If we don't go to the playoffs then Steve has killed us in more ways than one. He not only is beginning to look like a bad trade because of his play and character issues, (see typical self serving post game comments), but also because his lack of leadership, (compounded by Rudy's problems in getting the team to play together), may cost us a lottery pick that we gave up for him in the first place. Of course we should not be in the lottery but if we end up there then Memphis wins big and did not have to suffer having Francis for the last four years.
Someone please close this thread. Memphis wins big??? That team hasn't won squat in their entire existence, and they certainly did not get the better of the Francis trade.
Are you kidding? The Steve trade was surely a steal unless you would get Lebron this year. How many draft picks can develop to a star like Steve?
This thread is a joke right? There can't be anyone out there who thinks the Rox would have been better off with Michael Dickerson and Othella Harrington for the past fours years. C'mon, folks even the most pessimistic among us doesn't see lower than ninth in the WC and 40+wins. That translates into the #13 seed. The math is pretty easy: Steve Francis > Dickerson + Harrington + #13 pick And this doesn't even account for making the playoffs which could mean the pick is as low as 17 or 18. Or a draft day deal moving Glen Rice+ for another bad contract and a pick to send Memphis (it only has to be within three of the Rox). Like mentioned earlier, close this thread.
You forgot the juggernauts Brent Price and Antoine "Big Dog" Carr that we sent to Vancouver as part of the trade.
Wow... hard to not put this on "ignore," but in case someone actually takes this serious, lets look at the facts: We traded: Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Brent Price, Antoine Carr and this year's Rocket draft pick. We received: Steve Francis, Tony Massenburg, Don MacLean and Orlando's 2001 draft pick. Steve Francis is an all star this year, Dickerson has been injured most of the last 2 years. Othella got traded to NY for Eric Strickland and a 1st and 2nd round 2001 draft picks from NY, which Memphis then traded with SAR to Atlanta for Pau Gasol, who turned out to be rookie of the year. That was a good move on their part, but the primary piece of the trade from Memphis was SAR, not the draft choice. We used our pick as one of those three we traded for Eddie Griffin, but if we had kept the pick, we could have taken Arenas, Tinsley, Parker, Woods or Wallace. The jury is out on Griffin, but once again, this was also a late pick, which was the smallest piece of that trade. As far as the pick we have to send to Memphis this year, it either has to be ours or in the lottery. If we don't make the playoffs, and we get lucky somehow with the ping pong balls, we'll just trade it to someone later in the lotter for something. We certainly wouldn't let them have Lebron James, Milicek or any top 12 pick, if we ended up with one of them. <b>We have an all-star, they don't and won't. WE WIN this trade. Whether you like the star we have or not, or whether he leads us to the playoffs this year or not, makes no difference, in terms of how well the trade went.</b>
thank you Steve for getting us Yao last year. Also, let's ditch the water, gatorade crap. The Rockets should put XO on the bench.
Good post Sherlock. I was wondering if anyone would remember the we got a 1st rounder ourselves in the deal. We just got ours earlier and used it. Wasn't it the 18th? I think we got the 18th pick, and swapped our no.23, for the no.24 that year as a price for giving us the pick that year, as oppsed to waiting for a future year(as we have done with Mem.), then traded them all for Eddie. So, if our pick turns out to be 13, or so, all we really gave up is a 5 place movement in the 1st round. The Francis trade would have been a great one even if we didn't recieve a 1st rounder. I remember hating to give up B. Price because he had finally started to show some consistency with his 3 pointers, but he didn't do much after the trade. Same with Carr. Othella has been a decent role/bench player, nothing else. The main person in the deal(from Mem./Van.'s point was Dickerson. He was a young, athletic, 2-guard with 3-point range. I believe we took him at 14 the year before. At the time, some thought he showed more promise than Cat. I think he was a good player, but I'm not sure if he has Cat's heart. In his defense though, he has been injured. He could still turn out to be good, but I don't know if he'll ever reach all-star status, even for 1 year. I think Francis trade will go down as one of the most lopsided trades ever for Mem., unless they get lucky and find a gem in this years draft.
You can't really call it one of the most lopsided trade ever due to the circumstances. Francis forced the Grizz hand by demanding to be traded and said he would never play for them, so it's impossible to get fair value when the other gms know that if u don't make a trade, then u get nothing. Now, Tractor Traylor for Dirk Nowitski was lopsided.
Need any more proof that the quality of this board has degenerated Jk dude, don't mean to be so harsh on you but come on, that was one of the best trade pulled of by the Rox in the last ten years. Only drexler for thorpe might have been better but its hard to tell.
Who knows, the Grizz may actually be in Vancouver if Steve were on that team. The players stuck in Memphis are the ones that lost at the end, lol.
*sigh*...I guess I can be taken as one who has criticized Francis in the past, but I wonder why the thread starter feels this way about this subject. [size=1/2]Hint: Look at his user name[/size]
