Young guy looking for some Rockets history context

I was born in during the first championship run so the first time I actually started watching basketball was during the late-Francis / early-McGrady days.

Even with my limited basketball knowledge at 9 years old, I knew Steve Francis was not playing the way basketball should be played at an NBA level. My only memories of him in a Rockets' uniform are of him dribbling 35 feet away from the basket then chucking up a long three pointer as the shot clock wore down. Sure the highlight dunks and alley-oops with Cat were exciting but not in any way a method to win basketball games consistently.

Looking back at the Francis years now, one thing that caught my eye was that he really didn't think like a point guard at all. I believe in the 2001 draft, or when Lamar Odom was coming to the NBA, Steve Francis was quoted in saying that Lamar Odom would be a great addition to the team because Lamar could run the breaks with he and Mobley on the wings. The point guard is supposed to be the one running the break while wing players run the wing.

As others have said, he was an extremely poor man's version of the Westbrook. He had the talent to be a total game changer but wasted it trying to break ankles every possession.

It has been said that JVG is almost completely bald now because he kept pulling his hair trying to coach Steve.

 

Ultimately we didn't understand at that time that Francis was an alcoholic and his great athleticism quickly deteriorated to the point that when he and Cat were traded for T-Mac, there was little weeping and gnashing of teeth and more euphoria of acquiring a legit superstar. Of course we had no way of knowing then that T-mac's career would basically go the same way.

 

Steve Francis had a great rookie year, and then he never improved one bit from that. He actually regressed.

The second Franchise lost his quick first step his career was over.

Harden is in a whole different tier than Francis could even dream of.

 

I liked Steve Francis. But I would have traded 100 Franchises for TMac at the time. God, that trade was so huge! Ultimately, he didn't quite work out, either, but acquiring McGrady for who we did raised the team's ceiling significantly. Francis just wasn't that superstar that you need.

 

He wore a Rockets jersey so I rooted for him and thought he'd be the next great PG.

I remember him for his awesome athleticism, all-out energy, overdribbling, the migraines and ultimately the trade that brought us T-Mac.

I also recall he and Mobley wanting to trade the #1 pick we were going to use to acquire Yao for Lamar Odom. Glad that didn't happen.

 

It was a tough era to be a fan in. My favorite memory of those years was in Francis's rookie year when we won at Vancouver in overtime. Francis and Barkley basically took over the game with the crowd there booing Francis and chanting "Barkley sucks!" over and over. Unfortunately Barkley's career was done pretty soon after that. It's almost weird to think about that Francis and Barkley played together for a short time.

 

Francis had athleticism and heart. I think we would have beat Dallas if we kept him and Mobley. Even when we sucked, he would go shot for shot with Kobe, Iverson, whoever.