Chron: Francis slow to accept change, still bitter about leaving Rockets

wow, we get the point that you don't like francis
you and fran are made for each other

you put a rolleyes after, "I thought it was going to be special to play there my whole career." what at all was wrong with that comment? he obviously loves this city and his time here and it's still dissapointing to him.

steve doesn't always say the right things but that's because he wears his emotions on his sleeve. i'm glad i got to watch him play as a rocket cause he left it all out on the floor every single night. (go ahead and make a superbowl comment now)

 

But, somehow, the Rockets, with an even slower and less athletic team than last year, are scoring more points and fast breaking more often this season.

BULL-****ING-****! First, I asked the Rockets REPEATEDLY to get Steve to acknowledge the city of Houston, particularly during those years they were trying to get the arena passed and he NEVER ONCE said anything like, "I love Houston and I want to be here for my whole career."

Second, I know just a little about the arena campaign and this is the guy who would not attend a SINGLE arena event during the 2000 campaign. The only thing he showed up for was the mandatory open practice. Nothing else. Period. And it wasn't for lack of trying to get him there. Trying to get ANY players for events was pulling teeth, but Francis, who was the poster boy for the franchise, should have been going door-to-door like Rudy was if he really loved the city that much.

 

You can say all you want! But I do like Francis, he may not be a great great bb player, but he is a great person and great teammate.

Go Francis! Except the next game, of course.

 

His Hakeem Olajuwon comment just makes me laugh. Why is he trying to put himself on the same sentence as Hakeem?

Hey Steve, the Rockets traded Hakeem because he was on his last legs, not because he was a productive star ,yet, mistake filled player who could never be good enough to carry a team to a title, which was why you were traded.

 

well, aside from the fact we're not exactly bankrupting Brake Check and orlando is near the top of the league in fastbreak points, we play less defense, the rule emphasis has scoring up everywhere, and tracy mcgrady is just plain better for fastbreaks. it's certainly not like jvg had us running alot either year or is known for it at all and it's not as if a francis team is not running a ton now.


as for filling up the seats, those other issues aside, it was kinda funny to hear it considering getting 11K was a struggle last year. of course, our fans don't seem to react to much of anything. get yao, no big deal. new arena, no big deal. it doesn't even seem like people have shown up with tmac.

 

Uh, he also blamed himself.

But a pretty good read, could have read it w/o all the . We get the point.

 

The problem I have with this article is that people are going to be quick to jump on Blinebury's bandwagon and support this article, when it's really the same stuff with the opposite spin that has been coming out of Orlando all year long.

It's no different than the "propoganda" that has been coming from the Orlando media since the deal -- opinions about the players and the trade -- yet the former gets jumped all over as biased, stupid, held at the ear by Weisbrod, etc... while this almost certainly won't meet the same fate.

 

Steve did say he saw himself playing in Houston his whole career. He said it once during a charity event that I know about. It was in his second or third year here.

I agree he could have done more for arena events. But he did state his loyalty to Houston and the team in previous years. In addition even after being traded he thanked the city of Houston and spoke highly of Houston as a city.

Sadly the Houston Chronicle charges an arm and a leg to look at their archives or I would post one article about it. But I do have a headline that indicates Francis and his loyalty to Houston from 2004 after the trade.

PRO BASKETBALL: STEVE FRANCIS / Francis stuck on Houston / Dealt to Magic, former Rocket's home, heart herehttp://www.chron.com/content/archive/ysearch.mpl?query=%27Francis+Ready%27+with+Rockets&databases=2005%3B2004%3B2003%3B2002%3B2001%3B2000%3B1999%3B1998%3B1997%3B1996%3B1995%3B1994%3B1993%3B1992%3B1991%3B1990%3B1989%3B1988%3B1987%3B1986%3B1985%3B&hview=2

If you are able to check the archives look for some articles around the time of his contract extension. I believe he talked about wanting to be a Rocket for life then as well.

 

Yep, I will be at the game Monday (Hopefully) and I will give him a Standing Ovation. Even if I am the only one in Toyota Center (I doubted) giving him a Standing Ovation, then I will do it. I still love that guy. Great person.

 

I think it was a good trade but I still love Francis. He loved being a rocket and stuck with it thick and thin and I will support him until he retires.

 

You make some fair points. If this article was written by anyone but Blinebury, I might not be as skeptical. This reminds me of when Blinebury baited his [only] buddy Hakeem into bashing the Rockets a few months after he was traded. Blinebury would sell his mother if it would allow him to write a negative article about her.

That being said, it was a fun read, from the sour grapes side of me. Nonetheless, getting bashed by a former player never helps an organization's image, or makes a team attractive to MLE free agents.

 

I gotta say bro, you can't make that comparison. If JVG had given Franchise the keys to the pantry like he gave to TMac, we woulda been scoring a lot more last year also.

Franchise obviously loved to play here, I can't believe the writer would try to make him out to be some sort of baby just because he wanted to stay in Houston. Would you rather he be someone like Roger Clemens? the media denounces players for being selfish, yet have no problem condemning players for wanting to stay. I'd like to have one of these writers get suddenly relocated to a town in Maine, and he has to go because he has no say in it, and see how the hell he feels about that.

Francis was not blaming yao by the way, he was just saying it like it is. the entire BBS killed Yao last year for that missed rebound, and rightfully so, Francis was just being honest. He put the blame on himself too, so I don't think we need to look into it anymore than what it is.

 

And Orlando is one of the top fast breaking teams in the league. The Rockets weren't running till it looked liked they were headed for the lottery and the players finally got JVG to let them run more. Either way, you can't seriously continue to argue that Francis somehow holds his team back from running.


As far as the stadium is concerned, I seen Steve say that before and I really wish he would understand that he had nothing to do with getting a new arena.

 

Francis "scoring a lot more" doesn't necessarily translate into wins for his team. As bad a match as Francis and Van Gundy were, they were a 45 win 7th seed WC playoff team. (And in Francis's own words, "One missed rebound by Yao at the end of Game 1, and I kicked the ball out of bounds at the end of Game 4. Those two plays, those two games. If they're different, we beat the Lakers, hands down.")

Francis took two members of that team to ORL, added Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu, Pat Garrity, Jameer Nelson, and Dwight Howard and was given Carte Blanche to do what he wants. His Eastern Conference winning %age thus far for 82 translates into 46.5 wins.

Again, scoring a lot of points does not always translate into wins. And it's also a leap of faith to assume Francis with an "open pantry" would distribute the ball as well as McGrady. One I can't make.

 

I too will join you in that standing ovation.

 

Francis is a punk. He does play hard on the court but not smart. This is why he was traded because he is to selfish and stupid to play in a structured system. I will relish watching the Orlando Magic get knocked out of the playoffs by a better defensive team.

 

Stevie can't catch a break. Imagine if it were you being asked these questions. Do you honestly think you would do much better? The guy is obviously imperfect, but you can tell he's genuinely nice and he's got a big heart.

The dude really liked it here. Can you blame him? Throughout this whole thing I haven't heard one negative comment from Steve about Yao or the city. Even his comments about JVG have only been about the style of play.

 

It seems that there are alot of posters here who, too, are bitter. Let it go guys, move on.