Last year JVG played 8 man rotation and people here got pretty mad about it. This team will be ready by Dec so before then 10 man rotation is highly possible.
Trading Rafer before opening night there's not so many good deals. I still believe Rafer will get traded later on before the trade deadline.
It's reported by that Chinese reporter Wang Meng. I cannot find the article now. It happened during the first preseason game.
How do you know? If he winds up not being able to outplay Rafer, then that is not going to happen. Us seeing Francis turn the ball over too much will just put frowns on all of our faces. In turn, we certainly can't expect to see him out on the floor very much except in garbage time. I'm sure that most everybody on this board had aspirations that MJ and SF3 would be big upgrades over Rafer at the starting PG position during the offseason. As we can all see right now, that just isn't the case, although we'll still have to wait and see how the rest of the preseason and at least the first couple months of the regular season turn out before we can just jump to conclusions. A little logic might tell you that if MJ and SF3 were not starting PGs on lottery teams, then perhaps they can't be starting PGs on this team either. Maybe Aaron Brooks might be the upgrade over Rafer at the starting PG position at some time down the road.
1. Rafer 26 mins, MJ 11 mins, Steve 11 mins. 2. Tmac 18 mins, Bonzi 12 mins, MJ 9 min, Steve 9 mins. 3. Shane 30 mins, TMac 12 mins, Bonzi 8 mins. 4. Scola 24 mins, Hayes 24 mins. 5. Yao 32 min, Scola 8 mins, Deke 8 mins. 9 men rotation: Yao 32 mins, Scola 32 mins, Shane 30 mins, Tmac 30 mins, Rafer 26 mins Bonzi 20 mins, MJ 20 mins, Steve 20 mins, Deke 8 mins. Shane can slide to 4 while playing face-up PFs, Scola slides more mins to 5. Deke's 8 mins will be taken by Kirk/Harris at 3.
Should be 10 men rotation: Yao 32 mins, Scola 32 mins, Shane 30 mins, Tmac 30 mins, Rafer 26 mins Bonzi 20 mins, MJ 20 mins, Steve 20 mins, Chuck 24 mins, Deke 8 mins.
francis will get plenty of playing time.. i think hes ahead of head at the backup 2 and since someone always gets hurt hell see plenty of time
The thing about this roster is that most of the players are able to play multiple positions. Which makes mixing and match different line up easy. But having a roster like this doesnt seem to be easy because someone will not get minutes. This roster has to many special players and that's a good problem to have. As far as Stevie goes he is too much of a scorer, a rebounder, a leader, and a spark plug to let go to waste on the bench. He will get his minutes, even if its only 5-10 minutes a game. Go Rockets!
If McGrady is giving up even one second so that Francis can play, this team is the lesser for it. I said before that the talent level on this team last year was such that bringing in Francis and James were upgrades. Rafer has, apparently raised his game. If he is now the best PG on the team then, in an effort to put the best players on the floor, the team must now decide between James and Francis getting the backup minutes. Again, if Head gets traded to keep Francis then we are not serving the best interest of the team this year or in the future. Obviously, I have not fogotten what Steve did during his tenure here and in the time since he was gone. I honestly want to know why there is such a huge Francis fan club. The guy who mentioned that Francis has ADD may be right. The guy acted like an imature child through college and the Vancouver fiasco. He has never made a good decision on a basketball court nor made another player better. IF Alston has truly solidified his place as the starting PG on this team then PLEASE tell me how having Francis playing makes this team better. He does not play D at all and is a liability there. He cannot make an entry pass to the low post to save his life. He is neither a jump shooter nor a 3 pt shooter. His A/TO ratio sucks. He can rebound and that is about it.
I have to agree. I think SF will eventually start. Francis just doesn't seem to do as well coming off the bench and it's not necessarily because of he'd be unhappy coming off the bench. He just needs to get in the rhythm of the game before he's able to contribute alot. Personally, I would start him for 10-20 mins/game, then decide whether to play him most of the game or put someone else in. Just because he hasn't been doing all that well in the preseason doesn't necessarily mean RA won't or shouldn't start him. He didn't exactly get alot of minutes the first game and the second game was a bit of a blow-out. Putting Head ahead of Francis because of the first two preseason games is a bit ridiculous in my opinion just based on facts alone. But, RA's seen all the practices and is a good coach, so I'm sure he knows better than any of us who's really going to help the most when the regular season starts.
Yeah, he could probably be used how J-Wil was used in Sac. He'd start most of the games but when it came down to the 4th quarter, Bobby Jax was in there closing out the games. It could be vice versa. Rafer starting but Steve getting the majority of the minutes. Steve is a clutch player so you might want him out there in the 4th.
All of that may be true, but I think you've got some misconceptions. Francis does play D. He gets bashed about it constantly, but if you look at the stats, he played very good D back when he was 'the franchise' and I certainly would not consider him a liability now. In addition to improved rebounding, he can also be a significant scoring threat and can create mismatches if the other team is focused on stopping Yao and TMac. Just because he takes it to the rim better than taking a jump shot or a 3pt doesn't mean he can't score well in this offense. Obviously, with that first statement you're trying to cover your butt, because it's quite clear with your over-exaggerations (i.e. "He has never made a good decision on a basketball court nor made another player better.") that you're a Francis hater. Can't we all just focus on being Rocket's fans?
My moniker says it all. I am a Rox fan but truly want to know what he is bringing to the table that the makes him a better option than Rafer, James, Head, Wells, Brooks or even Snyder that he would deserve minutes. The only thing is that he is a cheap option to put in to score and run the team but when he is in the whole offense changes from a team offense to the Stevie Francis show. He is not good enough to rate that kind of treatment. Never was. He had opportunities in ORL, NYC and PORT and no one wanted what he had to offer. He was all being the guy but is now slower and apparently no smarter. I just don't see him being worth keeping over just about anyone else. He was signed to help upgrade the talent on this team. Now that Alston may have raised the ante, he complicates things as he does not done anything to mathch the ante and therefore does not deserve court time. He has gambled and lost. He should have taken more money to go elsewhere. He SHOULD be the odd man out here.
mike james and francis are the same type of player except james is much better in this offense. francis defintely cant replace head's 3 point shooting so i have head getting more minutes than him. why would we replace james for a lesser and ineffective version of him?
Completely agree. Rafer will be starting so the question is: what exactly does Francis offer that James doesn't? imho James is better in every aspect to Francis.
Playoff basketball always comes down to who can play defense and who can hit outside shots. In our new offense... the reason for the cutters is two fold. 1. To get easy layups 2. To get open outside looks. In the post season, the easy layups will decrease as teams tighten up on defense and clog the lane/Yao. That places a premium on outside shooting. Head is a much better outside, spot up shooter than Stevie. James is much a better outside, spot up shooter than Stevie. Alston and Stevie might be a wash. Come playoffs, who would you rather take the outside shots created by TMac and Yao being doubled? Head, James or Stevie?
Why does everyone keep bringing up Steve's 3pt shooting ability? In case you didn't notice the new offense, we aren't going to live and die by the 3 point shot like last year. This new offense is intended to get guys easier shots. Last year, We lacked guys that could penetrate the defense. That is what Francis brings, he knows how to attack the basket strong, create a play or draw the foul. Oh, and when did TWO decent preseason games solidify your starting spot? IMO, there hasn't been enough time to evaluate and see who will work best with each other. Give everyone at least the entire preseason before you start writing guys off.
Well all I know is head's shooting sucked last post season. So thats a bad argument. I think we are gettin ahead of ourselves. They might all get playin time. But for some reason I see head going. He's not playin very good in the preseason games either only in practice. I think it's far too early to tell what adelman is thinkin with any players besides yao and tracy and maybe even scola.
