... deserve the max. (of this moment) this is not intended to follow suit of more francis hate ... instead, it is because i believe there are very few players in the nba deserving of the max. 1) a player deserving the max should either dominate his position in most aspects or dominate the game. 2) steve's ability to play at 100% is a concern and it is not known if his problems will go away yet 3) talent in college and other leagues around the world is rising and the influx of extremely athletic and potential players should devalue those here now 4) the PG position is especially overflowing with talent 5) the rockets should be looking to pay some other players cash to improve their roster to a championship team... free agents.. rookies... and trade kickers
Your criteria for a max player is nice and all in an idyllic way, but the bottom line is when you compare other talents to steve who HAVE received the max, you gotta pay him the going rate.
Crossover, I agree with you. I don't think Steve deserves the max. People may get pissed I'm saying this, and i know Steve has been hurt this season, but....If Francis doesn't throw the Rockets over his shoulder and carry his team to the playoffs, he shouldnt be paid like a player, who can take his team to the play offs....Nuff said!
i guess what bugs me is that a team without a big flowing paycheck behind it ala cuban like the rockets need to do exactly what they need to do with a franchise for the long run benefit of being a title contender most years... treat it like a business and be impersonal at times... these last few moves by the rockets have disabled their ability to pick up some true long term talent and they need to think about their stock and how much to pay it. if we were to have all the other intangibles going for us that brings players, coaches and a team to a title contender, that'd be great but our players don't understand that and i think rudy's heart is always in it but not necessarily his method. as it is, if franchise demands the max or leave, i take leave because this team as a "franchise" needs to make better business decisions than that. and btw crispee, francis for jamaal + ming is still pure juice...
It's hard to believe that this is a topic... I'm more worried about the headaches than if he warrants the Max or not. When he's clearly feeling good and headache free he has played extremely well. Hell yes, he should get the Max if that's the Francis we're getting.
He doesn't deserve it, but we must do it. Unfortunately losers like Vin Baker, Shawn Kemp, Juwan Howard, etc have raised the bar on salaries as far as max contracts go.
At the time, Kemp was the 2nd best 4 in the league. Really no player deserves the money they get, but thats the market that was set. Although security is good, if I was a player like Francis or someone, I would do what Duncan did and sign for 3yrs. The thing behind that is if the team isn't showing progress towards winning, you don't have to beg to be traded, just play your small contract out. Really ,it makes sense for both ends because as we have seen, some player can't maintain the level of play, then the team has the burden of that giant contract.
There are better players than Francis getting the max. There are worse players than Francis getting the max. If we don't pay Francis the max, either we will lose him for nothing, or we will end up trading him for another ill-conceived Cato-Williams-Rogers-type combo, or we will end up trading him for a worse player who gets the max.
We either give him the max or someone else will. Based on what the current going rate is for an all star guard that is a potential triple double every time he steps on the court, he deserves the max. Based on what guys who are not nearly as good as him are making, he deserves the max. Thats just the way the NBA is so deal with it. Look, it could be worse...there could be no salary cap like baseball and then think of what you would have to pay him to stay.
NJRocket and Will , I couldn't agree more.As much as people like to bash Stack and even Cat, they're not making market value. Same was said about Cassell before he signed his extension. I still think the Pippen trade was one of the worse the Rockets have ever made. Everyone knew he had to go, but to basically get 4 bench players for a player who still had a high avlue was crazy.
not sure but its probably somewhere between 3 and 5....my point is that I dont think there are too many other guys in the league that average over 20ppg, 6-7 rpg and 6-7 apg...and of those who do average those #'s, my guess is that they are probably getting the max
What Will and NJR said. Let's lock him up and keep our fingers crossed about his headaches. I think he wants to stay, and his own uncertainty about his health should play into that. I hope we can do it soon (this summer) so RT, CD and company can stop treating him with kid gloves about his decision making, etc. And if he's locked up and we decide to trade him at some point, it becomes much easier. My hunch is that he'll get over the "head problems" and the decision problems will be vastly improved. If not, get in his face, Rudy!
As a sports fan, contracts are a turn-off. It is hard to get exited about a rich person's STRUGGLE to get richer. I am much more interested in Francis or someone leading the Rockets to a winning season (or even an entertaining losing season).
Probably that, I'm sure you know. But, he's also had alot of 20/9/9 games or 28/8/9 type games. He also took himself out of a game as a rookie when he was an assist/rebound short of atriple double. Of course, unlike Cuttino, he has never scored 10 points (while we were up 20) in the last two minutes of a game against the Chicago Bulls, after Jordan.
. i completly agree with you, francis could have had like 20 tripple dubble by now, if he had 1 rebound or assist more.. sorry BigTwoston but francis was injured this season, when he didn't play the rockets won about 1 and lost 25, thats is pathetic, every play off team can win more with there star out. (look at Toronto). and if Houston plays in the east the rockets would have made the play offs last year. (i know they play in the west, so it is not a good argument) you are wright NJRocket. i think the only players who can get that kind of #'s are Bryant and Mcgrady. and i know every normal GM would pay them the max. ok Francis has got problems with his headache, but he is still worth the max, if we don't give him the max, he will wind up laying another team and he will kill us every time he play's us(look at Webber, and we didn't treat him as bad as we will treat Francis if we don't give him the max) Francis is a great player.
Francis deserves the max, he is boneheaded for sure, but he is one of the most talented players in the NBA. DaDakota
