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"By The Numbers: With And Without Francis"; RealGM Article
Topic Started: Dec 10 2005, 05:07 PM (153 Views)
MagicMadness
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Quote:
 
Love him or hate him, Steve Francis has proved to be an integral part of the team this season. During the 4 games without him, the team's record was 1-3.
When he plays, it is 6-7. With or without him, the team still has lots of
progress to make if they want to be taken seriously.

The player most effected by his absence was Dwight Howard. Without Francis,
teams were able to focus more attention on the young fella. Our opponents'
increased pressure on Dwight can be seen in the change in his FG%:


With - 52.5%
Without - 30.4%


Dwight also took considerably less FTs in Francis' absence: With - 7/game Without - 4.5/game


...and he has grabbed 2.3 fewer rebounds when Francis sat out: With - 13.3/game Without - 11.0/game


Not all players had such a significant drop off without Franchise in the
line up. DeShawn Stevenson FG increased 8.8 percentage points (44.2% vs.
53.0%) and Tony Battie's rose 10.7% (41.4% vs. 52.1%). Jameer Nelson's FG%
rose a mere 1.2%, from 41.9% to 43.1%, while Hedo Turkoglu's FG% was
virtually unchanged - 37.0% with Francis to 37.2% without him.


The team as a whole saw its percentages drop without him in the line up. As
a squad with Francis in the line up they shot 42.7%. Without him, it dropped to 40.1%. If
we focus purely on the 2 point shots, the drop off was 6.0% - 44.0% with and
38.0% without...READ MORE

Interesting read. I think even the Francis-haters have to agree that Steve has become a changed man this season. He seems more mature, gets far less technical calls (Howard has more than him!), and has been dribbling less and passing it more.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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yea. now hes a team player. even though hes averaging less PPG, hes getting alot of assists, keeping his attitude on the low, and not being a ball hog. good job steve.
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Pitbullz EP
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Magic in 5
Where's all the people that wanted him traded now? They wont show they're faces watch!! People hate being proved wrong over and over again.
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MagicMadness
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I still see the occassional "trade Francis, start Nelson!" threads on the ESPN boards (yes I know - bunch of idiots), but other than that, Francis-haters have been pretty quiet. Good to see.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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i was never a francis hater but whoever was sure isnt talking now. and we all know that if we traded him the chemistry would be outta wack and the team would spiral down like last year. so we need to keep the team together and just run with the guys we have.
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adamosthegreek
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Kings of Europe
THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE. :yes: :) :D
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Tony
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Dwight Howard = MVP
Im a francis hater and im showin my face....so wut now!!!

nah im not a francis hater i just think that hes not as good as he was last year.
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