<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It's why the Orlando Magic have made him their new leader. It's why they will tolerate his turnovers and technical fouls, believing that his tenacity and temperament will permeate the roster, giving them the all-for-one, one-for-all, single-minded purpose they sorely lacked last season. "I'm here to lay it all down for the Magic," Francis said during training camp last week. "Team loyalty is something I believe in strongly. I always have. It's what I was taught from the beginning."</div> Full Story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/bask...?coll=orl-magic
I truly believe Steve Francis can lead this team. He is a very great player who really can get the job done. He didn't do very well in Houston because he had no back. It was just Steve Francis vs. All. Now that he's in Orlando, he has Howard to work with. I think he will have 20 ppg every night. Probably 4 apg and 42 mpg.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TMAC BALLA 1105:</div><div class="quote_post"> He didn't do very well in Houston because he had no back. It was just Steve Francis vs. All.</div> First of all he DID do well in Houston, he was a three time allstar starter. Secondly, to say that he had no back is disrespectful to Cuttino, and Yao.
I agree with Jurrasic. Steve was and still a great player. I'm real glad he came to Orlando. He also DID have other players surrounding him. But now he has even more good players.
Franchise has always been a very good player (even great by some accounts). His only achilles heal is his turnovers. If he could minimize this weakness, he'd be simply amazing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting XOver:</div><div class="quote_post">Franchise has always been a very good player (even great by some accounts). His only achilles heal is his turnovers. If he could minimize this weakness, he'd be simply amazing.</div> I wouldn't critize his turnovers. Based on the tempo he played under Rudy Tomjanovich his first four years in Houston, it was very reasonable that Francis got turnovers. He had to be the primary handler of the ball, and a lot of his passes were meant to be alley oops that his teammates couldn't catch and convert. In his last season in Houston, I'd credit his turnovers more to the lack of chemistry between his teammates and him, which is no one's fault. While other guards like Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson, and Baron Davis are just as turnover prone like Francis is, you rarely hear them being criticized for it as much as Francis is. Why? I'd sure like to know.
I'm going to make a bold prediction here: Steve Francis will be a MVP candidate if he can lead the Magic to a top six finish in the East. He will probably average numbers the likes of 22/6/7, which are probably enough to make him a top 10 candidate for the MVP award.
I like Steve Francis, but I question his ability to be a leader, he hasn't shown anything for me to think that he can be the leader of a team. There is no question that he is very talented player, but he never even took his team to the playoffs until he got a good big man to team up with and Jeff Van Gundy to coach him. Can Dwight Howard be that big man that Stevie needs? I don't think so(at least not as a rookie). Can Johnny Davis be that coach that can keep the Franchise under control? Who knows, but I doubt it. He's going to put up great numbers, there's no doubt about that but I just don't think he has what it takes to be a leader, but I hope he suprises me.
A Leader has to have perserverence. And to watch him play with Houston last season, and to see him whine about not having the ball, and to see his production drop was sad. I do feel he is talented, however he is a SG trapped in a PG's body. He can average a high number of assists, and yet not be a great, true point guard. For leadership, I would look more to Grant Hill then to Steve Francis. I know a lot of people would talk about Hill being "washed up", and that he will never be as good as he was. On the Lakers last year, who was the leader? Kobe, Shaq, Payton? No, it was Karl Malone. The guy who put up the worst numbers since he was a rookie, the role player, Karl Malone. Leadership is not something you can measure by Points Per game or measuring a vertical jump. You measure it by personality, and perserverence. Thats why Francis may be the "Franchise Player", but when it comes down to it Grant Hill will be that teams leader.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mr. Sonic:</div><div class="quote_post"> He's going to put up great numbers, there's no doubt about that but I just don't think he has what it takes to be a leader, but I hope he suprises me.</div> I disagree. I was kind of down on Francis last year when he was with the Rockets. I thought he made poor decisions with the ball and Van Gundy's system didn't utilize his skills. But my impression was that he was a very good vocal leader on the team, and he got along very well with his teammates. He's also a very coachable, respectful player for the most part. He's not a headcase, like some people in the media who don't really know anything were saying last year. I think Francis will have his best all around year next season. Last year was a useful maturation year for him, and now that he has more freedom again he'll really take it to another level. I see very good things for the Magic this season.
One thing that needs to be clarified here is that Francis had a great season last year. Sure, his scoring had dropped, but it was more of Van Gundy's offensive system rather than his own play that made his scoring average drop. Van Gundy's offense was centered around Yao Ming, which Rudy Tomjanovich's system never was. When Rudy T was coach, Francis had full control of the ball, and was always given the green light to operate by himself if needed to. Under Van Gundy, that wasn't the case. In fact, I think that Francis did a great job in trying to cooperate with Van Gundy. Although it was widely-known that he did not like the system, we never heard any criticism or trade demands from him. That also relates to the leadership issue that you guys had brought up. I think in being cooperative, Francis had shown the ultimate attribute of a leader.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TMAC BALLA 1105:</div><div class="quote_post">He didn't do very well in Houston because he had no back. It was just Steve Francis vs. All. </div> No, you must be out of your mind. Apparently you werent watching any rockets game. Saying francis didnt have back is like saying kobe didnt have shaq. Francis had very well people to play with last season, one of the top centers yao ming(dont even start saying he cant do anything cause he sure is dominating almost every other center) he had cato for a back up for yao, he had all the clutchs shooters that included mobley and j.j. Francis v.s all? he isnt no iverson or tmac last year
