I can read good. So I'll go with Nancy Lieberman, Tracy McGrady, Alex English and Pistol Pete Maravich. Honorable mention: Mutombo and Moses Malone because every time you tried to do something manly and try to get a rebound, you'd either get thrown out of the way like a softy or go to the ground bleeding like a crying coward.
It's crazy to me how many people still don't understand how the basketball HOF works... "HOF-caliber" doesn't mean much. I think Westbrick is as overrated as the next guy, but he could retire tomorrow, and he would still be guaranteed a spot in the basketball HOF.
I agree, but while the basketball HOF being a joke is a fact, I won't call an unworthy player that isn't already in the HOF a "HOFer"
Steve Francis was once a superstar until JVG made Yao the focus of the "dump it to" offense. While not blaming Yao himself, Francis has always made clear he was neutered by him. Same goes for McGrady. Hakeem and Shaq didn't have this effect on their teammates however.
If francis was "neutered" by Yao Ming how come he sucked even in Orlando? Tmac was neutered so much he averaged over 20 pts 5 rebs and 5 assists as a rocket. You are just plain reaching and have no clue wtf you are talking about. Since when was Francis a superstar? Did he win any rings before Yao Ming arrived? MVP award? Finals appearances?
Yes. According to basketball-reference, he is a virtual lock at 0.9920 to make it. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/hof_prob.html
Specifically, JVG - definitely neutered Francis IMO (he balled in Orlando). I never felt like Yao had anything to do with it.
LOL, superstar Steve Francis. Still one of our greatest eras, the pre-Yao Francis years. We managed to win 45 games, and almost make the playoffs. Getting to watch Mobley and Francis put on dribbling exhibitions on the wing with no ball movement whatsoever so they would usually take a contested long 2. Then he went to Orlando and was awesome, so awesome they dumped him for next to nothing the next season. It's like anti-Lin, the black guy was being held back because the coach wanted to focus on the superior asian player.
Francis went to the Knicks and Beijing Ducks and was far from the player Marbury was for them. I think he played only one game in Beijing.
Agreed on the point of the ball always getting dumped to Yao, almost every possession he was in the game. But you have to think about all the factors. Though the era was slowly transitioning to small ball, Yao was most effective when he had the ball. He wasn't a tall stiff like Shawn Bradley, nor was he the ineffective post player that Dwight Howard is (and still is!). When you dumped the ball into Yao, teams had no choice but to double; since Yao was a great passer (as far as centers go), Yao made great decisions. As a teammate of a high-IQ player (from a C to a PG and anywhere in between), you can always cut, set screens and be active. If you just ball-watch like a statue after dumping the ball off, you're just hurting yourself. Again, compare that to Bradley, who's only job was to be a tower in the paint and deter drives. iirc, Bradley had no footwork, no jump shot and no game. He would be useless in today's version of the NBA; Yao would at least be effective. And compare Yao to Dwight. Dwight was actually a good post player when Yao was still playing, so I don't what happened. And Dwight is still doing really well (even with the Hornets, this year), so his fundamentals are probably unfixable when it comes to devolving as a post player. But, Dwight demanded the ball in Houston and was ineffective. I think Dwight is a bigger teammate neutralizer than Yao. Even if the offense was "give it to Yao and get out of his way," that's not teammate-neutralizing at all, imo.
Yao would have been used differently in today's NBA. He would still be posting up a lot. But he would also come out high and be a threat there because he has a reliable jump shot. He might even be a 3pt threat too. In Yao's days, people laughed when I suggested that Yao should develop a 3pt game. Nobody would laugh now because the game has changed so much for the big men. In fact, I'm pretty sure Hakeem would have been asked to develop a 3pt game and would be at least decent at it. Centers like Hakeem and Yao can shoot. Guys like Shaq and Dwight who just used their size and athleticism to bully people down low would not be useful away from the basket other than diving with the PnR.
In the 2003-04 season, his last in HOU, Francis averaged 16.6PPG on 14.1FGA In the 2004-05 season, his first in ORL, Francis averaged 21.3PPG on 17.1FGA But listen to what Francis himself said:
Didn't tmac avg 24 a night playing with Yao? Artest did great also and they went to the 2nd round together and had the lead in the series over the eventual NBA champs before Yao went down.
