OK, no secrets here---- I wasn't Francis' biggest fan. I loathed the fact that he was our pg, and wanted him moved to the two. I think he was a good player, and at this point probably a better basketball player than Yao. I have read people complaining that we just got rid of the best player on our team, that you dont' strip a roster and rebuild this quickly, that this is a bad move but here are some things to consider. 1. Francis was the best Rocket on the roster but not the most valuable. While Francis was probably the best player on our team, but he was in no way the most valuable. SF was a top 10 guard in the league no question. I figure he's a top 20 talent and Yao is somewhere in the 20-30 range at this point in his career. Yao however is a top 5 and maybe top 3 center in the league RIGHT NOW. There are a number of guards that could walk into SF's shoes last year and done the same thing. There are 2 or 3 centers that are the force that Yao is. With any measurable ammount of improvement Yao will dominate all but 4 or 5 nights a year. 2.Mcgrady and Yao follow a formula that won 3 championships. Mcgrady is a top 5 player RIGHT NOW. Both of these players have unbelievable potential and at some point they may be held with the same regard as Kobe and Shaq. That day might also not be that far away. Francis was popular, high flying and on Sportcenter all of the time but he was not without his flaws. So tell me... if you have a chance to get one of the top 5 in the league at 25, not 30 or 28 or 32 but at 25 years old, and pair him with someone who will most likely develop into the top center in the game, why would you not do that. 3. With SF and YAO we were more or less waiting for the competition to drop off because there was little room to improve. Do people actually think that the core of Francis and Yao were going to go much farther? Lets say we beat the lakers, with our old lineup do whe have any chance against SA,MIN,DAL or MEMPHIS. Ok maybe Dallas this year, but none of the other 3 in a 7 game series. I'm not one who wanted to wait for other teams to fall off. As long as Francis, who wasn't great at creating shots for others in our system, was at the helm the offense was going to go through scoring drouts in most games. He was a SG in a PG body. Plain and simple. He would be a great SG if he was paired with a bigger PG but those are a very valuable comodity and with us making the playoffs year in and year out (which we would have) we might never have gotten the chance to bring one in. 4. We needed a guy who could create his own shot without excessive dribbling Francis had to pound the ground with the ball forever in order to create a shot. That led to the stagnent offense durring games. Mcgrady can catch and shoot, he creates off the dribble he moves well without the ball, which are two of the three things Francis was not exceptional at. With Mcgrady's height he can shoot over several people that Francis had to go around. That means dribble, which means more time off of the Shot Clock. 5. With Francis we would have a hard time aquiring a pg and playing him It was going to be difficult even if we aquired a pg, to move Stevie to the 2. I mentioned earlier his size would have created matchup problems most nights. Ginobli with SA Finley with Dallas Miller, Battier and Wells with Memphis are bad matchups for Francis because of their size. With Tmac at the 2 we avoid those matchup problems. We need to adress (common knowledge here) PG and a backup Center. It would be nice to see a good PF come in that could slide over and give Yao a break but I do think that Howard is an improvement over Cato/Taylor. We know he's a better rebounder than Taylor and a better shooter than Cato. If he is even marginally better defensively than Taylor he will be a huge upgrade. As for the comments about him being a cancer and playing on bad teams- He was drafted by Washington - They are a horrible franchise always have been and most likely will be. Think Clippers East. He was traded to Dallas- who had been horrible for 10 years but were a very solid team when he was there. He averaged close to 15/8 in just over 82 games with them. Traded to Denver- they had been horrible for over 10 years as well. They had not played .500 ball in 8 years and were 5 years removed from an 11 win season. Traded to Orlando- Hmm... lets see we know what they are and have been. Sure he's played on some bad teams, but its not like he distroyed these franchises. Gosh 3 of the four previous teams have been horrible for over 5 years before he got there. Dallas was horrible before he got there and decent while he was there. He wasn't the cause of the rise but he was a part of a decent team. Lue is garbage. Gaines is young and was a dissapointment last year but may turn into something some day nobody knows. Cato's contract was horrible, he was a defensive stopper and an offensive abomination. It was nice to have him on the floor when we were ahead but quite honestly I'm glad he won't be dropping any more ally-oop passes or layups in a Rockets uniform. Mobley- I HATE losing him. I was rough on him for a while, but really like him. He was a better bargain because of his contract but that won't last forever (his contract is up at the end of this year) and he might have commanded more money that we cared to pay. I will miss Francis' hear, his enthusiasm and his Dunks. I wish him the best, and would love to see a Magic/Rockets finals providing the outcome is the same as the last. But I think this trade has too many positivies to ignore. Something tells me that Mcgrady/Yao will be special for years to come, as I can see an inside out game working very well. Mike.
