he did pretty well the first season with magic (actually half) then that stupid hockey gm decided to trade cuttino for doug christie. he had no need to, and the magic were number 1 of the east at that time. then slowly, stevie just didn't have the passion i guess. got in arguements with the coach and as dwight howard improved, stevie declined. i don't think those two ever had a close connection like stevie and yao. then he gets traded to knicks, but he had that quad injury that kept bothering him. and he kept playing with it, but he did show glimpse. he averaged 20 points in the last part of the season when jamal crawford went down. now he had surgery to fix it, and we are just hoping the rehab can make him explosive again. now, it looks Stevie is dedicated from the interviews that pyruen showed us, but of course... we don't know what he truly thinks.
The best we can hope for is a Grant Hill type return, where he just learns to adjust his game to his injuries and play at about 80%. For Francis, that means about 9 and 3 coming off the bench. I fwe can get that it would be gravy, otherwise he's finished.
I think Francis could contribute off the bench, he can still attack the basket better than alston, but probadly not run the offense as efficient.
Don't think Francis is the passer that Alston is but ya gotta love his ability to get to the rim. We sorely lacked penetration type guards who could finish last year.
I don't think he will be in the rotation, no matter how we draft tomorrow.. It isn't that I think he still can't ball, I just think he won't have the work ethic to crack into RA's rotation.. Hopefully I am wrong because he still has talent and a few years left in that body of his...
The Championship years were fun, but the Rockets didnt really have that much highlights compared to the SF3 era. The Alleys,crossovers,blocks, that keep me in the game even tho we were loosing most of the time.
i voted yes i wouldn't be surprised to see steve playing again. a 10 and 6 guy for us coming off the bench isn't a bad idea.
If the surgery restored some of his mobility, I think he'll be in the rotation. Not the starting rotation, mind you, but an 8- or 9-man rotation.
I hope he will be, he's one of my favorite Rockets of all time. Bring Cat back and we can start from 2004 onwards again Seriously, I hope he will make the rotation but not as a PG because he's more of a SG. We will probably draft a SG and maybe if Head will be gone Francis can be the one behind T-mac and they can school the rookie. Hopefully, the guy will have a Landry impact and get 10-20 mins and Francis gets the remaining 10-12.
Verse, I love Stevie, but have to agree with everything you said. All 6 points are true. However ... Maybe I'm just a homer, but I still think that he might have enough ability, when healthy, to contribute off the bench. If healthy, I think he could run the point 15 minutes a game for this team.
if he is healthy and can somehow play the way he did in orlando before he was traded to the knicks i can see him starting. The way the nba is now some point guards are scorers more than a past first guard. Chris Paul, Deron Williams , Tony Parker, etc
I don't think Steve, himself, thinks he will be in the rotation. He sees the light unlike many Francis homers that can't face the facts.
What makes you say that? If he felt that way, he would have just hung it up. Steve is very determined to get back on court. You think he wants his career to end this way? Check out this recent interview:
Keep dreaming if it makes you feel good. It's your right. There are some differences but that is the type of stuff he said last summer. Given the surgery, his age, the amount of time he has been out, the fact that he never developed a bball IQ, Rafer Alston's presence, Aaron Brooks' presence, Bobby Jackson's presence, etc... it's hard to see Francis getting any signficant PT, if any at all. Unless there are multiple injuries between Alston, Brooks and Jackson, I give Steve a 0.1% chance of being in the rotation and a 0.01% chance of starting.
Thanks for that interview, hope he will be helpful since he's really a Maxwell type of players. Really an emotional player who won't back down, exactly what we need
Thanks for permission, Mr. Proven Prognosticator. Until you improve your track record, BB, your input is suspect.
