Francis has the tendency to coast through some games, but it has not been terribly evident in the past and not nearly as strong as what I saw in Orlando with McGrady last year (and to some degree, the year before that). Remember McGrady's infamous retirement crack after being locked up in a zone D last year? It is but one insight into his mindset when teams switch to a zone. Other players, particularly Nowitzki and especially KG, have overcome this. McGrady is a top 10 -- even top 5 -- talent, no doubt about it -- but that does not necessarily translate to a top 10 player. The comparison was made for many years between McGrady and Kobe. Despite however much one may hate Kobe, he is the better player between the two because of his drive and killer instinct. He does what McGrady can -- but doesn't -- do on the court, particularly drawing contact. It is Kobe that the Rockets want out of him, but unlikely to get. We in Orlando thought that McGrady would figure it out sooner or later. He did not and has not as of yet. Francis seems to be under control to some degree this year, accounting for his bout of food poisoning and minor hand injury of late. There is time for both players to round into the complete package....but judging from an admittedly small sample size, it doesn't look as though McGrady is doing so as of yet. Perhaps some of it is coaching and some of it is Yao's struggles; some of it, from past history, is definitely McGrady himself, however.
I wish people would actually look at factual evidence before they start saying things like this. T-Mac has ALWAYS been much more perimeter based than Kobe. He's a jumpshooter. This is not something against JVG or trying to slack off this season. Just look at his fts to shots ratio ever since he's been a star. 2001: 22.4 FGA 7.6 FTA. 1 FT for every 2.95 shots 2002: 20.9 FGA 7.3 FTA. 1 FT for every 2.86 shots 2003: 24.2 FGA 9.7 FTA. 1 FT for every 2.49 shots 2004: 23.4 FGA 7.5 FTA. 1 FT for every 3.12 shots Through 13 games 2005: 17.2 FGA 7.1 FTA. 1 FT for every 2.42 shots Yes, that's right. T-Mac has been going to the line more consistently this season than any of his previous seasons since he became a 20+ ppg scorer. This even includes his incredible 2003 season, when he scored 32 ppg. T-Mac has his problems. His outside shooting(.283 3pt%) has been terrible. And he probably should take more shots sometimes rather than passing off. But getting to the line is NOT one of his problems.
