Where will Steve Francis peak... statwise. Stats list numbers from all 3 years: Total Points: 18.0, 19.9, 21.5 Shots made: 6.45, 6.86, 7.16 Points per attempt: 2.21, 2.40, 2.64 Free Throw Points: 3.73, 3.43, 2.58 FG%: .445, .451, .429 FGA: 14.5, 15.2, 16.7 FT%: .786, .817, .776 FTA: 4.74, 4.20, 3.32 Assists: 6.6, 6.5, 6.6 Rebounds: 5.30, 6.90, 7.30 Steals: 1.53, 1.76, 1.22 Points: Each year Steve takes more shots and scores more points. He scores more off of 3 point shots each year and less off foul shots each year. I wouldn't expect his role in the offense to continue to expand in the form of more shots, but we know that Rudy wanted him to take more shots this year, so the return of Mo Taylor shouldn't take away from that stat. If we assume that his migraines are partially to blame for the drop in FG% this year, I would think that he could make it all the way up to a .46 percentage at some point in the next few years. Also, I'll just assume that his foul shot attempts and ratio of 3-point to 2-point shots stabilize after this year while his FT% returns to .817. That said, Steve has the potential to reach a point average of 22.9 per game, which would rank 11th in the league this year (as opposed to his current 21st ranking). The only way I see it going higher than that is if takes more shots (unlikely in my mind). Assists: No change in the first 3 years. I don't see that changing significantly in the future. Rebounds: He has increased his average each year, but hopefully Eddie will steal some of those numbers. Could it be possible for him to increase even more? If the Rockets continue their current trend of pushing the ball more often could he do it? Jason Kidd never made it past 5.80. I don't have the slightest idea.
Well, I'm hoping that 4 turnovers a game is the worst he'll do for his career... That stat can't get much worse...can it?
I think if he was fully healthy (no migraines) franchise could score 28-30. I think the skills are there. However, there is only one way he does that, and that is if Cat is injured for an extended period of time. If Cat went down, Steve would be forced to take more shots. That said, I think Cat + Steve will peak at 45-50 ppg and stabilize there long term. One's scoring will begin to take away from the other. But I think both could average 25 if they wanted to. Another note. It is not a good thing when your point guard is averaging more rebounds than assists. Final note, unrelated, on Cuttino Mobley. If you look at his shooting percentages, it is amazing how consistent they are over his career except for one #. FG% and FT% are both within a single % point every year and up until this year, so was 3%. But this year, Cuttino has jumped his 3% 6 perc. points over his career average. Hopefully this is a career change and not an anomoly. But that improvement combined with the 5 extra minutes a game are where his extra 1.5 ppg are coming from this year. Ideally I would like to see Cuttino averaging 25 ppg and Steve 22 ppg each on an average of 35 minutes a game. 40 for Franchise and 42 for Cat is way too much long term.
