Who would you build the team around, Yao or Francis?

And now, HT, the big question is: if you can trade Francis only (with no other major pieces like Taylor or Cato), for whom would you trade Francis? I know that is a very tough question right now because we don't know the draft order.

 

I say just trade francis to any team willing to take on his max contract. Anything you get back in return is just bonus, since removing francis by himself is addition by subtraction. Though I also feel cat needs to go just as bad as Francis.

 

I am generally not uncivil -- but this statement too idiotic to ignore. Therefore, my comment is: Unthinking statement.

 

Neither guy has instilled a ton of confidence in me that they are worthy of being built around. I'm unsure Yao will end up being good enough to build around. But I am fairly sure Steve is not good enough to build around.

Yao has the talent and potential. He's blessed with the smarts and instincts that few players have. The main thing he lacks is the warrior mindset that is needed. Steve has the warrior mindset, but I do not think he has the god given talent that is needed. He's just a very hardworking, athletic player that has played beyond his talent level.

 

This thread/poll is quite r****ded. The topic implies mutual exclusivity, but the choices don't. I voted the most obvious answer "both of them", which is really a no-brainer. I assumed that If I voted "neither of them" that doesn't mean I have the option to build a team around Shaq and Kobe.

Yao and Steve are two of the most unique talents in the league right now, why would anyone want to leave one of them out?

 

Everyone already knows the answer to this poll, its not rocket-science.

But is anyone worried about the way Yao has been playing lately? I know every player goes through slumps, but it just seems that Yao is VERY tired and has a little lost of interest.

Whether its now or in 10 years, Yao's schedule is going to catch up with him and it doesn't seem to get any easier. Within the next 12 months, Yao will have to play in the Olympics-Asian Championships (is it every year?)-82 NBA Games + playoffs.

For a guy that is 7'6" and 300+ lbs., his schedule is going to take its toll.

 

agreed.

 

No, the Asian Championships are not held every year. The Asian Championships were held last summer to qualify for the Olympics this summer.

The Asian Championships are also not held in the years of the World Championships like the one held in Indianapolis prior to Yao's rookie season. Neither the Chinese NT nor the US NT finished high enough at Indy to qualify for Athens, hence they both had to qualify last summer in their respective regions.

 

What do you think of mine?

 

Because Fancy's unique talent is being the best high jumper that could qualify for the special olympics.

 

I voted Yao, because I understand the premise of the debate... as in "for the future."

But what we must realize is that the current team was built around Francis over the past 4-5 years, and just now we are seeing the payoff in the playoffs.

If we rebuild again, it's bye-bye playoffs for a while again, methinks.

 

I would have wished we could have built the team around SF and Yao. But it seems that most games (except recent ones) its SF's man that goes ballistic on us and scores at will. Its just sad to watch. However... SF goes crazy when there is more coverage - maybe he will flourish in the playoffs. Still, I voted for building the team around Yao.

 

Is that really called for? How are people supposed to take you seriously when your commentary is just insults? Also, since you are trying to say that because you think Steve is dumb, you equate that to being handicapped, I should tell you people who are handicapped or have family like that don't appreciate the insinuation that handicapped people are stupid.

 

There's just now way that it can be justified to get rid of Francis for nothing as some here have said, that being said, we won't even discuss that. I definitely see no reason to not keep both, they're both young, both very talented, and both show to be genuinely hard workers who can take over games. We've seen how most of the teams that win championships win with people who can come through, granted neither one of them does it consistently. The other night against Denver was the perfect example, Camby went off on us (btw he was not Steve's man), and when it seemed that we might be headed for a melt-down, then Steve took over. How can you not want that? Having 2 threats is the best thing that we can possibly ask for, they're not playing well granted, neither one of them has lately, but come playoff time, hopefully some of us will be reminded that they both got us there.

 

Depending on who gets the first pick, this could be interesting. Personally, I would want to get the first or second pick to get Dwight Howard (first choice) or Omeka Okafor (second choice) along with a tall, defensive-minded PG wth a serviceable shot.

I'm looking forward to your proposal, HT.

 

am I the only person on this board the appriciates what having TWO all stars can mean to a team !?!?!

 

That depends on whether or not you really call Francis an all star. I don't. And the second all star voting is removed from the fans, I don't think we'll be seeing him in that game.

 

Exactly!