Wolves notes: Rockets feature familiar story, reason for hope Steve Aschburner Star Tribune Wednesday, November 1, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets have a couple of young players, Maurice Taylor and Shandon Anderson, whose stories merge with the Timberwolves' current plight. First there's Taylor, the power forward from Michigan who signed as a free agent over the summer. Rather than entertain fatter offers from teams with salary-cap space or push for a sign-and-trade deal that would give his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, something in return, Taylor signed outright for the mid-level cap exception ($2.25 million). For a player of Taylor's record (17.1 scoring average in three NBA seasons) and potential, it was a steal. In fact, maybe too good of a steal -- there were rumblings almost immediately of a wink-wink promise to pay Taylor much, much more in three years. No way, the player said. He's no Joe Smith. "I signed a one-year deal," Taylor told the Houston Chronicle. "Next summer I'm a free agent. That's not saying that I want to leave. But that's the deal. I looked at the numbers. There's going to be like nine teams under the cap next summer. If I play well, everything will take care of itself. I didn't think I needed to get into all that other stuff." That's his story, anyway, and he's sticking to it. As for Anderson, it's worth noting the Rockets' shooting guard -- the only Houston player to start all 82 games last season and a key member of the Utah Jazz when it reached the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998 -- was the 54th player selected in the 1996 draft. So, there still might be hope each June for the Wolves, who have forfeited their first-round picks through 2005. Tribute hits the road In an empty dressing stall next to Kevin Garnett's in the visitors locker room, two of the plastic name tags that the Wolves tote on the road were posted. They read: "Malik Sealy, 2" and "Joe Smith, 32." Francis stays put If Garnett was a high school phenom, Rockets guard Steve Francis was the anti-phenom. He played only one season of basketball at Blair High School in Maryland and started only one game. Then he broke an ankle before his junior season and never played there again. Francis' hello/goodbye pattern continued in college. He spent one year each at San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College, Allegany (Md.) Community College and the University of Maryland before entering the NBA. So, stepping onto the court Tuesday for a second season with the Rockets was something of a milestone for the point guard. "Last year I tried to fit in," said Francis, who shared the league's Rookie of the Year award with Elton Brand. "Now, I just want to make sure everybody is scoring, everybody is where they're supposed to be on defense. "I play 40 minutes out of 48. I control the ball. Everything goes through me. I feel I have 100 percent responsibility." ------------------
