This is from Van Gundy himself. People on these boards have blown this way out of proportion. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2155583 He did make a point to say that his criticism of the Rockets offense was not pointed at Francis. Instead, he said Francis has been forced to go for "home run" plays because of the problems offensively, rather than Francis has caused the problems by swinging for home runs. "The first thing is last night -- and I shared this with Steve -- I said we're trying to hit too many home runs," Van Gundy said. "That wasn't on Steve. That was poor team offense that led to our best player having the ball in his hands trying to create something from nothing, which a great player can do occasionally. But you're not a very good team if that's what you rely on." Francis insisted he understood Van Gundy all along and was not offended. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So Francis had been forced to do too much on his own.
Yeah, it was in another thread, but I like the way this thread was worded wayyyyy better. Lets lock the other one instead of this one. Oh, and this is what I was trying to say about Francis in another thread before I even saw what JVG said there... http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&postid=1070590#post1070590 Along those same exact lines. I'm starting to respect JVG's knowledge more and more.
I watched the same games and Francis is part of the problem. He is ball hogging and dribbling too much and not passing to the open man until he doesn't see any options for himself. That is what is happening in the games I watch and it doesn't matter what Van Gundy says that's what I see. Now is there some truth that alot of people or missing open shots and the offense is running stagnant at times. Yes but Francis is part of the problem not part of the solution. he holds the ball too long and he almost always thinks shoot first pass second. So whay did Van Gundy say what he said. Pure and simple, Politics. He can't afford to alienate Francis this early and he is smart enough to know that. Basketball is part talent part X's and O's and part chemistry and I think chemistry is just as important as the other two. So as long as Francis is on this team he needs to play and as long as he is playing Van Gundy needs to make him feel like part of the team.
Sorry about taking this from the other thread. The super long one about pockets of resistence is mostly about Francis Bashing, so I thought I would start a non-bashing one. Sorry about that it was already started elsewhere. Anyway, I don't think Francis is Blameless. But that many of the criticisms of him are based on a break-down of the offense as a whole. It had just gotten too popular around here, to derive meaning that didn't exist from Francis' quotes and take what Jeff Van Gundy said in the wrong way and try to bash Steve.
I believe there is truth to the idea that there is plenty of blame to go around. Yao still needs to be more aggressive and demand the ball. Guys need to run out on the break. And our offensive troubles are no excuse for not playing defense. Even if one guy is running down the shot clock, everyone else needs to still hustle.
