How many times have you heard Francis apologist say "Steve is not a real PG, he's a shooting guard so he should SHOOT, NOT pass." Or, you'll hear, "He does pass, but his teammates miss their shots...!" BULL CRAP!!!!! Here is the problem with that type of thinking. For one, it does NOT matter what position you play. A SF, PF, C, SG can all learn how to make the pass, and "make their teammates better." Divac, Kareem, Bird, Jordan, Kobe and yes even Steve NASH (that might sound silly, but what he lacks in athletic ability he makes up in basketball IQ)! When ChenZen, or Codell, or GATOR says that a player should "make his teammates better." That doesn't mean JUST passing them the ball! You must help your *average teammates* be better by setting them up with the easiest scoring opportunity possible. This is an old Celtic rule. It means, that your best player (Francis) will use his natural *athletic talent* to the utmost of his ability to "make space" or "create opportunities" so his teammates can get the MOST WIDE OPEN chances for scoring. And I don't just mean kicking it out to an open teammate on the 3-point line. I mean, inside and outside passing. Sometimes three passes on one inside play. Again that means teamwork too. How were the Celtics of old able to get wide open lay-ups from their scrub players??? Your best player must SELL the idea that he COULD SCORE, but yet pass at the last second. If he doesn't SELL the idea that he's going to score, then he will just pass to his teammate in a awkward situation (zone, or doubling your man while sagging on the open man). You would never have a sagging doubleteam if you made your opponents THINK that you were really trying to score. Francis can't make his mind up. He's not sure if he's going to pass or drive for the lay-up. So, he gives his opponents a chance to recover and cover both options. This will never work. Francis will never make his teammates better unless he learns this skill. YOU MUST SELL/ DECEIVE YOUR OPPONENT THAT YOU ARE GOING TO SCORE!!! MAKE THEM BELIEVE IT! One of the best books on b-ball is "The Essence of the game is deception." NOT PREDICTABILITY! P.S. What the Rockets are doing now are 4 or 5 passes around the top of the key, only to be right back where we started: an ISO situation. Don't pass, JUST TO PASS. You must PASS, to setup another PASS a split second after! The three pass plays the Kings run are awesome! That's why moving without the ball is stressed so much around the league.
I like the overall tone of your post. The only thing I could possibly add is this. Steve Francis is an incredibly gifted athlete. Unfortunately (IMO), his realm of experiences has led him to emphasize only the physical aspects of his game. I was excited that working with John Lucas this summer had taught him more about making quality (mental) decisions. When I didn't see this at Indiana, I became disappointed. But I remain optimistic. Another great point you mentioned - There is an intrinsic beauty to basketball when an offense is run solely from the standpoint of efficiency. It is almost like watching a master artist.
We were 2-26 without him last seaon, so he obviously is pretty damn valuable to this team, and he does make players around him better.
TheReason, there's no question that Steve isn't a gifted athelete. He is. But for all the amazing things he does 50% of the time, he does 50% other things that just make me want to pull my hair out!
The main beef with Steve is that he takes a lot of ill-advised shots, such as those 20 ft jumpers off the dribble that he so loves to shoot. As the PG, he must be the one to initiate the passing. Anyone who has played 5-on-5 basketball knows how contagius passing or ballhogging can be. If you know that your teammates will pass to you, you are more likely to give up the ball yourself. If you know that your teammates will just shoot it, you are more likely to take a bad shot yourself.
David, I just would like to give you credit where credit is due. You have quite the ability to sum things up nicely when different posters in threads are trying to say something, yet cant quite get their point across through their typed words. If this forum were a baseball team, you would be Billy Wagner. Posters get the thread to the 9th inning and you drop the hammer in a way where everyone can find commond ground. Keep up the good work. I thoroughly enjoy reading your thoughts.
The kid is 25. Jordan did it. So did Olajuwon. Kobe still does it. Shaq did it. Name a great player whose primary responsibility wasn't distributing the ball and I'll show you a guy who forced it way too often in his youth. There were exceptions like Magic and Larry Bird, but those were RARE. Young, super talented players try to do more than they should. How quickly we forget how often Jordan was labelled the most gifted ballhog in basketball. How quickly we forget the elbow-flinging, referee-killing, no-passing AKEEM Olajuwon. It took those guys YEARS to figure out how to win the big one by trusting your teammates. It's even worse now because of the glorification of the individual athlete that occurred in the 90's in the NBA. Suddenly, it was cool to be a street balla. Well, guess what, that stuff is fine on the playground but it doesn't work in the NBA. Worse still, it is boring as hell. I'm not surprised Francis is who he is. The guy is one of the most gifted athletes in the NBA. He wants to succeed and has been handed the ball and told to go out there and put up numbers since he was in middle school. It's not a habit that is going to go away quickly. It may take him another 3, 4, 5 years just to get it straight. If the NBA were easy, young teams would be winning rings every year and we all know that is NOT the case.
I think that is the big x-factor. Does Francis have the ability to become a great passer? If so, will he ever be able to harness that ability and in turn, make his teamates better? Gosh, I sure hope so. I cant help but be skeptical. I hope that both Francis and Mobley "get it" one day and go from being good NBA basketball players into great ones.
I'll give you that one on Jordan. "All flash and no substance," they use to say. Akeem on the other hand was a special case. Defense and rebounding was his gift. But his overall understanding of the game was low. Blame in on his international roots, and lack of understanding of the US culture. Hakeem was years behind Francis in this regard. That's the one thing I DO like about Francis: He has that all-American cockiness. Not too much(see Kobe). But just enough. He gives main-stream America just what they want; rappa, b-baller, hip-hop style play. It's flash, and upfront, and in your face. Hakeem was never like this. Thus, the Rockets never really got the nation wide coverage. Note: Hip-hop is "main-stream" because it has gone corporate. "Sprite: Obey your thirst!" http://sprite.rocketcash.com/home/ Francis on the other hand has Reebok commercials, magazine spreads, articles, EPSN coverage, and cameos on Inside Stuff. He's a true product of America. This is good. It gives the Rockets some coverage and legitimacy. This being said, Francis suffers the same problems that Jordan, Carter and Kobe had early in their careers; all flash and no substance. Be aware though, that Jordan was a "freak of nature" so he really is on another planet in terms of scoring. But, at least you get my point (?). Yeah, that's why I aways say, "I hope the Rockets make it to the playoffs so they can get their butts KICKED!!!!" Why? Well, like Jordan. It took the Detroit Pistons to TEACH Jordan what it took to win. Joe Dumars shutdown Jordan time and time again during a three year span. With all Jordan's flash, he could not win against the even-keel, no-nonsense Dumars. After getting his teeth kicked in for those 3 years, Jordan finally LEARNED how to win (as a team) in 1991, and the rest is history. I hope that Francis has a nemesis (Kobe, Bibby, Parker) in the next few years who will teach Francis HOW to win. He needs a wake up call, bad! P.S. This street-baller style is getting old. It's fun to watch, but it can't work in the NBA. I think that's why more and more international players are being taken in the draft. This is a good trend that wont end anytime soon. Brush up on your foreign languages people. Can you say, "Tskitishvili!?"
I see your point Jeff, but why can't Steve learn from history? Why doesn't he look and old tape of Jordan and compare it to Jordan's championship years? We do expect Steve to be one of those special guys who 'gets it' before the rest. There is no excuse for him not to learn. There are plenty of coaches and staff that will help him find what he needs. Hell, I'll go edit some tape for him. Also, Cuttino had more assists against the Nuggets than I've seen in a while and still scored his 29 points. I hope Cuttino learns a little from his own game and uses passing to open things up for himself.
DavidS, Well said. The only worry I have is whether Francis is smart enough to get it. What seperates a star player from a Superstar is all above the shoulders. Jordan is a great athlete, but he is a quicker thinker then most, as are Barkley, Magic, Hakeem etc..etc... They have the ability to recognize situations as they are developing and use that quick recognition to set things up for their teamates and themselves. I have not seen that from Steve at all, he seems to zone in on one thing, and then under duress or panic passes the ball out to a teamate as a last resort. Maybe Steve is not one of those "quick thinker" types. However, I think Yao may be. DaDakota
Wow, you really nailed it there. I always knew our isos did something that hurt the team more then not getting assists.
Ok, Steve Nash averaged only one more assists per game than Francis last year and suddenly he can be compared to Jordan, Karem , and Bird? Why don't you look at Nash's numbers when he was a 3rd year player. In the 40 games he played, all of which he started, he averaged 5.5 assists. I'm tired of all this complaining, 2 games into the season and so many people already throwing in the towel for the Rockets.
For 8 millionth time, assists don't really say much about passing. Nash passes the ball around several times a possesion more than Francis. Just because Nash passes it to someone, who doesn't shoot it and make the basket, does that mean Nash isn't passing, since he didn't get an assist?
Nash doesn't have Cato, Collier and a cold EG to pass to either. Steve will give it up more to MT, KT, Rice and Yao Ming (when he catches up).
if Francis can do something like Kobe did (triple-double),Rockets will be invincible.Look at lakers without big guy, they are the least talented team (except kobe), but because of kobe, they are better team! Can rockets do something like kobe did? Kobe had 12 assists, how many was Francis?
Oh, really. So when Steve passes and somebody bricks a shot(Rockets had the worst FG% in the league last year) it means something completely different. Talk about a double standard.
Tell me how YOU get an assist if there are three passes? It's not ONLY about STATS. It's about playing within the team. Making YOUR TEAMMATES BETTER! Also, I'm talking about Nash's efficiency!!!! I'm not saying that he's as great as Jordan, Kareem, and Bird. But Nash has the same offensive efficiency as those players. Remember Nash had 48.3FG%, 17.9PPG, 7.7APG, and 2.8 TOPG. Francis scored more, but shared less, and wasn't very efficient. Not good. One of these day the Rockets/Francis will get it. You'll see. Here's how you will know: WHEN YOU ARE WATCHING THE ROCKETS PLAY, AND YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW MANY POINTS STEVE, MOBLEY, YAO, NACHBAR, or GRIFFIN HAVE. ALL YOU KNOW IS THAT THE ROCKETS ARE PLAYING AS A TEAM. It's beautiful!!!
