if he's so overrated and such a crappy player, lets trade mike james for steveeeeee. in all honesty, i love the effort that man put out every damn game. kudos stevie, and good luck
Steve is a gifted athlete-I am still a fan, but I like our team better now without him....No disrespect to Steve
Yes, he is. Pierce scores over twenty points/game while averaging less than fifteen shots/game - which is more efficient than any other of the league's swingmen. He also had the best half of basketball in his career in 2005, as well as being the best player in the first-round of the playoffs other than Tracy McGrady. Don't listen to what the Boston Sports media tells you - his attitude is his best asset. Brings it every game, willing to take punishment, wants to win.
foodworld, on Paul Pierce I agree with most of what you say, he's one of the more underrated players in the league, except that he was the second best player after McGrady. Maybe the second best that didn't advance, althought AI went for 30 and 10 against the Pistons. I thought Stephen Jackson had a great series against him, Ray Allan had a great series against the Kings, Dwayne Wade was excellent against the Nets, Jason Terry killed the Rockets. Winners over losers man.
Francis is following in the path of Marbury. Both players have to dominate the ball to be effective, but they don't have the ability to carry teams by themselves.
I sadly agree. To state the obvious, TMac makes everything easier. We had the same playoff results with him in his first Rocket year and Steve in his 5th. I love Stevie's ability, but he doesn't seem to have the inclination to use his brains that'll help him capitalize his career peak. Without that growth, he'll be the same moody player we loved a couple years ago. He'll probably have a huge blowup and then some period where he finally gets it. In the meanwhile, TMac and Yao will lead the Rockets to their....
Definitely agree. Why can't he see that? Just look at Marbury and where it's gotten him in his career.. Steve needs to realize
Well hell yeah. You don't have to bring Steve Francis down to lift T-Mac up, though. T-Mac does just fine on his own.
I will still pull for Steve Francis (and Kelvin and Cuttino) but is his only hope going to some bad team that needs him to carry them from bad to mediocre? I don't see him as the missing piece on a good team waiting to be great.
A GM would have to build around him like AI with a good supporting cast. I wonder if that would be enough because once they start getting results, he's usually more inclined to make a bigshot play, and alienates his teammates along the way.
pgabriel - I know you've always been a big Francis supporter, just wondering what you think of the trade after having a year to look back? Not trying to be cute or anything, I'm really curious what you think of it. I assume you were against it (like a lot of people) when it happened. As for me, I think Stevie is an extremely talented guy but it just seems like he's missing "it." He makes way too many bad decisions and hasn't improved as much I think he should have over the years.
ditto. Not just that, but I loved that Steve Francis wanted to be in Houston. He always spoke highly of the city, fans and team. Best wishes...
Well said. However, while he is not necessarily selfish with the ball, he IS selfish in another way. The word that best describes it is stubborn. During the playoffs against the Lakers, SF showed us what could have been. Unfortunately, during most of the regular season, he chose to engage in a power struggle against JVG. Maybe being in the first year of a 6yr/$85MM contract made him feel indispensable, especially when he was the established incumbent and JVG was the new kid, so to speak. I also agree with your comments on court vision, but that's only part of it. SF is just not a smart basketball player. With experience, sharp players realize both their own limitations & their opponents capabilities and quite making the same mistakes over and over again. The boneheaded plays are just a part of the package. My guess is he will be with the Magic one more season. I don't believe he and Dwight Howard are the best of friends on (yes on) the court. Brian Hill's mandate as the new coach is to develop the team around Howard, not cater to SF. (Howard is destined for superstardom IMO). If Stevie doesn't change his ways and follow orders this time around, they will dump him at a firesale price next summer.
Brian Hill's philosophy is essentially dump the ball into the low post damn near every single play. I think that's why they chose him, as they're planning on building around Dwight Howard. I wouldn't be surprised to see Francis frustrated with his role next season, and be dealt at some point.
Here here. I've never really taken part in these Francis debates, either while he was here or after. All I have to say is that he's a good guy, a talented guy, who tries hard. I'd take him on my team any day. I don't know why everyone is so quick to damn him, just because he's not at McGrady's level. So he turns the ball over a lot, big deal. You don't have to make it so personal. Are Iverson, Wade, and Kobe terrible players? They turn the ball over just as much. More actually.
