[Player's Tribune | by Steve Francis] I Got a Story to Tell

I love his comments on Yao. Best. Teammate. Ever. (Yao that is)

Good article.

 

What do you mean he didn't have any meltdown performances? TMAC literally QUIT on the Rockets during a game. I can't believe we forget this and give TMAC a pass.

The Rockets were making steady progress with Steve and Yao and increased depth. Had we stayed the course and built around Yao and Steve and continued to add pieces, we would have been great. The TMAC trade killed all of our depth, and left us reliant on a soft superstar who thought he was better than he was.

 

Steve Francis was one of my favorite NBA players back in the mid 00's and was certainly the only player that kept me interested in the Rockets after Hakeem and Barkley retired.

Even though I would later realize the limitations of his game, i still fondly remember his amazing crossovers, jukes and drives. Dude was so damn good at shaking people, granted it usually required far too much dribbling lol... but it was damn entertaining when he was at his peak.

 

Loved watching Steve play for the Rockets. I wish Adelman would’ve played him more when he came back too.

Great article. I’ll always be a fan of Franchise.

 

Great read. Loved that he always showed respect to Dream, Yao, RudyT and the other Rockets legends. He always loved Houston and the team.

He wasn't perfect, but he was ours and it crushed him when he got traded, and some of us were sad to lose him, even though we knew it was the right trade. This is why Chandler gets hate and Franchise gets love. We recognize the warts but we recognize the effort, the love. His first few years, gave us hope. Busted Stockton and the Jazz in the first half and then got kicked out for the 2nd. Sort of a fitting analogy to his entire career.

 

@Swiss Roll

You see this response? This is real.

 

All I remember at the end were boneheaded 18 seconds or more iso plays.

Likely got fan favorite jvg fired

 

Or the numerous numerous blown fast break attempts with him and mobley, just maddening!!

 

"And I know people were asking, 'What the hell happened to Steve Francis?' But the hardest part was reading some bulls--- on the Internet saying that I was on crack," Francis said. "When I thought about my grandmother reading that, or my kids reading that ... that broke my heart. Listen, I sold crack when I was growing up. I'll own up to that. But never in my life did I ever do crack.

"What happened to Steve Francis? I was drinking heavily, is what happened. And that can be just as bad. In the span of a few years I lost basketball, I lost my whole identity, and I lost my stepfather, who committed suicide."

In April 2017, Francis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, was fined and received a sentence of time served. Francis entered alcohol rehab after his arrest in November 2016.”

 

I was too young to have seen the clutch years so for better or worse steve and the flying dildo uni is what comes to mind when i think rockets.

There have been better but steve and cat were my guys.

 

Nope, it’s because he didn’t quit mid-game, admit to it, then blame his teammates for quitting.

He played his heart out with truly terrible rosters outside of Cat Mobley. T-Mac’s Rafer/Battier/Hayes/Landry/Deke supporting cast looked like the 86 Celtics compared to what Steve and Cat had.

 

Look at those insanely good looking uniforms!
Yao wearing that vintage Maxwell

 

Goes to show how hard it is for people to escape poverty and crime when they are born into it.

 

Are you talking about Francis?

How did he he jvg fired?

 

I would have loved to have seen the Steve-Cat-Yao teams vs. the Jazz in the playoffs. We gave the Lakers some fits the year before, and Yao wasn't YAO yet.

I wish we could have held onto James Posey too, and gawdamn I really wish that Eddie Griffin could have realized half of his vast potential.

 

That was the least of his problems. What a terrible story.

 

In what playoff game did Mcgrady just quit?


Also don't oversell Francis. Steve Francis was a HORRIBLE decision maker & grade A ballstopper as a PG. His turnovers were pretty bad & he was the ultimate me-first pg. We were going NOWHERE with Steve. Very likable guy though

 

Great read. I have fond memories of watching the Franchise/Mobley teams on UPN 20.

Pretty funny that he called Vancouver "cold-ass Canada" even though he was from DC. The winters where he grew up are definitely harsher than those in Vancouver.

 

Please go into detail