[Chron] Feigen: Francis to Houston, not going to happen.

If we're going to run, then bye bye Howard.

 

As frusturating as they could be to watch, I still miss the old gang of Steve, Cat, Mo, Cato, Kenny, etc... I was sad to see Moochie go again.

I wanted them to try to go after Cat in the offseason. Even though it probably wouldn't work, I'd still love to see them try to being back Stevie.

 

Damn all we need now is for Vecsey to say Francis is coming back to houston to put the nail in the coffin.

 

running a break with alston leading and francis and Tmac on the wing with Swift trailing behind actually sounded very good to me..... Francis is not a good decision maker on fastbreak when he has the ball, but I think he will be a good one on the recieving end of a fastbreak.....

but seriously speaking.... the salary doesn't seems to work in anyway does it?

 

Exactly what i was thinking

 

He never considered expiring contracts, that could give them a free agent pool to pull from next year.

 

Even mentioning this concept of Francis being back in Houston gives it legitimacy. That'd be sweet if we make a move that big before the deadline passes.

 

I think someone needs to start a bring back Serge Zwicker, Zan Tabak, and Chilly Pete thread just to continue this madness.

 

I think he is forgetting about trade exceptions too.

 

What I'm wondering about is a 3 way with New Jersey. NJ gets Stromile and our #1 pick, they send RJ to Orlando, and we send Wesley, and Anderson, or whoever back out to Orlando, NJ, to make the salaries work. Basically the trade would be Francis here, Stro to NJ, and RJ to Orlando, with NJ getting a draft pick or two, maybe another player to go with Stro from Orlando.

That's the only way I could see Francis coming here. I still don't think he fits as well as other deals we could do.

 

Nor draft picks. Didn't see that mentioned, although it is 8:30 Sunday morning, and I'm not "seeing" much right now.

 

Francis is making $13.7 (per hoopshype salaries), so Feigan rounded up. We could get close to offering mostly expiring contracts plus young talent with a package of Wesley ($5 million, expires this year), Sura ($3.5 million, expires next year), Luther Head ($.975 million), Moochie trade exception ($3.35 million), Lampe ($.85million), and our #1 pick this summer, unprotected, + $3 million cash considerations.

With his scheduled raise, Francis is on the books for $15 million next year. With this trade, Orlando would save that much salary off their cap number this summer, but would add next year's cap figures for Head ($1.05 million), Sura ($3.8 million), plus the pick (maybe $3 million), for a total add of $7.85 million, and a net savings of $7.15 million. As such, the net benefit of the trade this summer to Orlando would be a probable lottery pick, Luther Head, $7.15 million in cap savings this summer to sign a free agent, and Sura playing almost for free next year (if they don't waive him) due to the $3 million payment. In the summer of 2007, they would have another $3.8 million come off the cap when Sura's deal expires (in addition to the $16.9 million that will come off their cap when Grant Hill's deal comes off), so they could be free agent players again in 2007.

I'm not saying that we should make this offer, or that Orlando would take it. I'm just challenging the proposition that we cannot offer as good of a deal as New York or Denver. This sounds like a better offer than the rumored offer by New York of Hardaway's expiring contract plus Channing Frye. As for Denver, they only have long term contracts to offer, outside of Voshon Lenard and Nene. If Orlando does not want Rafer or Swift's deals, they surely don't want Watson or Kenyon Martin's even bigger deals. And they might not be drooling to get Nene, who would command a big contract this summer, when they already have Howard and Darko.

 

IMO the Francis trade is not impossible...

Here's what I think (ESPN Trade Machine said the deal below is possible):

Orlando gets-
Derek Anderson
Stromile Swift
David Wesley

Houston gets-
Steve Francis
Bo Outlaw

It makes sense to me, while losing Francis Orlando get two shooting guards in DA and Wesley, while Swift could be a valuable player off the bench for them (JVG might have figured out that Swift is not the PF that he's been looking for, and Juwan Howard can still play most of the game with Chuck Hayes and maybe Lampe backing him up). Bo Outlaw doesn't play much for the Magic, so they might give him up for the deal, plus, JVG love old hardworking guys and Outlaw is in the final year of his contract, he can come in and play some 3 or 4 for us...

 

Heh...we found you!

 

Let's say we did get Francis. Does anyone actually think the line-up of Francis, TMac, and Yao would work well? I don't particularly care for a line-up like that. I would rather have Bob Sura than Francis. Francis doesn't even play well when he can play his own game these days let alone trying to play under JVG's system. I think he would be a better all around player at this point had he stayed on our team under JVG's system. I just don't think that a combination of Francis, TMac, and Yao would work out well or get us any closer to the goal of advancing, and winning, in the playoffs.

So, I'm not particularly thrilled about even hearing the rumor. Blah.

 

Swift
Head
Wesley
1st round pick (top 5 protected)
cash considerations



for Francis.



it all works under the cap.

 

IIRC,

trade exception can not be combined with other contracts in a trade
cash consideration can not be used to balance salary constraints.
Lampe probably can not be traded any more because we have just traded for him and it has passed the 48 hours window now

that leaves DW+BS+LH = ~9.5M

to get the salaries match we need at least add in DA (which would make him furious and probably give rox a bad name in free agents) or JH/SS (which orlando wouldn't be interested about with them having Dwight Howard...

 

Unless Francis becomes our starting SG -- which would put us at a disadvantage on defense -- then there is no way he could be back. Also, is SF3 willing to feed off T-Mac and Yao (i.e. play 3rd fiddle)? I don't see how this trade is even remotely possible or how it gives us what we need to have an elite team.

If this trade goes through, then the top people in the franchise have gone crazy and have become desperate. This trade would make zero fiscal sense and zero basketball sense on the Rockets' end; the Magic would have little problem accepting a trade of SF3 for essentially expirings, because they ARE trying to rebuild around Howard and want to desperately reduce their cap because they're losing money and might relocate from Orlando.

Besides, if we're willing to take on a max contract player in a trade, aren't there REALLY better prospects out there that would fit within the team's concept than SF3? Or is Les less concerned about winning and more interested in making a 'splash' that would re-ignite fan interest in the team?