Hey, Francis fans : how do you want to win games? Let's say the rockets don't trade your guy. What's the right way to use him? You need to get production from both Francis and Yao; you can change supporting pieces, but please explain how you use them both effectively where they outscore (& out-defend) the opposition and play a team game. It seems to me that when Francis is on, Yao's not involved. Steve is crossing and slashing and ballin' but there's not enough clock for multiple passes and open shots. When Yao is on, there's a lot of ball movement, Francis drops the ball early and moves to catch it or redirect, but he misses his rhythm and explosion. The only way I see it is a triangle with Steve at two, where he's short. You can run a weave, or horns or dribble penetration. What you gonna do? That's why I've advocated moving Steve for pass/shoot replacements to work with Yao. Steve's a good player, but he needs a lot of room to operate. Tell us what system you want to run to get that allstar production. I haven't seen that posted yet, in basketball terms. Just - Steve's my guy; Steve's a good guy; Steve's a great talent. Fine. Please tell me and the rest the best way to use him . IF you make a good arguement, it will seem better than the Yao + shooters, and that will quiet that. IF there's not a good arguement, then we keep going in circles with this.
pasox2.. Ask Jeff Van gundy he is doing it right now!! Just lean back and watch!! Have a little faith alright
How do we want to win games? I think the Rockets can run that Francis/Yao or Mobley/Yao screen and roll until 2020. With Yao's ability to step out and hit the long shot, and Francis/Mobley's dribble explosiveness and foul-drawing ability, we've got a hell of a winning play right there. And you can tell they've been practicing and emphasizing it. Did any of you watch last night's game? By the way, great to see all the intelligent people gathered together in a thread for once.
The big issue I see with folx and the YAO ONLY OFFENSE is this Once someone stops it. . .then what EXAMPLE: SEATTLE v HOUSTON in the 90s they played a soft zone and killed the rockets YEAR IN YEAR OUT We got BARKLEY [Read second star . . second option . .second way to play them] BOOM!!!! we thumped them [of course this lead to other problems - See JAZZHOLES] Rocket River
Oh, I agree!!! A Yao only offense is NOT what we need. We need a multi-faceted offense that is comprised of two main players (maybe a 3rd guy too). But those two main players should NOT include Francis. Maybe.... T-Mac/Yao Maybe.... Hinrich/Yao/Sheed Maybe... Lewis/Yao/Terry...
Francis =Oil, Yao Ming =Water, JVG = The Mixer. The Rockets Organisation is a Business, led by Les Alexander and his Staff, they and they alone will be the ones to decide if they should continue the posibility of trying to mix Oil and Water , or that a change must be made by addition or subtraction of any or all of its parts.
DavidS why do you want to be one of the posters who is for bringing in a cancer as Sheed or a player like Terry who would be a major downgrade to what we have already?? Are you that desperate for some more wins that you are ready to risk everything the organisation has worked on the last five years?? Neither Rasheed, Terry or Hinrich will bring any sort of consistency so please watch out what you are wishing for, you might end up getting it!! (Not if there is a god!)
But doesn't this idea of "more ways than one" run counter to all this coach talk about a team's identity? Every time a team with a lot of talent starts losing, most coaches and commentators will say that the team lacks identity. Identity is a surrogate for goals and vision game to game that the team strives to achieve. It doesn't work to rely on someone being hot on a given night to win. Like JVG has been saying all season about San Antonio, they do what they do night in and night out. They know it, you know it and if they do it right, you're going to lose. So everyone screaming for a pg with a better set shot and better passing skills than Steve is saying our identity should be a Yao inside team. If defenses stop him by fronting, better passing can stop it. If they stop him with a zone, the set shot can stop it. Otherwise, what are we? A screen an roll team and if that doesn't work, a low post team, and if that doesn't work a give it to Steve and let him do his thing team? It doesn't seem like you can win consistently like this because there's no consistency in this way of playing.
Excuses, excuses, excuses...has he been here five years or not? If he is aplayer with migraines that cause the team to suck - still his fault. If a useful, but not key, teammate goes down you pick up your play - anybody notice how well the Spurs are doing without Duncan who's just a wee-bit more important to his team than Mo Taylor was. in the end, Steve was here four years...never made the playoffs, his fifth year (now) he likely will...yet it is the first year where he likely isn't the team "star" anymore. I understand patience, but I don't like excuses. I expect players to play hard, smart and efficiently. I'm okay with mistakes, but not boneheaded ones, either on the court (30 turnovers ) or off of it (Superbowl fiasco).
if we can ship steve for a player that improves our chances of winning, we should do it. plain and simple...
the major issue is. . . we can't we can shift him for flotsam and HOPE This the return of sexy P . .. . PO TEN TIAL That is the reason we got into a mess Moochies' PO TEN TIAL Cato's PO TEN TIAL Mo T's PO TEN TIAL for the rockets PO TEN TIAL = IN FLAT ED CON TRACTS Rocket River
I'm hoping the Kings crumble in the playoffs, improving our chances of getting Bibby. Steve is great, but some players fit better than him. Bibby can knock down a LOT of the looks Steve is getting right now at a higher clip. Here's my ideal team: Yao PJ Brown Lewis Mobley Bibby Would absoltely love to see this team play.
This is such a stupid argument. Do you realize that the Rockets have made the playoffs in years with less wins than 45 and 43. Barkley, Drexler, and Hakeem actually only had 41 wins their last season together. I understand that people want to make the playoffs, but this hasn't been your typical lottery team. the Hakeem led Rockets made the playoffs several years with less than 43 wins.
First, before Yao...explain to me what has "worked in the last five years?" Secondly, It's not about wins for the sake of wins. It's having the right players, that complement each other, that DO NOT turn the ball over, that actually can play team ball, that give you the best chance for a championship year, after year. Sorry, but Fancis/Yao is not that that mix. P.S. You might not believe it, but if we did get Hinrich/Terry or Sheed (sans Francis), you'd notice that for some "reason" the offensive would suddenly start to flow a lot easiler than before. Hmmm....wonder why?
i notice how ya'll ALWAYS through in an upgrade at Power Forward You scream - HINRICH makes the rockets better . . then say . . with rasheed added under ya breathe Hinrich alone < Francis If we JUST AQUIRE SHEED then SHEED AND FRANCIS < HINRICH AND SHEED Rocket River ya'll are pathetic
It shouldn't be under anyones breath. It should be open and in the clear... True...Francis is more athletic than Hinrich. Gaining Hinrich means that our PG duties are shored up. BUT, that also means that we lose some natural scoring (athletic ability related/rebounding) in Francis. Thus, we'd need to replace that by getting someone else (Remember... my focus is on how the team meshes together; not just a single player). After those things happen, then what you have a excellent team, MINUS Francis turnovers! Francis/SHEED/Yao (Yao's team) < Hinrich/SHEED/Yao (Yao's team) T-Mac/Yao (T-Mac's team) > both above Of the first two teams above....the 2nd team is better than the 1st. Why? Because keeping Francis comes with the baggage of of turnovers, not making his teammates better, and does not offer enough scoring that would lessen the damage of his turnover rate. If Francis could score at 25-27 ppg, then we could talk about "overlooking" his turnovers. The T-Mac/Yao team is a team on its own. That would be a excellent tandem. Scoring (and lack of turnovers) from McGrady and efficient post play from Yao. Keeping Francis should be for practical reasons. Not for sentimental reasons.
Not exactly. I've been a Rockets fan since 1980 when I moved to Houston. The intensity of my interest has ebbed and flowed over the years due to (among other things) college, career, playing in bands, etc. For personal reasons which included a career move and a relocation to Austin in the mid 90's, I paid little attention from 96-97 on but splurged on NBALP for the 1999-00 season. I was really excited in 1999...NBALP brought Dream, Barkley, Rudy T, Matt Bullard, Calvin and Bill into my home 82 times a season. And I could watch these newly drafted guys...Mobley, Drew, Kenny Thomas and the #2 overall pick...Francis. Man was I excited...the Rockets weren't rebuilding....they were reloading! It didn't take long for my enthusiasm to diminish...Dream and Charles were shadows of what they were a mere 2 seasons prior....and these new guys...where did they learn how to play basketball? On some playground somewhere? What's with this hitting your forehead with your clinched fists crap....and quit skipping up the floor...you can't dribble faster the middle school guards can pass the ball up court...and could you please stop getting technicals for hitting the backboard after you make a dunk? Shheeesh....what is this crap I paid good money to watch? It sure isn't Bird, Magic, MJ, or the Dr....it's not even Kenny and Sam. I just had to keep reminding myself...Rudy's still coaching...they're still wearing Rockets Red... But instead of better, it just remained the same....same mistakes, no D (till JVG), a worse fastbreak than mediocre college teams...no ball movements...but hey, these are my Rockets... Well, after 4 full NBALP seasons and 64 games of a fifth, I've had it. Francis never had a chance with me? Dunno...I've tried to be as open minded as possible...but I know how I like to watch the game played...and what's been on the court for the Rox is frankly just not Old School enough for me. There's plenty of OS PG's out there....Kidd, Bibby, Payton, Nash, Arroyo, Andre Miller, Earl Boykins, the Hubie-fied JWill, Fisher, McInnis...heck even Cassell, Billups and Arenas are close enough. I'll continue to root for Francis...he's a Rocket...but the style of play (especially the old ISO-mania) is just not what I enjoy watching. We all have our opinions here and I just don't see Steve Francis as the best fit for a team with a dominant center playing a possession oriented game. Bottomline for me is something that almost every big Steve Francis fan utterly fails to comprehend and it's not embedded in any stats or WL %ages. Steve Francis does not play basketball efficiently. He makes the game much harder than it is or needs to be. He gets away with it because he's extremely athletic. If you continue to genuinley watch basketball for many years, someday in the future you will have an epiphany over what I just stated.
