link Randolph heading to Knicks, Francis shipped to Blazers in draft-day trade By Marc Stein ESPN.com Updated: June 28, 2007, 9:53 PM ET The New York Knicks didn't have a lottery pick Thursday night but made their own draft-night splash by acquiring Portland big man Zach Randolph. The Knicks and Trail Blazers reached agreement on a deal that swaps Randolph and teammates Dan Dickau and Fred Jones for guard Steve Francis and Channing Frye. Francis has only two seasons left on his contract, worth just over $34 million, but possesses the option to become a free agent after next season. The Blazers, however, are planning to buy out Francis' contract and make him a free agent this summer, sources said. Yet even if they changed course and decided to keep Francis, his arrival would still provide Portland with some long-term payroll relief, since Randolph has four seasons left on his contract worth more than $61 million. Randolph averaged 23.6 points and 10.1 rebounds in a breakout season in 2006-07 but has faced an uncertain future in Portland since late May, when Portland won the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery and the right to select Greg Oden. But the Blazers, who continue to put a premium on good citizenship after years of turmoil, prefer to jettison Randolph and build around a front line of Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. But neither Randolph's troubled off-court past nor the fact that New York already has a low-post presence in Eddy Curry appears to concern Knicks president Isiah Thomas.
I think so. Money is not a problem for Paul Allen when he has so much fun in 2 drafts. Welcome back SF3! Sign him up for minimum.
Buying out Steve Francis' contract will be the smartest thing the Blazers will do. To me, Stevie's career is over... and if he thinks he's going to sign a big contact somewhere else, he better think twice. At most, he'd be lucky to even acquire the Vets Minimum. Keeping Stevie in Portland will be only viable if the Blazers feel he could contribute as a 6th man scorer, but I doubt the Blazers would be dumb enough to keep him on board at the expense of slowing down all the youngster's development.
Francis went from Vancouver-Houston-Orlando-NY-Portland wow what happen to the guy that use to drop 23-6-6
I'd love to get Stevie back, but that would give us six point guards. Spanoulis and Lucas appear to be gone, but Rafer is going to be tough to get rid of. Even if we are able to get rid of him, that would leave us with SF3, Mike James and Brooks at the point. 1 or 2 "score first" points is probably ok, but I don't know about all three.
Francis is either going to the Rockets or to the Clippers and play alongside friends such as Cat and Sam. i think the Clippers have the edge since Houston already has three point guards in Alson, James, and Brooks.....
just what we need, steve francis to go with our 2 draft picks and 4 pgs =/ as much as I want him we can't use him
I have a feeling the only reason why people want him back in Houston is because of sentimental reasons. At one point, I had witnessed such a bright, alluring future for Stevie, but then his flaws soon became evident. Lets not sugarcoat the situation, Stevie was a shoot first point guard. With the likes of Tmac and Yao in Houston, having him start at the one would be useless. His constant desire to go to the hole, when obviously he's not the first option anymore, will mess up the flow of Houston's offense. Unless he can learn to be a better Rafer, speaking about his ball distrubution skills, I wouldn't want Stevie back. Also, when one starts to show lingering ailments requiring surgery on important ligaments such as knees and ankles, it's almost positive his days of productivity are dwindiling. To say, Stevie would be a nice 6th man is also hard to believe considering we got Mike James for that job. Even if we wanted to sign Stevie on, our clogged backcourt could not bare another shooting guard in a point guard's body.
Hello? We're talking about Steve Francis here, 3-time All-Star, who used to drop 21-6-6. He is NOT broken goods right now, he does not have a nagging injury, nor is he old. Yes, he has a bit of a loser-ish attitude, but come on - would anyone really take Rafer over him? I can't believe people here are balking at the idea of possibly signing him, like there's even much of a chance in the first place. His situation in NY was terrible, to say the least. It doesn't take a genius to know that he and Marbury would not work out, and it didn't. Thus, his numbers suffered. Put him in the right situation where he can take a lead role, and his numbers will be right back up. This is the guy who brought in T-Mac for us.
VSpan might be gone completely, but he still has some value for his potential. Rafer also has some value as an average, steady PG with a moderate salary. Lucas is a 3rd string PG for someone with a low salary. Sura is obviously a decent expiring contract. All of these guys have some value - just not to us. We can sign Stevie and keep James, Brooks, and Lucas. That gives us 2 exclusive PGs and 2 guys who can play both PG and SG. That's a bunch of speedy guys who can create their own shot. I could envision a series of deals that are 2 players for 1. Something like Sura + Justin Reed for some player another team wants. Then VSpan + Head for another player that same team wants. Then player 1 + player 2 + 2008 1st rounder = up to $10.4M PF. That still leaves us with the MLE for whatever. Yao/Deke New PF/Hayes/Landry Battier/Snyder/Novak TMac/Bonzi/(part of MLE) James/Francis/Brooks/Lucas Morey would have to be creative, but there are a lot of pieces that we don't need but others might want.
Crap I forgot about Alston. Put him in the trade instead of Justin Reed and then just cut Reed. We can still get a $10M+ PF.
If Steve Francis was still any good, and Portland is going to be desperate for shooting, particularly 3 shooting, and overall scoring punch/playmakers--I don't see him being of great importance to Houston. We have a log jam in the backcourt, particularly among those under 6'4".
his "situation" is always terrible. in the words of the immortal Ben Folds: Lucretia walks into a room Because she does it's not the same room the one she wanted to be in She says Everywhere I go, DAMN THERE I AM!
This sucks. So we could have gotten Francis - but instead we have our new wonder guard, Brooks. Freekin r****ded.
and the texans were steel blue and battle red. how are those related, pgabriel? are you suggesting that with Francis they would have? how many times has Francis ever advanced past the first round? anywhere?? the rockets have problems...but having steve francis around doesn't ever seem to solve anyone's problems.
I'm suggesting he's been on bad teams madmax. your post suggest that its mainly his problem, but he has been on bad teams. that's mostly a fact
With Adelman as our coach now, the chance of Stevie coming back is ziltch. Adelman's offense is complex and emphasizes passing. Stevie doesn't have the BBall IQ for a complex offense nor passing. You think Adelman is going to run a bunch of iso's and then watch Stevie jack up shots with Yao and Tmac standing around watching? No way.
nothing like a good ole francis argument to get your weekend started iso low bbiq sorry teamates heart selfish shot clock rebounds assist/turnovers mobley
i think he's been part of a lot of bad teams for a reason. this reminds me of the david carr argument.
