really??? yet another 3rd person that Old School and A-Train refuse to acknowledge... NIKE...delivering the goods!!! I'm happy about Mr Franchise "I'm the leader" and "I'll be leading" and "I'll be measured by my leading"and "Steve Francis wouldn't expect you to treat him (umm, me) any other way", yet want to sit on the commode at the same time...what does that mean???
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1549686 Aug. 26, 2002, 10:46PM Francis receives extension worth about $85 million By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle THE DEAL • Length: Six years. • Value: Approximately $85 million, depending on the salary cap next season. • Begins: 2003-04 season. • Ends: 2008-09 season. From the shadows cast by the skeleton frame of steel girders that will become his new home court, Steve Francis declared construction complete. He reached an agreement Monday on a six-year contract extension. It will take effect in the 2003-2004 season and, depending upon the salary cap, is expected to be worth approximately $85 million. Similar contracts set to begin this season are worth $79.3 million. With the richest contract in franchise history complete, the player whose peers even call "Franchise" said the building was over. The pieces were in place. There was no more than a shell of an arena across the street. But the assembly of the Rockets had finally been realized. "The only thing I knew is we were headed in the right direction, and we weren't going to stop with (drafting) Yao Ming," Francis said. "Now with this done, this is the team. We have to be ready. We have to do it. "We have enough talent here now to be successful in the Western Conference. I don't care which team we're playing against. We have the capability. All it takes now is for us to put it together. We did a lot of things to put a great team together." With an $85 million player locked up for the next seven years, and reinforcements of young talent around him, the Rockets were happy to sacrifice maneuverability to move past rebuilding and place their fate in players already in place. "I definitely think this is the team," Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said. "You can put that in bold letters. This is the team that I think will bring us some championships in the years to come. "We have incredible talent at every position. We're young. We'll be around for at least a decade. I think we'll be one of the top teams in the NBA very shortly." Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich has pointed out in recent weeks that at least three members of his expected rotation -- Eddie Griffin, Bostjan Nachbar and Yao -- will be first- or second-year players. But when Alexander spoke of the Rockets' youth, he clearly considered it an indication of how long the talent can stay together. He was not about to let the leader of that movement slip away before he could enjoy what he believed had been built. "If we let Steve go, it would set us back years," Alexander said. "We have the right people. We want to keep them, obviously. "We're thrilled we could sign him to this contract. It means we can go on with great young talent. Everything we do here is based on winning championships and getting a team that can do that. We think we have that. Steve is obviously an integral part of that. There is no better young point guard in the history of the NBA at this stage. "He'll develop more and become a greater player. He'll work hard. He has a great work ethic. He cares about the game. He cares about his team. He cares about leadership. He cares about winning. He's everything we want." Francis, 25, started last season's All-Star game and was the league's only player to average 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. Only Francis, Oscar Robertson , Magic Johnson and Grant Hill have averaged at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in each of their first three seasons. "He's very ferocious," Alexander said. "He does whatever it takes to win. He doesn't care about this body. He doesn't care about anything else. He just wants to get over the back of the next guy to get the ball. That's what we love here. We want people that want to win so much. I think he's one of the great young talents in the history of the NBA, in the history of sports." The condition of Francis' body, however, was a large part of last season's slide to 28-54. Francis averaged career highs of 21.6 points and seven rebounds last season. But he played the last month of the season with a right shoulder injury and was plagued throughout the season by dizziness, headaches and blurred vision. Though players routinely must pass physicals before signing long-term contracts, Francis' health and prognosis had become the only real question before he and the Rockets could reach Monday's agreement. But a visit to the Mayo Clinic confirmed the diagnosis of Rockets physicians that Francis had Meniere's disease, a treatable and often temporary inner-ear condition. Francis said he was committed to his treatment -- including medication and careful adherence to a low-salt diet. Some stipulations about his treatment were written into his contract. But he said he has been free of headaches since the end of the season. "It was definitely a big part of what everybody was thinking as far as me being able to play here or me being able to play anywhere," Francis said. "I went to Minnesota and they gave me a lot of different things I can do to maintain." Francis, is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery in May and said he would be at full strength in time for training camp on Oct. 1. Nachbar, who had hernia surgery in July, has begun running and is due back in Houston next week. Maurice Taylor and Glen Rice have already begun playing. When Francis is at full strength, the Rockets believe they will be, too. "The building we've started, the pieces that we already have in place, we're very excited about," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "He's a real unique player. But the thing that excites me about this young man is he wants to get better in leadership and the things he wants to do to get the team where we want it to be. "He has all the tools, everything it takes. It's going to be a lot of fun if you like basketball in this city." Francis, who was traded to the Rockets after refusing to sign with the Vancouver Grizzlies, often has said he hoped to play his entire career in Houston, a position he reiterated the day after last season ended. To truly be "Franchise," he believed he could be with only one, and then had to make it a winner. "I always thought when I first got to Houston, for me to be successful in what I do, playing my whole career here in Houston is something I wanted to do," said Francis, who is entering the final year of a four-year, $14 million deal. "This day for me is a stepping stone to what this team has in the future, building on the younger guys like Eddie, myself, Yao Ming and guys like that. I think this definitely ranks higher than anything that ever happened to me and I'm very grateful. "Now we will be judged by how much we win, how much we lose. And I think I'm ready for that step."
You know, that's the one thing that struck me after all the Francis play today. He mentions Glen Rice, he mentions Mo Taylor, he mentions "all the youthful talent we have on this team" including Eddie and Yao...even Boki, I think. But he never mentioned Cat. Pair that with the fact that Eddie and Cat were at the Comets game and he wasn't there and I thought "Hmmm, what's the deal with Steve and Cuttino?" If you know something concrete, I have suspicions to combine with your knowledge.... But let's not start any rumors that can get blown out of proportion, we definitely don't need more of those around here.
Francis actually only mentions Eddie, himself, and Yao. It's Feigan who is commenting on Rice and MoT coming back from injuries. Mobley and Francis 4ever
i hope to hear comments from francis on yao's performance on the 31st. But ih ope they are good comments. And i hope yao does good too.
The post above, I was trumpeting my clairvoyant skillz; then I actually read the thread since I last saw it and realized someone had already done so. I don't know, I'm usually pretty good at this. I've seen Baron calling Steve "one of his boys" on more than one occasion. I imagined him making a phone call to Steve after the game with China. A year or two ago I actually invented a Marc Jackson interview. Months after, he was quoted saying the exact same good things about Houston that I had made up. I wonder if Miss Cleo is retiring soon?
It's not the Zapruder film. Steve and Cat are buddies. Good buddies. No question. Jeff never said otherwise. However, many fans here assume they are linked at the hip and think with the same brain. The result of this assumption would lead one to believe that business or team decisions would be clouded by this relationship. I read Jeff's post to say otherwise.
exactly. jeff never said they weren't good friends, obviously they are. he only said they're not as close as some people think, and some think they're really too close.
Hehe, it's even on nba.com. Q: Do you see promise in the team’s future? Alexander: “No team in the NBA has had this kind of outlook, with Yao Ming, Nachbar, with Glen Rice coming back healthy, Mo Taylor coming back healthy, and Steve Francis coming back healthy. The talent that is coming back now is unbelievable.” Francis: “To touch on that, it is just going to take us time to come together. I think it will happen. We handpicked this team, we traded for Rice, we traded for Eddie Griffin, we traded for Steve Francis. We got lucky with Steve Francis at the lottery and getting Yao Ming. We have done a lot of things to put a great team together. I think now it is time to put it together.” From the transcript. Notice the use of "we" interchangeably for "the Rockets". Hehe, he really is the Franchise.
Francis: "...We got lucky with Steve Francis at the lottery and getting Yao Ming..." Steve gave himself credits for getting Ming...
Well, he's just trying to fit the label. Besides, it's kinda like "the royal we" sorta thing. After what Les said about Steve, I'm sure Steve was filled with that "irrational exuberance" Alan Greenspan once used to describe the stock market. I've had it myself lately.
NIKE!!!!. When are we going to go to a game together? You ROCK! "We traded for Steve Francis." "We got lucky with Steve Francis at the lottery and getting Yao Ming. " Oh my god. You know: I'm now officially a w****. I will like anyone on my team no matter how much I think they are personality Eunichs. Steve, that's it: you've totally lost 100% personality respect I have for players. You are right there with Shaq. But I still want to have an NBA orgasm with you!!! LOL
