It was not a good trade for Orlando in terms of talent. They were forced by McGrady's threat to walk after the contract expired in the offseason. Francis was our first option. And he was just not good enough to be a franchise player. (His nickname was one of the biggest misnomers in sports.) So if he was the #1 guy, we would not go anywhere but stuck at a perennial 40+ wins record. JVG recognized it and tried to make Yao the man. It then was clear that Francis, while not good enough to be a championship lead man, was also not good as a second banana. The first year when JVG asked him to defer to Yao, that was by far Francis' worst season he had ever played up to that point.
This is life of the Nba. Not the dead part. Only in WWE. But if the players aren't playing that good there's always players in the draft and undrafted young players ready to take their spot.
Hmmmmm.....if only a certain player in, let's say Toronto, perhaps Miami, or dare to say Cleveland, would make the same type of threats now.....could the same thing happen for the Rockets again? :grin:
