Posted by Masterplan:

Posted by oohah:

I only watched the first half, but Francis played as unselfish as I have ever seen him play.

oohah

well, as a guy who never wanted francis here, i have to ask, why do we bring in francis to be UNselfish? shouldn't he be the guy you bring in when you want someone to control the ball, score, and set up teammates for easy scores? if you want an unselfish distributor you can do it for so much less money and chemistry risk.

francis looked like a fish out of water out there. hopefully it's just the preseason. or we dump him.

You are right on money man.
He is not bad - he is just useless on the Knicks team.
Steve, Jalen, MRose, JJ just not suppouse to be there.
I will be heapy to see Marbs somewhere else too but we need to be realistic.
We will be OK by just keaping this 4 gs out of the game

Posted by rvhoss:

SB and BS sitting in a tree...I know, I know, I used that already, but this thread is the example of examples.

It's like they are the british bulldogs tag teaming hater ade posts.

It's funniest when SB posts a lie, then BS posts on top of the lie to redirect the board.

Interesting...but fellas, rondo had a great game, but their team lost.

Szerbiak was abusing our kids, but his team lost.

They were missing paul pierce, we were missing JJ2.

Come on guys...wait until a loss to make up stuff.

My concerns are as follows: Defense, Curry still lagging up court, Francis' play, and JJ's injuries. Other than that not much to complain about at this point.

Posted by Masterplan:

Posted by oohah:

I only watched the first half, but Francis played as unselfish as I have ever seen him play.

oohah

well, as a guy who never wanted francis here, i have to ask, why do we bring in francis to be UNselfish? shouldn't he be the guy you bring in when you want someone to control the ball, score, and set up teammates for easy scores? if you want an unselfish distributor you can do it for so much less money and chemistry risk.

francis looked like a fish out of water out there. hopefully it's just the preseason. or we dump him.

Francis was not brought in to be selfish or unselfish, but to replace Marbury. HOwever, that does not matter anymore. It is done and he has to fit in with the team's style, not vice-versa.

Does Francis look comfortable? No. But he is trying and I think he will get better with it.

I am not going to fault the guy for trying to be a team player and unselfish. That would seem like I was looking for a reason not to like him.

oohah

Posted by BlueSeats:

oohah is a Francis lover!

Posted by nixluva:

I think we have to also realize that this team is just getting started with this new approach to the game. They are going to get better. On D and O. Steph isn't really even trying right now. Guys who've been in the league as long as he has aren't going to go all out in a preseason game when most of the teams we've played aren't even playing their best players. Now we may not like it, but he's got a LOT of wear on those legs and he's just nott going to kill himself in games that don't count. This is more for the other guys. Steph knows what he can do. I'm actually shocked no one else has realized that by now.

In the bigger scheme of things, we also have to remember that this is NOT a good defensive team. We can put a nice defensive unit on the floor, but for the most part this is and will be a mostly offensive squad. That's the kind of players we have. You guys know that. We'll play D in spurts, but don't expect it for an entire game. Unlike last year when teams go on a run, we'll have the ability to get back in the game with our own run. The key to winning our games will be how we defend at certain parts of the game. The end of the half and the last QTR. IF we close out well, this team will be just fine. I'm positive that Isiah knows who his defensive players are and when he wants to use them. You have to put up with the lack of D from our starters, it's just the way it's gonna be on many nights. Isiah tho is making it easier to minimize their effect on the enire game. He can extend the minutes of our better defenders and he'll have a good reason that will be hard to argue from guys like Steph and Francis.

Posted by Bippity10:

I agree francis just looked like he's struggling to find a way in a system that asks him to do other things offensively than dribble the ball between his legs for 18 seconds before taking his man to the hole. This is the result of years of coaches catering to him, giving him the franchise and naming him a superstar before he ever learned the game. Now he's trying to learn on the fly.

It is only pre-season. Every team has held their stars out of our games. But none of this should matter. The record shouldn't matter. We should be focusing on how our team is playing. The offense looks solid. The ball is moving and guys are hustling. You could hear Q yelling on the Celtics telecast several times huddling the team together and telling them to stop yelling at the refs and play. The big guys look good. The guards are still a little erratic in terms of when to shoot and when not to. When to push and when not to. When to take jumpers and when not to. but for me I expected this. It will take a while for the group to gel. So that is not a concern of mine.

My concerns are as follows: Defense, Curry still lagging up court, Francis' play, and JJ's injuries. Other than that not much to complain about at this point.