Trying to see the Professional Basketball player in Steve Francis is futile. I?ve learned. Raw "street talent" and physical ability is thrilling to watch sometimes, but the plodding dribble and head up your A** non-awareness of open men and the importance of passing is inexcusable after this long. Trade him and the 2nd stringer Mobley. Watching a slick passing smooth ball moving team is like medicine after watching the Rocket's over-paid hardheads.
Shouldn't this be on the Houston thread. Anyways, what a time to play like your regular season status with all those turnovers. Yao lost the ball a whole in tonights game. Oh well, Rocket fans just have to look foward to next year.
remember that play in the third quarter when Francis tipped the ball to himself in half court and there was a 2-on-1 fastbreak with Jim Jackson and instead of passing, he tried to do it by himself and was fouled by George?. Pathetic, that is not a PG, period.
i would have rather steve scored instead of making a pass, simply because most his passes go awry anyway...but how come yall always complaining about Steve? Steve did not lose this series for us, Yao's lack of aggressiveness and ability to pick up fouls at an uncanny rate were more detrimental...or how about the lack of bench depth?...Steve was the least of the problems in this series...open yalls eyes...
I somewhat agree with HoustonHoopa in the sense that Steve didn't lose the series for us. I mean, sure, he may not be the best at creating plays on the break, but in the half court game, he's pretty damn dangerous. I'd like to see the Rockets establish a better pick and roll strategy though.
Whoever DOESNT thinks that Steve Francis is a BIG reason we lost this series is an idiot. I'm not saying he's the ONLY reason, but come on, let's be real, so what if the guy scores 20+ppg when he averages double digit TOs? (I'm exaggerating here of course)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">Whoever DOESNT thinks that Steve Francis is a BIG reason we lost this series is an idiot. I'm not saying he's the ONLY reason, but come on, let's be real, so what if the guy scores 20+ppg when he averages double digit TOs? (I'm exaggerating here of course)</div> You do realize that without Francis this series woulda been a blowout, with scores like last nite's game?? Francis is arguably the most athletic PG in the league, and he KEPT us in games when Yao seemed allergic to the ball...so, to flip the script a lil, whoever DOESNT think that Steve Francis was a BIG reason why we were competitive in this series is an idiot...
Francis made or break the team. Simple as that. What does that tell you? Is that what a good PG does? No. A good PG would get Yao to not shy away from the ball and tell him to set up down low and work it. Obviously Yao didn't do that because Francis was dribbling all over the place with his head up in his ass. I do not disagree when you said Francis is one of the most athletic PG, everybody knows that. Francis kept us in game because of his street ball playing style, is that what you want? 20 Turnover games? The series could've easily been 2-2 or even 3-1 in our favor if we had just 10 less turnovers created by the frantic basketball style Francis played. Steve did keep us competitive but so what, we won one game, big deal, he's the one that lost us the series. Again, I don't understand why anyone would want to keep Francis at the PG spot. He is NOT a PG, and HoustonHoopa, unless you can explain to me why Francis is a good PG for this team, as far as I'm concerned you have no knowledge of basketball whatsoever. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting HoustonHoopa33:</div><div class="quote_post">You do realize that without Francis this series woulda been a blowout, with scores like last nite's game??</div> Francis WAS playing last night and we DID get blown out. So what's your point?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">Francis made or break the team. Simple as that. What does that tell you? Is that what a good PG does? No. A good PG would get Yao to not shy away from the ball and tell him to set up down low and work it. Obviously Yao didn't do that because Francis was dribbling all over the place with his head up in his ass. I do not disagree when you said Francis is one of the most athletic PG, everybody knows that. Francis kept us in game because of his street ball playing style, is that what you want? 20 Turnover games? The series could've easily been 2-2 or even 3-1 in our favor if we had just 10 less turnovers created by the frantic basketball style Francis played. Steve did keep us competitive but so what, we won one game, big deal, he's the one that lost us the series. Again, I don't understand why anyone would want to keep Francis at the PG spot. He is NOT a PG, and HoustonHoopa, unless you can explain to me why Francis is a good PG for this team, as far as I'm concerned you have no knowledge of basketball whatsoever. Francis WAS playing last night and we DID get blown out. So what's your point?</div> oooo right, and u do have knowledge just cuz u think francis isnt a PG ...step back... the Rockets, if you paid attention, actually didnt play a frenetic style for the most part...and when they did, yes, it resulted in turnovers...but not only by Francis...EVERYBODY...particularly Yao and Jim Jackson...Francis kept us in games by being smart with his shot selection and knowing when to be aggressive when the team needed it...i mean, really, he won game 3 for us all by himself...had a triple double in game 2...what more do you want from him?...how about asking JJ and Mobley to play how they did late in the series earlier?...or asking Yao to get deep in the paint and be aggressive?...or how about some bench help, besides Mo T?...or how about someone atleast closing out on Karl Malone, the man is a top 50 player afterall... Francis was the Rockets' MVP this series...a series in which he KNEW his play would be scrutinized by the Rockets' brass and the public...and he came out ahead...how about whining about REAL problems (lack of a PF, lack of depth, the abscence of Mobley/JJ thru games 1-2, Yao's incredible lack of aggressiveness) before whining about the one player who played with the most heart and effort throughout the series...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting HoustonHoopa33:</div><div class="quote_post">oooo right, and u do have knowledge just cuz u think francis isnt a PG ...step back...</div> The point was, I have more basketball knowledge than you because I, like everybody in this forum, knows that Francis is not a PG but you do. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting HoustonHoopa33:</div><div class="quote_post">the Rockets, if you paid attention, actually didnt play a frenetic style for the most part...and when they did, yes, it resulted in turnovers...but not only by Francis...EVERYBODY...particularly Yao and Jim Jackson...</div> The Rockets played w/o rythm and everybody knows that. We would get some sort of rythm going and then someone would panic out and there goes the whole team's rythm. Whose fault is that? The PG. I said it right above your post but apparently you didn't pay attention: The PG is supposed to control the team to NEVER play frenetically. That's his JOB. Yao and Jim played out of sync. Why? Because Francis doesn't set them up right, dribbles around playing streetball and playing out of sync himself. Part of this is the other players' fault but half of the fault is on the PG. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting HoustonHoopa33:</div><div class="quote_post">how about whining about REAL problems (lack of a PF, lack of depth, the abscence of Mobley/JJ thru games 1-2, Yao's incredible lack of aggressiveness) before whining about the one player who played with the most heart and effort throughout the series...</div> I never questioned Francis' heart or effort. I did "whine" about the issues above in the other thread (The ESPN article one about Rockets getting swept). Feel free to check it out. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting HoustonHoopa33:</div><div class="quote_post">Francis kept us in games by being smart with his shot selection</div> You know what, that quote alone convinced me that you don't know anything about basketball. I don't have to explain why. There's no hope.
for the most part, Steve was very smart with his shots..even the commentators noted it several times...of course, there were instances where he had brain farts and would try to go 1-on-1, but for those were of the few...and they were out of rhythm, why? their offense goes thru Yao...so when he turns it over countless times or shoots fadeways 90% of the time, it discourages your team...the man is 7'6" and shot countless 18-20 footers and fadeaways...he did not challenge Shaq and did not attack aggressively and has a real problem with handling and catching the ball...If anything, Francis proved he deserves at least one more season to master JVG's system as a PG...he played like the All-Star he was voted as this series, and anyone who thinks less is lying to themselves...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting PariaH:</div><div class="quote_post">I somewhat agree with HoustonHoopa in the sense that Steve didn't lose the series for us. I mean, sure, he may not be the best at creating plays on the break, but in the half court game, he's pretty damn dangerous. I'd like to see the Rockets establish a better pick and roll strategy though.</div> exactly...there are various types of PGs...Francis is an athletic one who can create for himself and also showed great progress in creating for others...he averaged 20 pts, 8 rebs and 8 asts for the series...the Rockets did not exploit the pick-and-roll defense enough, instead choosing to go to Yao isolated in the post, which DID NOT work at all...the Lakers did not have an answer for Francis, and whenever you have such an advantage, you do not trade or move him, you just keep working with him knowing you've got the tools you need to become a dominant player...
The reason that Francis tried to do it all himself on occasions were because Jeff Van Gundy recognized his hard work and gave him the green light, somewhat as a reward. He may have settled on the jump shot too much and lost the ball occasionally, but who's perfect? This might as well be a turning point for his career.
