Could Steve Francis have been an Iverson-like scorer?

Question

He's in his 30s now so it's probably too late for him to regain his stardom, but I always had a feeling from watching Francis play that he could have been a league-leading scorer if he focused more on scoring than on being a point guard. He's a couple inches taller than Iverson with similar quickness and better jumping ability. He's also a better pure shooter. I think if you replaced Iverson on the 2001 76ers team with Francis and had Francis take about a third of Philly's shots like Iverson did, Francis would have scored over 30 points a game.

Maybe this comparison is off. Iverson probably has a little more mental toughness and more of a scorer's mentality than Francis ever did. Still, Francis does have the physical tools to be an Iverson. What do you think? Could Francis have been an Iverson-type of scorer if he had been placed in the right situation?

Answer 1

He was like iverson w/o the crossover and he could dunk

Answer 2

I almost see him as a Stephon Marbury. He has a great shot and a good crossover. He's on a decent team and he had a disappointing year. If i was him, I would be happy with my career.

Answer 3

no

Answer 4

I am a big Steve Francis fan. However let's be real, Steve Francis, despite being a fantastic athlete, is not, never was, and never will be capable of scoring like Allen Iverson. And no, Steve Francis is NOT a better pure shooter than Iverson. Iverson, is quicker, a better shooter, and can penetrate defenses much better than Francis. Yes, Steve has the "physical tools", but the game of basketball also requires a high IQ. Outside of catching lobs and dunking over people like Tim Duncan, Steve Francis' scoring ability is limited in comparison to Iverson.

You're not COMPLETELY off the mark though, Francis may have had a better career in a different situation, but make no mistake, there is only one Allen Iverson.

Answer 5

yes and no, bcuz Iverson is ironman, and can play every minute of every game he plays, and Francis wouldnt have the durability Iverson had, plus Francis's Jumper was NO better than Iversons, and iversons allways needed work.  But Francis Had HOPS! lol and can out-jump anybody, and with good body control, he could have easily averaged 30 a game, he just never decided to lol

Answer 6

The biggest difference between AI and Francis as far as scoring goes is not the situation Francis was in, but rather his style of play.  Look up their career stats, but focus on the difference in free throw attempts.  

They both have similar percentages, but it's not even close in terms of attempts.  Iverson had 797 free throw attempts last season and he's 2 years older than Francis.  In 2004-05 Francis had a career high 606 with Orlando (his second highest season scoring average).  Iverson has had more attempts than Francis's best 6 times in his career and 3 other seasons he was within 50 or 60 attempts of Francis's single best season at getting to the line.  (AI's other seasons were injury seasons).

The difference is that Francis is a career 42% from the floor and has been mosty a jump shooter.  Iverson is a career 42% from the floor but drives to the basket and draws fouls by a much larger margin.  So I would say the only way Francis would have ever led the league in scoring would not be if he was in a different situation but rather if he had a different style of game.

Francis was always one of those players I kept expecting to make the leap from really good/fun to watch to great/have to get tickets to see him play in person, but it just never happened.

Answer 7

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/st...

Francis was good in his early years and still should be good right now cause his only 31 but the reason why he is doing bad is cause he got injured like 3 times and it was a major injury.

However i agree with you cause Francis could have been as good as AI

Answer 8

He was a iverson like scorer, he was even a better rebounder and passer. Ever since he went to the knicks, its been down hill for him. So to the nba players, if you want your career to die go to the knicks.

Answer 9

Your right if francis shot as much as iverson he would score around 25-30 ppg but he lacks that scorers mentality that iverson has always had .....what alot of people dont know that even if you count those 2 wasted seasons with the knicks and last year with the rockets francis has a career avg 18ppg and 6apg 42% ..........iverson avg 27ppg and 6apg also shooting 42% for his career both are not pure shooters but iverson is in attack mode always and gets to the freethrow line much more then francis and your right that comes back to mentality .......bottom line yes francis could put up the same type of numbers as iverson if he had a scorers mentality.

Answer 10

no not really but i understand wat ur saying

but wat i dont understand is that u have a kwame brown picture hahah