Who was better in their 4th year? Steve Francis or James Harden?

You omitted a key stat:

Francis: 5.9 FTM
Harden: 9.5 FTM

You also omitted the fact that Francis was 25 in his 4th season and Harden is only 23. Which is a HUGE difference. At age 25 you're expected to be entering your peak years. At age 23 you're expected to still improve for a couple more seasons.

 

Woe those are very similar numbers. The only difference between them is that this is Hardens 1st year as "The #1 Option" so Harden can actually improve!! As for Francis I think he was a bit underrated to bad injuries messed his career up. Rockets could of had Francis, Artest, TMac, Scola, Ming & Battier 6th man

 

I have watched at least 200 Steve Francis games in my life, several live. And I have no clue how anyone who has watched both players would claim they're "similar." But that's just how I remembered Stevie.

One thing I will note about the stats you listed, Morey feels the box score sucks, and have his own system for measuring players. Just a heads up in case future personnel decisions don't make sense from your perspective.

 

talking about francis...

i would LOVE to watch a prime steve francis go up against the great pgs today...westbrook, rose, irving, cp3...that would be awesome television.

 

x2.... I dont see how they are similar in any way..... Francis is one of my fav players ever but cmon.... Francis couldnt just turn it on in the 4th Q and flat out carry the team like Harden does..... Its not even close...... Ok I'm sleepy... Too late for this...

 

Easily Harden. If you ever watched Francis, you'd know that he is not even remotely as skilled as Harden. He has better handles but that's it, and hops.

Harden is better shooter, better at getting to the rim, better free throw shooter.

 

The ONLY thin similar about them is that they play a lot of one on one. Their games aside from that are nothing alike.

 

Harden is without a doubt the better player in my opinion. Although Francis had great athletic ability I don't think he had the basketball IQ that Harden already has and Harden is just amazing going to the basket.

 

Harden is far superior, imo.

His stats will look better at seasons end as well.

 

Absolutely! I've always thought that the worst part of the NBA trade rules is that the player you trade actually has to leave your team. DAMN YOU STERN!!1!

 

I certainly know who I'd rather have on my team.

 

franchise had migraine lol

 

Easily Harden ...

 

Although Francis shoots a better %? Look, I love harden. But Francis in his prime is a pretty damn good player, if anything he gets to the rim at will just not getting as many calls.

 

I liked stevie but he was a SG playing PG. At least Harden actually plays his position.

Given that, Stevie was one of the most athletic PGs to ever play.

 

Well thats good for Morey, aint it


Which is saying that as long as Morey acquires a player based on his own methodology, there is "no reason to discuss" and compare players

 

Harden is the better player.

Though can consider that Harden plays in a much faster pace offense than Francis did. Francis played in a slooow pace (partly cuz of iso scheme, lot of it because of Francis himself really). Francis would put up a little more numbers playing in this current offense as the #1 option.

Harden is just more polished though. Steadier decision maker when he's not forcing the action. And even when he's forcing the action, he can get lots of trips the the free throw line as a result.

 

Stern keeps screwing the Rockets.

 

I'm saying what the OP consider to be key stats are not shared by this front office. It doesn't really stop the discussion. Most of the stuff in GARM revolves around box score stats. So I'm not sure where you're coming from here. Morey has repeatedly said Harden is a foundation player. I don't think he's ever alluded to Francis being of similar caliber.

Personally, I don't see any difference simply by watching them on the court. Never got the "superstar" vibe from Francis in any of the years here. Got it from Harden from his first game as a Rocket.