Steve Francis Decides to Return to Houston

[Findog]

Nobody's had a better offseason that Houston. Francis isn't quite the savior some Houston fans are making him out to be, but at the very least he's injury insurance for Mike James.

[Supergirl]

awesome, before i thought the rockets were cruising and finally had enough pieces to get tracy mcgrady out of he first round.

now i think francis will find a way to it all up. dude has been a cancer for every team he's ever played on.

[Roxsfan]

awesome, before i thought the rockets were cruising and finally had enough pieces to get tracy mcgrady out of he first round.

now i think francis will find a way to it all up. dude has been a cancer for every team he's ever played on.

[baseline bum]

. Looks like Francis becomes the guaranteed All-Star starting point guard again.

[MWILL]

Thanks Stevie, for not coming here.

[resistanze]

"I can't put it into words. Playing with a guy, living with a guy, just knowing that every day when I wake up that's something I can count on, that I'm going to be in practice or in a game with Cuttino. Him not being here is going to be tough for me. I don't know what I'm going to wake up for."
-- Steve Francis on the Cuttino Mobley trade

LMAO.

[icem]

how has steve francis been a "cancer" on ANY team hes been on ?

francis was a great player until JVG came in and tried to turn him into charlie ward. he tried to make the rockets an inside-out team when yao was nowhere near ready to be the main guy. in orlando and in new york, francis was not a cancer, those teams just werent very good with or without him. when has francis ever been a problem in the locker room other than when they traded mobley in orlando for doug cristie (basically gave away their 2nd leading scorer for NOTHING) ?

i do not understand why francis gets called a "cancer" when he hasnt done anything to merit it.

[Roxsfan]

how has steve francis been a "cancer" on ANY team hes been on ?

francis was a great player until JVG came in and tried to turn him into charlie ward. he tried to make the rockets an inside-out team when yao was nowhere near ready to be the main guy. in orlando and in new york, francis was not a cancer, those teams just werent very good with or without him. when has francis ever been a problem in the locker room other than when they traded mobley in orlando for doug cristie (basically gave away their 2nd leading scorer for NOTHING) ?

i do not understand why francis gets called a "cancer" when he hasnt done anything to merit it.

something about not taking the team plane to a road trip to be at the Reliant Center for the Superbowl, then taking his jet to the road trip........err he loves to dribble or whatever.

[Supergirl]

You know, when a player can't get along with 1 team/coach, maybe it's them, but when it happens, 2, 3, or 4 times, I think it's time to take a look at yourself. It can't ALWAYS be everyone else. So at this point, if I were a team, I wouldn't touch Steve Francis with a 10 foot pole.

[Dreamshake]

How about using real information then.


Steve had 0 Issues with Rudy T.

Steve had 1 incident with wanting to go to a superbowl party and flying back in time for his team event. Whoa. JVG was on record as to saying that Steve was a great player, and that he would love to have him back.

Steve was upset at the Magic, who were still in a playoff hunt at the time, trading away their 2nd best player for the pile of dog poo that was Doug Christie.

Steve had no issues with Isiah. Actually Isiah just called Steve's agent and had this to say.


"Isiah just called to tell me how ecstatic he was for Steve. He felt it was the right fit and how he felt that we have now caused him tremendous headaches because he believes that Houston is going to be a force in this league next year,"

Over exaggerate much when making a *cough* point?

[JamStone]

He didn't get along with Jeff Van Gundy, but he didn't want to leave Houston. He got along fine with Yao. He was fine in Orlando until they traded Cuttino. It was just that Orlando wasn't winning. And, as ed up as the Knicks have been over the last three years, Steve Francis was not a problem on or off the court. Where are all these examples of him not getting along with teammates or coaches? It's one example with Jeff Van Gundy. He's been in situations that weren't good. But, teams not playing well doesn't mean he wasn't getting along with coaches or teammates.

[Dreamshake]

It was because of the "slow it down" pace that the Rockets played last year that made up for the loss of the star players. Without Yao or TMac the Rockets could still score 80 points, With the style of play they could hold their opponent to under 80.

As already noted, the Rox didnt win a game with TMac and Yao out. And I believe were 1-7 or something with TMac out. Misinformation does not = truth.

With the loosening of the offense comes more posessions with means that scores will go up .... Will the Rockets still be able to keep up with the higher scoring pace with the same injuries?

Ok, Tmac played most of the year with no probs, and Yao had his leg rolled over on, came back early and played pretty damn decent ball. I dont think injury bug will be too much of an issue this year.

A team adds James and Francis ... Both play PG-SG, they already have Head, Alson, Bonzi and T-mac all of which also play PG-SG ... The names look good, but how will the playing time play out? Unless the Rockets plan on going the Warrior route with playing all guards and forwards, some of these guys will not see the floor ... If Francis, Bonzi, T-Mac or James don't see the floor very much just how happy do you expect the locker room to be?

Here let me help you out.

-The rox could go big with Tmac playing the point.

Bonzi/TMac/Battier/Butler/Yao and then drop a second team of Francis/James/Snyder/Scola/Deke

-If they wanted to play small ball they could do this for speed.

Francis/Head/Tmac/Hayes/Scola

-For a defensive team they could do

James/Bonzi/Tmac/Battier/Yao

-I think that their primary lineups will be

Francis/Tmac/Battier/Scola/Yao

With the reserves being

James/Bonzi/Snyder/Hayes/Deke (Butler) Thats not a bad second team at all.

The Rox have alot of options now. They can match up with just about anyone unlike last year, when we had Yao and TMac with a sprinkling of Battier.

PF will be the problem with the Rockets (If Scola doesn't learn the bigboy game quickly)

I agree that Rox could use a rugged, rebounding, defensive veteran at the PF/C spot. And from the rumbling I hear they are still trying to address this need. Haslem maybe PJ Brown who knows. But even with Chuck Hayes starting for them last year, the Rox were a 52 win team.

[DOMINATOR]

like Dreamshake said this year the rockets will be able to play every style of ball in the NBA... half court with spurs and run with the suns.

[spursreport]

I agree that Rox could use a rugged, rebounding, defensive veteran at the PF/C spot. And from the rumbling I hear they are still trying to address this need. Haslem maybe PJ Brown who knows. But even with Chuck Hayes starting for them last year, the Rox were a 52 win team.

What about Etan Thomas? Wiz are dying to get rid of him and Sura/Rafer/fillers could do the trick.

[The_Game]

rockets are looking very strong

while the spurs do nothing. we need to add talent as we are only going to get older....need to add some young talent

[Dreamshake]

What about Etan Thomas? Wiz are dying to get rid of him and Sura/Rafer/fillers could do the trick.

I don't know, Etan's alright and all. Id rather have a little more athleticism and speed at the 4. Like a KG. You know a poor mans KG. There are still rumors of Udonis Haslem going to Rox. That would be OK I guess. He would make a nice upgrade to Hayes. Speaking of when I said the Rox were a 52 win team with Hayes as the 4, I should of said "with Hayes at the 4, TMac missing 10 games or so, and Yao Ming missing about 35 games, the Rockets were still a 52 win team.

I mean come on people. The Rockets pretty much Pick up Bonzi Wells, Mike James, Steve Francis, Louis Scola. Are paying Wells, Francis, and Scola a total of 8 million or so this season, and only gave up Juwon Howard, and V Span. Plus assuming no one rolls on Yao's knee we will have him back for the entire season, and really the Rox havent made any progress to some of you? They took a step back by signing Francis who is lightyears ahead of their starter from last year.

Im bamboozled by these thoughts. Im not claiming Championship, but come on people.

[Roxsfan]

I don't know, Etan's alright and all. Id rather have a little more athleticism and speed at the 4. Like a KG. You know a poor mans KG. There are still rumors of Udonis Haslem going to Rox. That would be OK I guess. He would make a nice upgrade to Hayes. Speaking of when I said the Rox were a 52 win team with Hayes as the 4, I should of said "with Hayes at the 4, TMac missing 10 games or so, and Yao Ming missing about 35 games, the Rockets were still a 52 win team.

I mean come on people. The Rockets pretty much Pick up Bonzi Wells, Mike James, Steve Francis, Louis Scola. Are paying Wells, Francis, and Scola a total of 8 million or so this season, and only gave up Juwon Howard, and V Span. Plus assuming no one rolls on Yao's knee we will have him back for the entire season, and really the Rox havent made any progress to some of you? They took a step back by signing Francis who is lightyears ahead of their starter from last year.

Im bamboozled by these thoughts. Im not claiming Championship, but come on people.

spurs homerism

[dave]

francis is a bag
actually, stu jackson is a bag

[Cry Havoc]

I don't know, Etan's alright and all. Id rather have a little more athleticism and speed at the 4. Like a KG. You know a poor mans KG. There are still rumors of Udonis Haslem going to Rox. That would be OK I guess. He would make a nice upgrade to Hayes. Speaking of when I said the Rox were a 52 win team with Hayes as the 4, I should of said "with Hayes at the 4, TMac missing 10 games or so, and Yao Ming missing about 35 games, the Rockets were still a 52 win team.

I mean come on people. The Rockets pretty much Pick up Bonzi Wells, Mike James, Steve Francis, Louis Scola. Are paying Wells, Francis, and Scola a total of 8 million or so this season, and only gave up Juwon Howard, and V Span. Plus assuming no one rolls on Yao's knee we will have him back for the entire season, and really the Rox havent made any progress to some of you? They took a step back by signing Francis who is lightyears ahead of their starter from last year.

Im bamboozled by these thoughts. Im not claiming Championship, but come on people.

The Rockets have clearly improved the most out of any team in the off-season.

There are a slew of teams that would be improved by gaining Francis. To say otherwise is to ignore his obvious talents.

I can't wait to see what this team can do against the rest of the West. I'm still not sure they'll learn to mesh as well as the Spurs have, though. That is the task before them... they have a lot of scoring, but their defense might have problems with speedy teams.

[Dreamshake]

I agree. Its one thing to have the talent, its a whole other story to put it all together. I dont think Houston is going to have a Defense issue. Last year, they were #1 in total team Defensive Field Goal percentage, and #3 in PPG given up. That was with Yao missing 35 games, and TMac out 10. Houston only gave up Juwon Howard, who was nominal at best, and gained a defensing PG in James and will Have Bonzi for the whole year, who is a pretty good Defensive SG. So Im not too concerned with D as much as I am with Implementing Bonzi, Scola, Francis, James into a cohesive offensive Unit.