Trail Blazers buy out Steve Francis' contract BY KEN BERGER kenneth.berger@newsday.com Email this story Printer friendly format July 10, 2007, 11:02 PM EDT As beautifully as the Zach Randolph trade may work out for the Knicks, it's hard to argue with what Steve Francis got out of it Tuesday night. The former Knicks guard received his wish when his new team, the Portland Trail Blazers, bought out the final two years of his contract. The deal, in the works for weeks, was completed Tuesday and Francis hits the waiver wire at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. In seven days, Francis will be an unrestricted free agent after banking more than $30 million of the $33.6 million he was due. No wonder Francis and his longtime agent, Jeff Fried, celebrated at a Ruth's Chris in D.C. Tuesday night. "This was the definition of a win-win situation with Isiah and the Knicks getting Zach Randolph and Steve being the ultimate beneficiary in being bought out," Fried said. So essentially, the Knicks traded Channing Frye for Randolph and let Paul Allen, the Blazers' billionaire owner, take care of Francis, who will get a chance to revive his career in a more favorable situation. The Heat, Clippers and Mavericks are the most likely landing spots for Francis.
Heat and Clippers probably have our number. Heat probably prefer Williams but the Bucks are gonna more than match any Heat offer. The Lakers used their MLE on Fisher I believe. Houston should make a push for Francis. He is a passionate player with a lot of pride. He is dying for the opportunity to resurrect his legacy. I think he could make an impact here, I think he could start. I think he can get 2orpg and keep his turnovers to a satisfactory level. The kicker in my eyes is I would prefer a Francis/Alston combo than a Francis/James combo. And I HATE Alston. But the Francis/Alston duo would be a great changeup, teams would have to spend more time gameplanning us. Its clearly the less redundant combination. Francis also gives us much needed size, scoring, athleticism, passion, and emotion.
obviously we're a better team than the clippers but we still have james/alston at pg. i think if there was a sure-fire position here for him, he'd come back home to play. as it stands why would he pass up being the starting pg on the same team as his best friend? i wouldn't. i also don't know how much interest the rockets have and personally i wouldn't give him much more than the bi-annual exception. certainly nowhere near the full mle. i loved watching francis play and i'd take the gamble on him but i don't see it happeining.
Advantages of getting Francis: 1) Will be a man on a mission. Do'nt be surprised if he makes the All Star team (thanks Yao ---) 2) Brings size, atheletism, rebounding and more than anything passion and heart. 3) Will sell some tickets. 4) Will allow us tp aggesively shop for genuine PF, using Alston/Head and expiring contracts as baits. Disadvantages: 1) Turnovers 2) Chemistry issues?
Numbers dont resemble anymore but Francis/Dwyane Wade is a redundant combo in itself, couple athletic 2-guards playing the 1. Francis had minor issues playing alongside Marbury who also needs the ball in his hands to be effective. Though Wade's a better team player I'd think still he'd want to go to a team where he can freely dribble the ball away...not sure he could do that with the Rockets or Heat, so its between the Mavericks and Clippers.
Uh no. But even more importantly what the heck is up with you and the word "shall". Used in thread title and the post.
If I were Steive, I would just retire and go to Bahamas or wherever with low taxiation. 30 mil for doing nothing, that's better than winning lotto. Now Stevie wants to win in style, i.e. not just Tim Duncan's victory cigar, he should come to the Rockets.
He cannot sign with another team for more than the difference btween his max contract and buyout amount, correct?
A typical "it is all about talent" guy. Isiah made possibly one of his worst moves this far(and that is saying something) when he let go a guy with all star potential for a guy with a bloated contract, ridiculous attitude, and ballhog mentality. Right now the Knicks starting lineup is Marbury, Crawford, Richardson, Z, And Curry what do all these guys have in common? Each and everyone of them thinks they are the sh*t and should get 25 shots a game. No doubt the Knicks will be more of a train wreck than ever and it will eventually boil over into locker room controversy. Sorry for the long post off topic but as a fan of the game its horrible to see such a poor job done with a team. Matt Millen and Isiah are like cats but with 85 lives.
I say yes, then at that point Alston and Synder can definitely be packaged with Sura's contract and a draft pick, for a PF. I can't believe some people here defend Alston. He's just not good enough. PG Francis/James/Brooks SG McGrady/Wells/Head SF Battier/Novak/Reed PF ______/Hayes/Landry C Yao/Mutombo A draft pick, Sura's expiring contract, Alston and Snyder should be able to fill the whole at PF with something through a trade. Maybe Gooden? This to me is a big reason to sign Francis, it makes Alston totally expendable in a trade, plus now you have the offense off the bench with James, plus in the starting lineup with Francis. I think Houston should definitely go for it.
Moreover, what is getting overloked is that the Knicks basically took themselves out of the running for LeBron in three years by taking on Z-Bo's deal.
I would love to have Francis back, but not for the MLE. The Rox need to concentrate on getting a PF first.
