Excerpts from Francis article in SLAM Magazine

I know this was brought up earlier, but I got my hands on this copy of SLAM magazine (issue #44, August 2000) and it's an excellent interview. I'd like to type in some of the quotes I found interesting:

Stephon Marbury on Steve Francis:
"Steve is nice. He's crazy nice. He can jump, he can shoot the three -- he's a great all-around player -- he can pass. And he plays hard, he plays with a lot of excitement. When he's on the court, he plays with so much energy that you can pretty much see it. He's fun to play against because he accepts the challenge. He comes at you."

When asked if Francis would be "one of the guys" along with him and Iverson, Marbury said:

"He'll definitely be one of the elite guys. Definitely. By far, that's not even close."

Francis on being from Washington DC...
Francis: "It means the world to me... I mean, bein' from D.C., to me, is something that I want to blow up, more guys from D.C. now who are gonna blow up. We got guys goin' to North Carolina -- Joe Forte, Keith Bogans [at Kentucky], Terence Morris at Maryland. We got a lot of guys who are up and risin'. We got a young guy comin' out this year, DJ, DerMarr Johnson, so I mean, we on the way up."

Slam: How did you pick up your crossover?
Francis: "From just watchin' guys -- growin' up watching other guys who got handle. Moochie Norris, who's on my team now, Greg Jones, Curt Smith, all these guys who grew up where I'm from."

Slam: Where did the "Wink" nickname come from?
Francis: "My boys. Back when I was young, probably like 8 or 9, they named me that. 'Faster than the wink of an eye,' that's what they used to tell me."

Slam: You weren't sure before but now do you think this is your team?
Francis: "Nah... in a way. I think I got part ownership in the team, because I'm just another piece to something that we're trying to do, and we're tryin' to hopefully design a team to win a championship. And I think I'm piece one, 'cause I'm the point guard, and then we need piece two through, I think, probably eight, 'cause we need eight or nine guys to win the championship."

(this one -- pardon the pun -- slams the Roy D. Eltons of the world claiming Francis wants to be in Chicago)
Slam: Were you more disappointed about not going No. 1 or going to Vancouver?
Francis: "Both. It wasn't just one or the other, it was both."
Slam: Because you thought you were No. 1 ...
Francis: "Yeah. But to this day, I'm so happy I wasn't drafted by Chicago. I swear I'm so happy. And me and Elton Brand are good friends, but I'm so happy I didn't have to go to a city where it's snowing until April, or go to a team where it's going to take them longer to rebuild, even probably than Vancouver. I'm glad... this is probably the best thing that could have happened to me."

Slam: How was the home crowd this year?
Francis: In Houston? I loved it. They welcomed me with open arms. Even though we didn't have the best record, I still thought they respected us because we played hard, we never gave up and we beat some of the big dogs of the league. And that was only a stepping stone. Like I said earlier, we lost 10 or 12 games in the last two or three minutes that we coulda won and we woulda been in the playoffs, we would be playin' right now. By us comin' together towards the end of the season, it's definitely a sign that we want to be better and we want to get to the playoffs ...... and I'm happy, because we're at a stage now as a team, where once we get some more pieces, I think we got a good chance of doing well."

Slam: How important is it that [free agent] Cuttino (Mobley) comes back?
Francis: "It's imperative to me. That's my ace, that's my left hand -- I'm right handed and he's my left hand, you know what I'm sayin'? We always together. I just think I would be real sad if he wasn't to come back, but I understan if they can't pay him what he's worth. That's when the business aspect comes in."

Slam: What are your goals for next year?
Francis: Take my team to the playoffs. That's a common goal I can discuss. But my personal goals, I keep those to myself until I obtain them. I think that's what everybody should do."


My two cents... this issue is very good -- good interview worth reading, also has a 4-page article on a farewell to Barkley with full-color photos (haven't read it yet) and has a lot of good stuff on some high school players (DeShawn Stevenson was not on the Slam 2000 All American High School team -- he was second team. Darius Miles however was first team, saying he has "ludicrous versatility")

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