Steve Francis is in a good place these days (video)

I miss seeing Francis at CVS during midnight when he was on that pipe haha…

 

Trading him was a mistake.

 

Nope

 

I just re-watched Yaos first game against shaq the other day. Steve balled out in that one. It was very good nostalgia.

 

Tracy didn’t take us any farther, AND he threw the whole damn team under the bus.

Give me Steve and Cat all damn day.

 

Eddie Griffin too… Guy was so damn talented. Had Yao’s back.

 

The trade is the right basketball move 4 of 5 times. But it didnt "feel" near as fun as it could have been, even with Flyin Ryan Bowen & Sura fall in fainting. Cuz finally getting Francis & Yao in the playoffs, against the champs who they played tough, was riding a high point. Then feelings got deflated for a group of old mercenaries

Oddly, brittle bones McGrady played much longer than everyone in the trade, including Yao. So McGrady somehow won in longevity

 

Francis still on crack?

 

Makes me happy to see Stevie still looking and sounding good -- I didn't think he was going to be around much longer with how hard he was partying. He looked so bad for years -- it seems that after his DUI arrest he fully bought in to living a sober life. Now it's been years since he was looking so rough.

 

Steve Francis brought so much excitement to Houston. Even Fans said ever since he left it hasn't been the same. Steve Francis did a lot of charity work and Autograph signings.

Jeff Van Gundy was the worse thing that happened. Nothing but 1st Round Exits and Old washed up players around Yao and McGrady and playing heavy minutes which led to Career Ending Injuries.

 

It isn’t something discussed a lot but Steve Francis had an absolutely horrendous childhood - he just doesn’t discuss it much and doesn’t make any real excuses. He wasn’t really equipped emotionally for being an NBA star. He had dropped out of high school and didn’t even play basketball for most of high school.

His mother was a drug addict that died from cancer when Francis was a teenager. His father was in prison his whole life. His stepdad was his only real friend and he committed suicide.

He lived in a condemned apartment building in Maryland and at one point he said there were over a dozen drug dealers living in the apartment when he was a kid. Francis sold drugs to buy food and clothes when he was like 10-12 years old.

He started playing JUCO because of a fluke chance a coach saw him in a pick up game.

Dude had a very tough and sad life. It’s amazing that he hasn’t been an abusive or violent person… and it explains why he has suffered from depression and alcohol abuse.

When he was a young player I saw him outside of the game buy street kids food and talk to them.

 

There is a new song writer named Alex Warren who had a lot of that same childhood story.

Turned it around. More than.

 

i hear this a lot. but haven't heard about him outside of here. what's so good about eddie?

 

All Day E'ry Day!

100% Agree

Rocket River

 

The first impression I had of McGrady was him sitting on the Toronto bench as a rookie, pouting. That stuck with me and when we traded Stevie/Cat that's what popped into my head. Obviously, getting the scoring champ was exciting but I still had my misgivings. Fast forward and all we had was first round exits and this:



Keeping Franchise and Cat would have at the very least been a wash with first round exits. But I think their chemistry with Yao was much better and they had heart, where Tracy McGrady did not. I think we would have been much more competitive with them. And who knows who else we could have attracted or landed via drafts? We'll never know but I do know that Yao was wasted in that era being paired with T-Mac.

 

Eddie was a very early version of what every team wants now. Long, athletic, quick enough to guard smaller players and long enough to guard larger players. And he was stepping out to the three point line when very few power forwards were. He would have been a top 3 pick if there weren't already questions about his character. He was freakishly gifted, but never realized his potential in the slightest. He had been through an awful lot before he arrived at the Rockets and never really moved beyond it. He struggled with alcohol abuse for sure but I suspect he was up to more than that. And there were questions as to whether he died in an accident or if it was suicide. I'm inclined to think it was suicide.

I am honestly struggling to think of who he might have been comparable to if he had approached his ceiling. But you know, it's probably not far off from what we hope Tari can be. But again, he would have gone top 3 while a teenager if it weren't for his issues.

Man, i still remember watching that draft and jumping up off of the sofa to high five my dad when they announced we had traded Richard Jefferson, one of the Collins twins and somebody I can't even remember for Eddie Griffin. I thought he was going to be a superstar. Man, what a sad story he became.

 

Outside of Dream, most gifted shotblocker I have ever seen. Offensively, Rasheed Wallace-esque.

Basically was in a constant battle with depression, but when he was ready to play we looked damn scary. Posey+Eddie+Yao had insane potential on the frontline.

 

Very talented player that had some serious emotional and psychiatric problems.

His off the court personal life was a total mess - fights with his girlfriend in the middle of the night, alcohol and untreated problems.

He got criticized that he wasn't an immediate star but at his age and with his issues it is amazing he played as well as he did.

Great natural shot blocker and rebounder and was developing an outside shot.

He would have been a Hall of Famer with modern addiction and mental health awareness.

 

Rasheed Wallace is perfect. That's exactly what he could have been. Rasheed Wallace on offense and Ben Wallace on defense!