First of all, you watched 80% of the NBA last year? That's well over a thousand games. About 6 a night, or 12 hours a day during the season. Pretty impressive. But watching other teams still doesn't tell you anything about Derrick Rose.
If you really can't tell the difference between Rose and Francis, I find it hard to believe you were a coach at any level. But I can understand how someone teaching HS kids would be something of a puritan on such things. But you must agree that the NBA is vastly different than HS. The talent level just far outstrips classical player roles or putting limited talent players into a set system where everyone is nearly interchangeable if they just do things the right way.
But let me get to your question, Francis.
Steve Francis was not a team player. Rose is. Steve Francis did not have a pass first desire, Rose does. Though last year, he had to overcome that desire, due to not having one other legitimate scoring threat on his team once Salmons was traded (who happened to play like garbage with the Bulls anyway).
Steve Francis had bad shot selection, that's why he shot 43% for his career. Rose has very good shot selection, despite having to carry a team on his back last year. That's why he shoots 48% already in his career, with both of his seasons besting any year Francis ever put up in that regard.
Steve Francis pounded the hell out of the ball looking to put people on highlights. By comparison Rose will waste too much time dribbling maybe 1 or 2 times in a whole game to try and penetrate past a defense. Like he did today, just one time, when Rubio ended up picking him. But I just laugh when people say Rose doesn't give up the ball, he is usually very deliberate with his drives, or else he passes it on (which is actually what most complain about him, giving it up too soon).
Francis, his whole game was overdribbling, often into bad shots, and this is why he was so hard to build an offense around.
But if you can imagine a Steve Francis - who was quite good in his prime despite his flaws - with a team first mentality, with a willingness and desire to pass and see his team succeed, and with a careful eye to his shot selection, and who is going to listen to his coach and try to implement whatever he is told, then suddenly you are imagining a perennial All-Star that is a great building block for a team. And that's why Bulls fans are so high on Rose.
He's like Francis only in athleticism, and perhaps in being an average passer (though I suspect Rose will surpass any season by Francis in assists this very year). But everything above the neck is totally different, and this is what puts Rose's future potential so high.
A comparison is just that. It doesn't mean Francis and Rose are clones. A pizza may have different toppings but it still a Pizza. Everything you said I already said between Rose and Francis. Thing is those are not going to be the things that are going to make him a better player than Francis. He has to do it with impact. Right now Rose has to climb even to get to the impact of Francis.
Here's where you go wrong. If Francis had the desire to pass and the desire to make the best play for his team, he could have been a fine PG to lead a team. He wouldn't average 9 or 10 assists, maybe 7.5 or 8 at best, where Rose's limits likely lie, but it was his bad shots and unwillingness to heed a coach that ruined him, not his innate lack of passing or PG ability.
Francis had no PG ability. 7.5 assist for a kid that can get anywhere he wants on the floor isn't that special. Francis trying to embrace being a PG would have taken him away from what he did best. Replaced with him trying to be what he does worse. Which goes back to my feelings on Rose. When Rose tries to play like a PG he does nothing special. It emphasizes the worst part of his game. I just don't get the reason why.
I just disagree that he's "trying to be a PG" when he does that. I think he is trying too hard to defer to his teammates playmaking and individual play. When Rose is aggressive, that is how he becomes a better PG, because that is how he creates plays for others. By attacking the defense. When Rose goes passive, he doesn't try to do anything to set his team up, he just kind of disengages from the game.
Thankfully, he did that a lot less as a 2nd year player than as a rookie. But I just don't see that as Rose thinking he is doing what a PG is supposed to do at all. But rather just being uncomfortable being the focus of the offense constantly (to a Wade level) when he was just a 2nd year player on a team of vets like Hinrich, Deng, and Salmons. I think Hinrich is a key name there too, as he was the perennial captain of the Bulls and Rose seemed afraid to step too much on his toes leadership wise. But now he's gone and its probably for the best.
I call it trying to be a PG because it seems like he knows a traditional PG is pass first. He seems to be trying to fit that mold. My issue is when he is in that pass first mode that is all he does. He just hands the ball off. This is an issue that dates back prior to him being drafted. Calipari use to have to tell Rose its time to try to take over. He would think he be running offense but in real the offense would be just be running itself. He would just disappear for big chunks of the game. He still does it. He doesn't do it as much.
Many Bulls fans were enraptured with this idea of Rose as Wade as well. I just don't see it happening. Rose is not big enough to move over to the SG for one thing, and he is not quite as big or strong as Wade to take that full game beating inside. Already Rose prefers to spend a lot of his time in the mid-range and this slows his FT drawing and high percentage scoring capacity down. Unless he really breaks out in drawing FT's he will never approach the scoring volume of a Wade. And he seems to lack the natural instincts for diving into people like an Iverson, or flat out whining for calls like a lot of stars.
This is why its better if he stays in a PG mode ready to pass, because in actually breaking down a defense, he can match Wade. It's just what happens at the end, to where its often better for him to bail out with a pass than try to constantly be in scoring attack mode like Wade gets into.
I don't know if they have to move him to SG. If it was me I would look for a big PG that can play SG. Either that or find a SG with solid PG skills.
"Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful." John Wooden
