I believe this is incorrect, it would essentially be 2 seperate contracts. Once a buyout occurs, both parties are free from that contract, and the player is free to negotiate a new contract for as much as they can get. The buyout essentially completes the first contract. DD
During the season I tentatively wanted Steve to cme back to Houston. These days, I desperately want him back. As has been said, he plays with fire, is tough, can attack/create, and recently his shot has been much improved. He desperately wants to come back to Houston, also, so I really think he would do his best to make it work. His over dribbling and turnovers would not be great but could either be minimized or hidden with the proper rotations and plays. And, of course, he would be cheap. He certainly could want full MLE but if he were to give any discount, it would be for Houston. Still need a tall, mobile big, though.
I actually think Steve would fit quite nicely here. The fact is, no one besides T-mac can create shots for other people on this team. Rafer is a good ball handler, but he is not a penetrating point guard, most of his assists came from dropping the ball to Yao, or take credit for T-Mac's penetration by being the 2nd passer. Yao gets like one or two assists a night by passing the ball out of the paint. But that's not his job, his job is to score as much as possible. So getting Steve would make T-Mac's life much easier. Steve was a very good penetrating point guard, he can beat his man off dribble, and create opportunities for others.
As far as injury concerns, don't forget how Vince Carter and Alonzo Mourning both managed to clear up their injury issues the second they got off teams they were unhappy playing for. Steve very certainly did NOT miss half the season simply because of knee tendonitis. I'd be in favor of his returning, so long as he's coming off the bench. Evan
You guys complain about Rafer turning the ball over. Do you guys remember how many times Steve turned the ball over as a Rocket? Not to mention, he was an extreme ball hog that loved to dribble.
not to mention he dunked and brought excitement to the game that has vanished from rockets games. He could run a fast break properly, he could take apart almost any guard in the league one on one. He had a very nice mid range jumpshot. He got a center like Kelvin Cato, a PF by the name of Maurice Taylor involved in the offense and got the the playoffs...
If we get Franchise, we should put him at the SG position, with T-Mac going to the 3. I hear ya about the turnover problem, but Rafer is still going to be the PG. If Francis is not the PG, we won't have to worry about seeing all the dribbling and the turnovers. His role will be to score and be a playmaker. He would be the 2nd playmaker on our team. T-Mac could focus more on scoring also with this addition. Defense is what worries me though. Having a backcourt of Alston and Francis does not look too good on the defensive side. It looks much better than Alston and Head though. I'm not definitely sure about this, but I'm assuming V-Span is a better defender than Francis. If that's the case, you can start V-Span at SG and have Francis come off the bench to give us some much needed scoring. Also, if we get Francis, I think Luther Head is expendable. I love the kid, but if we can use him to trade up in the draft to get a backup PG to help out Rafer like Acie Law IV, that would be ideal. If we're not able to get Francis, and JVG is still the coach, we should think about acquiring defensive players. I'm thinking about James Posey and Jamaal Magloire. Imagine a stretch in the game where we have the perimeter players being T-Mac, Battier, and Posey, with the frontcourt players being Yao and Magloire. That's a great defensive rotation. That looks much better than this past year. They would help us beat Utah, that's for sure. C...... Yao | Mutombo | Tsakalidis PF...... Magloire | Hayes | Howard | Novak SF...... McGrady | Posey | Battier SG...... Spanoulis | Francis | Head | Snyder PG...... Alston | Law IV | Lucas Don't bother correcting that roster above, because some of them will probably be gone via trade, FA, or getting cut.
Hey, Major...Long time, no see. I'm onboard for the Bring Steve Francis Home movement. I think Yao has serious top-end limitations, but I think the Vlade Divac/Sacramento Kings model could potentially work well for him. With that being said and all the reunion talk, etc...What about bringing Cuttino back, too?
I honestly think SF3 wants to come back he .... I think he still loves the city and his best days were here. I think after going to NY he knows he's not a 1st or 2nd option player anymore
i dont see this happening, but i wouldnt mind having posey back. he would bring toughness and that dirty play...
am I gonna have to be the one to say i'm not sure francis fits here? it would definitely be nice to have a guard who could drive to the basket and actually finish (as opposed to avoiding all contact and throwing up a floater that never goes in), a 3rd person who can get their own shot, and a guard who can help on the long rebounds (now where did we just have problems with that?), but at the same time, we don't need to be even more careless with possessions than we already are (i.e. turnovers), no matter what offense we run tmac and yao are going to draw attention and give people open shots and francis was never the greatest spot up shooter), and it probably won't do much for the D. and while obviously the 2001 version of francis would be great, i haven't watched enough of the knicks (b/c they suck) to know what the 2007 francis can do (though his limited scoring was fairly efficient this year). all that being said, i suppose if he's coming for MLE or less and we can't find a better alternative, francis/alston is certainly an upgrade over alston/complete crap at the pg position, we'd have a guy who could take over stretches of a game despite whatever failings he has, we'd add some much needed athleticism, and the bbs would get to do even more of what it loves to do (b****) b/c their all-time favorite whipping boy would be back. but i don't see him being an SG. he's going to be a combo guard who either shoots or creates for others no matter his position, and we're already set at SF with battier so it'd be a waste to put tmac at SF and leave the pg position alone.
Is there any new information from New York that they are serious about the buy out? Or we are all day dreaming here??
Is there any situation where you guys would eat Franchise's contract in order to get him. I posted this in another thread, but what do you think about Rafer, Juwan and Sura's expiring for Francis and the 23rd pick? If NY was willing to do something like that, would you jump on it? Francis only has 2 years left on that contract, so it wouldn't be that bad. Juwan and Rafer's contracts both have 2 or more years on them.
