[Dodoubled]

Good points, all of them. And well taken. You have a very old-school, idealistic approach to the way basketball should be played. It's the right way ... learn to create points off the pass before relying on the dribble-drive. You'd make a great coach.
But pro basketball is still, in my opinion, a superstar-driven league first and a team-driven league second. There's little parity in the league, and that's due largely to the scarcity of quality big men. If you're lucky to have one, well, you're in the running right away. If not, then you better have an Allen Iverson-type to at least give your team a chance to score points. Oh, and in either case, you better have a suffocating defense. And that's where, I think, most NBA teams fall short, and where the team mentality has to come in.
You know how many times since 1980 that a team that won one title didn't come back within three years to win another? Twice. The Sixers won in 1983, and San Antonio, which served as a bookend for the Lakers' 3-peat squad, winning in 1999 and four years later, in 2003. Of course, the Spurs won two years after that. You get two great players in your five-man lineup, and it's like an insta-dynasty. That's where the league falls short, in my opinion.

With that said, I believe I have taken a detour off the originial Marbury-Francis topic. I apologize. I'm not going to sell it up the river, yet. Maybe the change of scenery, a new backcourt mate and a new coach can help corral the ego. Brown had mixed results with Iverson, so who knows?
Not like I'm gonna bet the house on it, though ...