man...is it just me or has there been more posters with single and double digit postcounts appearing all at once in the last week than ever before?
I hope this doesn't happen...I F%$*ing HATE the Fakers...I love steve but couldn't route for him in a Lakers uni.
O-town GM: "so you have justed traded Butler... and kobe and odom are off the board...but you want Francis, the last remaining scrap we have from the Tmac freecing, errr trade?" Kupcheck: "Yep... we're the Lakers, knee before us and weep!" O-town GM: *click* Kupcheck: "...hello...?!?!"
Agreed. Dooling was a beneficiary of playing with Wade & Shaq and some teams think he is better than he really is. He looks to cash in. Good for him; very dumb for the Magic. Jameer Nelson better be the real deal if Orlando trades SF.
So let me get this straight: People are speculating that Francis might be traded because the Magic offered a deal to Keyon Dooling? Keyon Dooling? Orlando management didn't offer Dooling a contract because they want to move Francis. They offered Dooling a contract because they're incompetant. We're talking about Dave Twardzik here. The man who passed up Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady in CONSECUTIVE DRAFTS for Todd Fuller and Adonal Foyle.
Look at Orlando's roster and keep in consideration that Christie's not going to suit up for them again. Dooling could either push for a starting position alongside Francis or be the first guard off the bench for he or Nelson. Either way it doesn't precipitate a trade involving Francis. Francis' value may have taken a knock, but I can't imagine they're so desperate to seek cap relief in the near-future that they'd just give him up for the absolute crap, and I stress crap, that the Lakers would be throwing at them. The Magic still haven't resolved their arena issues and you think they're going to trade one of their few marketable players? I wouldn't bet on it.
Well, who the hell is the Magic going to get back in return? They already lost T-Mac in the trade, and if they trade Steve for scrubs, or just for cap relief (the Magic are one of the teams with the highest payrolls around) then that would be just as if they let their superstar and best hope (McGrady) walk out of town for nothing, it would be letting Shaq go all over again.
Oh, forgot to add... IMO, if the Magic try to move Stevie then a perfect trading partner might be teams with disgruntled stars, i.e. the Celtics or a team even like the Pacers. Otherwise, I honestly don't see any team willing to give up more than their trash to the Magic, who need cap relief more than anything else at this point.
tigermission1 "That's real, real big for us,'' McGrady, who worked to recruit Swift, said. "I'm going to do my best to turn him into an All Star player, too. I'm very excited about it. I think that he was the guy we were missing. He'll add more depth, more athleticism. It's good to have him part of us. I think he has unbelievable talent. The best is about to come out of him.'' I'm BLIND!!!!!!
I don't see the Magic trading Francis for anyone else on that team. I can't imagine them wanting Kwame Brown??! Even Weidbrod can't be that dumb to trade away anything with trade value on his team for anyone not named Odom, Kobe, or Brown on the Lakers squad! Meanwhile, the starting lineup of Francis, Kobe, Odom, Brown, Mihm.... If Odom was complaining about not getting the ball enough with just Kobe, imagine how it would be with Francis too! Then imagine the egos clashes of Kobe, Francis, and Phil Jackson. I see this being worse than what it was a few years back with Kobe, Shaq and PJ. A backcourt of Francis and Kobe... maybe they'd want to bring Rudy T back. He can put the isolation back into the gameplan....
The faker dreamteam for this season could consist of Francis and Kobe in the backcourt, Quitten and Karla at the forwards, a big donut in the middle, with Phil at the helm. And don't forget Kupchek is the dog that intentionally provoked a fight just to get Dream ejected in the 4th Q of Game 5, 1986 (the Sampson shot). Oh man...the chorus of boos at Toyota Center would be music to the world's ears
