Francis May not Start
Francis may not start? If there is any chance in rehabbing Steve, and probably put a happy face on Magic’s season, a decision of not starting Francis may ruin it altogether. You may, as well put him on the trading block. The quotes from coach Hill do not specify the starting point guard issue; just that he is not decided on the starting lineup. However, Tim Povtak of Sentinel reports that: “Magic Coach Brian Hill said he was undecided about Francis regaining his starting role immediately, hinting that second-year point guard Jameer Nelson may be replacing him.” Povtak does not inculde a direct qoute from the coach.
I thought first that coach Hill was tinkering with the starting lineup going small with Jameer and Steve as guards and moving Deshawn to small forward if Grant is not able to go. Looking at the WAS’s backcourt of Arenas and Buttler, that does not seem to be an option.
Please air your views on this issue. Big Figure, please enlighten us with your analysis of tonight’s match.
I thought first that coach Hill was tinkering with the starting lineup going small with Jameer and Steve as guards and moving Deshawn to small forward if Grant is not able to go. Looking at the WAS’s backcourt of Arenas and Buttler, that does not seem to be an option.
Please air your views on this issue. Big Figure, please enlighten us with your analysis of tonight’s match.
posted by Matt @ 9:37 AM
6 Comments:
At 10:59 AM,
Matt said…
TragicFan, Mike Bianchi's article has not made it to the Sentinel's website yet. He is usually more courageous in speaking his mind than other writers.
Pete, good dissection of different scenarios for not starting Steve. I tend to agree with Whit Watson (I actually agree with him a lot) that handling Francis would be the defining moment of coach Hill’s performance with the Magic, on this going around. I agree that with WAS’s big backcourt there is no doubt who should start at the point guard. I also think that this uncertainty is hurting the Magic. Coach Hill should show absolute confidence in Francis, and use this situation to reach out and motivate Francis to get back to his own bestself (is there such a word? If not I made one).
At 1:44 PM,
Matt said…
The latest news is that Brian Hill is going to start Jameer and bring Steve off the bench. I hope coach Hill comes up with a good explanation when the Magic is burnt by Arenas, the same way that got burnt by Bibi. Grant will be out for 7-10 days. That is in line with the veiw expressed by Mike from Illinois allowing Grant to recover completely from the injury.
At 1:58 PM,
Matt said…
I glanced through Sentinel's blog, and I felt a lot of animosity towards Brian Hill. I also felt plenty of support for Francis (much more than opposing views).
At 3:00 PM,
OVERWADED said…
As much as I like Nelson, and as much as I believe him to be a future starter for us, the wise move is having Francis start. I would like to see Francis and Nelson side by side, which is what we'll see by the 4th quarter anyway. The floor would be filled with mismatches on both ends. We'd get hurt by their size. The only way it'll balance out is if we used our speed. I have a feeling both Nelson and Francis will be jacked and ready to go tonight.
Regardless of who wins or loses tonight, for the future of the team I think Francis needs to be out there starting and playing well to make everyone in Orlando and around the league know he is ready to play. Whether it's here or somewhere else, we'll know after the deadline... We'll see what happens...
At 5:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
The biggest key tonight will be how the wiz decide to guard dwight? If jamison plays him,theyre in for a long night,it might not show early,but b/c the wiz are kinda thin,the magic should try and get to the basket all night,challenge their big guys,who dont have much gerth,theyre more athletic guys,so pounding the offensive glass and taking the ball to the basket are most important! I dont want to jinx our guys,but we've played pretty well against these guys lately,arenas their best player,is very streaky and we need him to have an off night,but no one else on the roster will kill you,but they have alot of solid players!
At 9:53 PM,
Matt said…
Introvert316 and Big Figure were prophetic on their predictions. I was pleased to see the Magic back to their hard defnsive minded game. They held Arenas in check and held WAS to 40% shooting (33% on 3s). Magic in return shot 50.7% (50% 3s).They outrebounded WAS 41-34. It seems to me that the decsion not to start Steve was reached in agreement between Steve and the coach. Steve said he needed to get his legs back since he was off for a week.
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