 01- Ron Harper/Tyrone Lue/Fisher 02- Fisher/Lue (I think Harper retired by then) 03- Jesus Parker List courtesy of yaopao You're telling me we don't need a real PG? The intruiging thing is that a lot of these guys are NOT real PG's, but they all have better asst/to ratios than Steve. I don't think any team in NBA history has won the Championship with its PG averaging the same asst/to ratio as Francis. I'd liek to know if that's true, and I'm VERY VERY confident that it is true.
You're not going to change any minds in here because people are convinced that you need a "true point guard to win in the NBA" even though there's really only one or two left in the league. Look at Stockon and Jason Kidd - even Nash - the three that people here hold in such high regard. How many championships do they have between them? None. If being a "true point guard" was the only way to win a ring, they would have multiple ones by now.
I use to think we that we needed to move SF to 2guard but then he would be over match and undersize at that position. That would definitely makes us a small team even w/ Yao. It is tougher in the western conference than east conference. Iverson could not do it the wild wild west full-time.
Folks need to stop thinking the Rockets can even be close to the Spurs and the Lakers. Look at the college game in which the point guard is the most important player on the floor. Zone defense is rampant in college ball. Unless Yao morphs into Hakeem, the Rockets totally need to scrap this offense. Anyone who watched the Kings dismantle the Rockets earlier this season can see how important Bibby is to the offense. He is a cog in the machine, but he is an important one. The guy won a national championship with Arizona, so he knows how to control the flow of the game in his team's favor. If Brad Miller was really this good, would the Pacers have dumped him for basically nothing? Brad Miller's ability are being enhanced in that machine. One of these days, I'd like to sit down and actually watch the Rockets' offense without cursing.
It's not just the point guards making mistakes. The whole team is making mistakes including Yao, JJ, Cat, Cato, Taylor, and Pike. The chemistry is just not there with this group.
There has been many combinations of players and nothing has ever worked. Of all those combinations of players one thing has remained constant: our PG is still Steve Francis. Management needs to get a clue!
Two celebrated point guards -- while they were in college -- are languishing on the free agent rolls and another is rated #47 on the Draftnet analysis. They are (drum roll please) Mateen Cleaves and Smush Parker. Chris Duhan -- said to be a lottery pick if he came out early -- is now waaaay down on the draft list. My point is that a "true" point guard may or may not be needed. However, a savvy, floor general with leadership skills is really what the Rockets need.
Mateen Cleaves couldn't shoot at all. I think the scouts had his range at basically a few feet from the basket. Is it that hard to find a good passing point guard with decent range? Doesn't Gonzaga have one every year?
The perfect guard for the Rocket would be Darrell Armstrong. Rocket guards lack composure and looks lethargic during stretches in a game. DA's game would solve all of this. Too bad he's a Hornet.
Sane, Excellent point. This is something I had pointed out last year. Not only is Steve's Ast to TO ratio bad, but the backup Moochie's is terrible as well. You dont necessarily need John Stockton or Magic Johnson to run the point for you, but the key is having someone that is steady with the ball and wont gum up the offense with a lot of dribbling. Steve Kerr, Derek Fisher, etc are perfect examples of this. iirc, there were seasons where Kerr had nearly a 4 to 1 Ast to TO ratio. Bring the ball up the floor, make the first pass to the appropriate player and get the series of passing going. The problem with Steve Francis is that he needs a lot of dribbling to make his move, and it hasnt gotten any better under JVG. Both Steve and Moochie are very indecisive with their offense and that completely destroys offensive flow. Players like Kerr, Fisher, Ron Harper, etc were very decisive with what they were doing and that got the offense moving. In addition, when these players are handling the ball in the middle of a 3 on 1 fastbreak, they make the appropriate read and get the ball to the appropriate player on the wing. Its amazing to me how many easy fastbreak opportunities Steve botches by simply ignoring his teammates running the wings as if he has blinders on. Instead of delivering a simple bounce pass to someone running the wing for an easy hoop, Steve tries to take on the one defender that is back and throw up a wild shot trying to draw a foul. These are the types of things that I blamed on Rudy for bad coaching but clearly it is Steve's fault and not Rudy's.
