No,
that was not Ray Lewis hitting some unsuspecting Giant coming across the
middle.
It
was just Steve Francis’ head hitting the proverbial ceiling of the NBA.
The
2001 NBA All-Star Team came out and Steve Francis was not on it, Neither,
the fans nor the coaches felt Francis deserved a spot. First, some evidence:
Steve Francis is averaging 19 points, 7 boards, and 7 assists per outing.
In his 39 minutes of play, Francis gives the Rockets two steals and shoots
45% from the floor, 87% from the stripe and 40% from the arc.
On
the qualitative side, watch “Lil’ Stevie Franchise ball and you will see
one of the best young guards in the NBA. He has the flare and ability to
garner headlines, however Francis seems to escape the league’s agenda.
Maybe he should learn Italian or jump over some gargantuan Frenchmen.
Oops,
I forgot he’d actually have to be on the Olympic team to do that. Please
forgive me, it’s late.
I
could be talking about Eddie Jones, Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Dirk Nowitzki,
they all got the grand shaft. Each of these guys deserves an All-Star
nod. However, I choose to talk about Steve Francis because I saw it coming.
This fall as the season approached I wondered why Francis didn’t get much
billing. Then ESPN Magazine gave him a cover with Destiny’s Child and my
conspiracy was foiled like The Brain’s schemes to take over the world.
And
now the snub.
You
see, Steve Francis wasn’t supposed to be this good and he definitely wasn’t
supposed to be this well behaved. After his refusal to play in Vancouver,
he was supposed to throw tantrums, take bad shots, turn the ball over,
and basically drive Rudy T insane. Instead Francis earned Co-Rookie of
the Year honors and breathed life into a floundering Rockets franchise.
His performance in the 2000 Dunk Contest was one of the best ever; unfortunately
for Francis, Vince Carter’s was even better. So while Rudy T tries to smooth
things over with “The Dream”, Francis attacks the league with reckless
abandon. National TV audiences get to see Kobe deny Shaq instead of Francis
dishing to Mobley and the experts scream that the game’s changed. I saw
the Rockets wreck the Lakers earlier this season and haven’t seen them
since. Hence the problem: fans vote for whom they see and they don’t see
much variety. I could’ve predicted the All-Star team from the list of televised
games announced in July.
Maybe
the league should tell us how they decide whom we should like. Let’s
cut out the middle man, it’s more economical.
