I start to watch the game because of Yao, and I think Steve is the best player in the team. When he is playing like himself, he is like a beast. How many times have you see steve overpower much taller player on rebounding, jumpball? countless. That is just an example. He is the natural leader!!! Mark Jackson is not!!! JVG just has to find a way to bring Steve back to his game. I think he plays Mark Jackson way too long!!! Put the ball in Steve's hand, let him play himself in about half of the offense.
Francis doesn't work well when he doesn't have the ball. It's that simple. You have 3 options: 1. Play him with Yao as little as possible, let him do his thing while Yao isn't playing.. but when Yao is playing, it must go through the middle. 2. Trade Steve for someone who can play with Yao. 3. Wait to see if Steve can figure it out. There's always the 4th option, but I think it's rather ridiculous. You could trade Yao for someone to compliment Steve better. But, then, Steve ain't gonna improve much at his age, especially with how reliant he is upon athleticism (which will only fade). We already know he's not good enough to carry a championship team. Yao might be. Besides, Yao's great games are better than Steve's great games.
No. I can assure that after these guys lose their first game, we will see the 'trade for a better PF' posts everywhere on this board.
Props to the "real man of genius" posts, really funny. Now to business, Francis is being ask to play in a Highly Organized and Structured System, maybe for the first time in his basketball career. He has "freelanced" and "streetballed" his way into the NBA. He has "mad hops," his athleticism is over the top, perhaps the best one-on-one, break your man down, iso player in the league. But in the game JVG is playing Francis is struggling and his weaknesses in "basketball fundamentalls" are on display. He will make the transition or he won't. He has probably never been asked to do what he is doing now. Time will tell, but it is really painful to watch.
It is painful to watch. Very painful, but if there is any good perspective it is that Steve seems to be trying to change his game. He plays harder on defense for one and that could be taking some energy away. He is trying to be a playmaker, it's just his decision making isn't perfect. There are a lot of times when he drove to the basket and had a wide open lay-up only to pass it out. His head is in the right place, but like it's been pointed out this is a change for him. Hopefully he can adjust his game and become the star we need him to be. For all the bashing, he is a very talented player who is in a slump. I believe he will come around. BTW when did this post become "SF + filler for Tmac= TRADE ACCEPTED!!!"
So, there's a preetty serious difference here. Kobe's still a pretty damn good player even with Shaq on the court, and vice-versa. They have chemistry problems that boil over in the locker-room, but I've yet to see either player struggle *on the court* (with the team visibly suffering as a result) because of the presence of the other player. And then, there's Yao and Steve. Yao and Steve *don't* have any visable chemistry problems, in or out of the locker room. But the two are also well-suited for totally different types of games. When both are on the court at the same time, one or the other is being totally wasted. When Steve gets the ball too much, Yao's reduced to running wind-sprints going back and forth on the court without ever sniffing the basketball. When Yao gets the ball too much, Steve's exposed as the poor perimeter set-shot guy that he is (at least this year).
Yao is not strong as Shaq, and SF is a good shooter as Kobe. It may be too difficult to change these two at the same time.
yes but YAO and Francis will never be a Shaq and Kobe. Its like comparing apples and oranges Even though he lacks the strength, Yao is a much smarter player than Shaq. He has many more years in him to improve where shaq is probably close to the apex of his career. Kobe is a different type of player to Francis. I don't think Francis will ever be as good as Kobe, but that doesnt mean that Francis isnt a good player.
I don't think you can equate Francis with Defense. Next time when you watch the games, count how many times he gets beat off the dribble
I love Yao, but Shaq is much smarter than most think. His passing and court awareness, imo, are excellent. Just because brute force is his forte doesn't mean he's not a smart basketball player. He'd be stupid to play a finesse game.
I think the point of the Shaq/Kobe and Yao/Francis comparisons isn't a literal comparison. The idea is that if Shaq and Kobe, two of the top 5 players in the league who both dominate the ball and shoot 15-20 times each game, can have chemistry and win championships together, there is no reason that Yao and, specifically SF, cannot learn to do the same. Yao is an excellent passer/overall player who doesn't need to dominate the ball to be effective, so why can't SF be more like that and learn to simply play smart? There is no reason that can't be done unless Francis does not make that attempt.
FRANCIS SUCKS, I'll never buy another ticket till he goes.... rockets will never win with selfish, no defense, no shooting, NO ALL STAR guard......bye bye stevie....3/17 tonite, less than 20%, GET RID OF HIM NOW.........
It is easy to get assists in an up and down game for the first 3 quarters, but once Sacremento started the 4th, they shut it down...and Steve went into panic mode again. DD
I'm with you. We all know his game is off. People complain that he is too selfish, then he has a game like tonight where he makes 13 assists and its still not good enough for them.
