Care to explain why he would be horrible? New York already had a Francis clone in Stephon Marbury and frankly they have far too many problems without Francis in the picture in the first place. Portland has a plan and are rebuilding young. They don't need Francis as he was just a slaray dump next year for them anyhow.
My not wanting Francis has very little to do with love for Rafer. But, I would prefer to see a combo of Rafer and Mike James than see Francis in the picture. Especially if bringing in Francis in any way prevented the Rockets from addressing their even more glaring weakness at the 4.
if we arent goin to use the entire mle on one player then you might as well try to sign steve francis because it can only help you in the long run, i would think. it would at least add depth at the guard position and then we could think about trading head and alston for a pretty good 4, whoever that it is.
Signing Francis should make it easier to address our weakness at the 4 since we will have more trading pieces.
Portland also needs leadership and scoring punch and pretty much paid his whole contract. That tells me a lot. Also the fact Mardy Collins and Nate Robinson got as many minutes at his expense. Francis just didn't make much sense here post the James trade. But if he came for an LLE or vet min, sure, take him. But we got to save the MLE for things other than another undersized guard whose outlook in the rotation would be muddy. I am not even sure Francis could break into the rotation--couldn't say with any confidence at this point he is better than James, Alston, Head or Wells in gunning for PG or back-up SG minutes.
Yeah and how do you know this? Did you sit down with Adelman and he flat out told you to his face that he doesn't want Francis?
I honestly can't see this happening at all. I think Morey is working the phones right now to trade for a PF and not to get yet another guard. Bringing him back serves no purpose because he doesn't appear to have any trade value. This whole idea of loading up on guards in order to make a trade for a PF is a dicey one anyway because you are asking another team to trade you big for small and that's just not a smart thing for the other team to do...unless the team is Atlanta who appears to be overloaded with forwards.
Yes Portland needs leadership, but they made a plan out years ago on how to rebuild the team. While a character guy was apart of the criteria, Francis not only didn't fit that, nor did he fit the other two categories which was youth and a small contract. Francis was a terrible fit in NY from the day he was traded there. Redundant, high slary and unhappy. He couldn't have been shipped to a worse place. I would however sign him for the LLE and get Rafer out of Houston pronto. Making assumptions about how he would perform under Adelman along with Mcgrady and Yao is just that, an assumption. It just might be a good fit and a better situation for him. One thing I do know, guys like Rafer and Head have been exposed and the Rockets need a clear upgrade.
We wouldn't trade Francis after signing him. Getting Francis frees up Alston, Head and/or Snyder to be traded. Just because he doesn't have much trade value now doesn't mean we shouldn't pick him up. Before last season, Baron Davis didn't have much trade value either, but look at him now.
If you can get Steve for substantially less than the Mid Level Exception, you do it. We need talent. "Excess" cheap talent never hurts. Steve is still quite explosive and he is good insurance in case Mike James goes down and the rookie Brooks does not turn out to be a real contributor. We are one injury away from perhaps having the guard play of last year. We have also seen the results of not really having any real scoring power off the bench. It makes it easier to trade Rafer Allston and not create a close call on remaining guard talent. I could never understand why people have gone overboard in blasting Steve, like he is the stupidest player to ever play the game. The guy's main fault as far as I'm concerned, aside from not being a superstar pure point guard, was that he was all around good enough to keep us from sinking down into the lottery for years, so that we could restock completely with young talent. The Steve I remember was fiery and played his heart out, something that we could still use.
Yes but can he recognize his role, coming to a team with no identifiable need of his services other than just a good baller? Mac & Yao are the captains, not Steve anymore. If we have assurances that Steve is following the championships brick road and not that of inflating his 'Franchise' status in Houston, then by all means pursue him.
The fact that Stevie's buyout was for $30 mil of the $33 mil he was due on his contract, he might not be all that concerned about money at this point. Who knows?
I can't help but remember... dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble run around in circles dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble (shot clock at 2) shoot...clank.
Slight correction: dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble SKIP ACROSS MIDCOURT dribble dribble dribble dribble run around in circles dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble (shot clock at 2) shoot...clank.
That's funny. In all fairness, he was just about the only steady option on the team besides Mobley, post-Hakeem. Rudy's offense was very much geared towards letting the stars dominate the ball and trust their instincts.
if we got steve and traded some guards for a pf, i would like the rotation of: rafer,steve, yao, pf and tmac at the 3... bench of james ,wells, chuck, battier,deke,novak,brooks,head,jake,landry.... this is assuming theres not takers on rafer,lucus gets his wish get leaves,snyder and sura are packaged out
Even if the guy is a cancer and just costs the LLE (which he will) then all you do is drop/bench him. No harm, no foul. Way too much talent for the price to ignore.
Steve was a 20/6/6 player when he was with us. The only players at that time to average those numbers were KG and Kobe. Fans also tend to forget the players we had during the Francis era. We were in complete rebuilding mode, what the hell do fans expect from this team? Although, we won games with him. This team does have a winning record during his year's here. That alone tells us is he is not just some loser who dribbled the shot clock out. With the players we've had over the post championship era, I think Steve & Co. did a damn good job. Seriously, we made the playoffs and almost beat the Hall of fame Lakers team with guys like: a Young Yao, Cat, Jim jackson, mo taylor, eric p, cato, pooh bear whetherspoon, mark jackson, young boki and scott padget. Now tell me, what exactly did you expect these Franchise led Rockets teams to do when that was the best roster we had when he was here. Remember his playoff numbers in that series? 19pts/8rebs/7ast, damn near a triple double and almost got the HUGE upset. If we get him or any team that signs him for the LLE is getting a enormous steal.
i remember that too - but i also remember an allstar point guard who was either too young with rudy, or just didnt work with sorry arse jvg. last i checked, rockets havent gotten any further in playoffs since he left - he can help us. if anything - make him a 3M a year gift for the fans.... i still where my francis jersey. the guy has his money - he needs to get his swagger back.
