OK, this is for DavidS, solid,StupidMoniker, SmeggySmeg, and the rest of the Steve Hating crew...Just how desperate are you to get rid of Steve? Most people will laugh at me for proposing this trade, which is why this is specifically targeted to the posters that want him gone... Steve Francis to the Jazz for Keon Clark, AK47, and Utah's first round 2004 pick. Why the Jazz do it: Provides a good player to build for the future while still leaving cap room available for free agents. Why the Rockets do it: Upgrade at small forward, Clark's contract comes off the books after next season, and Utah's pick should be high as they're probably going to the lottery.
A-Train, I thought you were a "hater"? I wouldn't trade Francis for this as I would hold out to see if I can obtain a more impact player. Kirilenko is nice but I don't see him as someone who could carry a franchise or come close to doing it. Clark is a rebounding machine and a draft pick would be tempting, especially a lottery pick but unless it is in the top 5, probably not enough.
No I wouldn't...but I am not a Steve Hater. Steve Francis is like a super star. Keon Clark is a skinny center...we already have Yao. Clark is okay... AK47 is okay too but he's not a big impact...he's good though. First round draft pick too...maybe we could get the #1 pick again since we would suck with Moochie starting.
Trade Francis for LeBron James straight-up. The funny thing is, I don't think that Cleveland would do it. Remember, LJ is unproven, and 18 years old.
That's not saying much, you probably could name five to eight players who Cleveland would trade for Lebron. Shaq (not considering age) Duncan Garnett Kobe McGrady Nowitzki (maybe) Iverson (no) Marbury (no) Pierce (no) Kidd (close call) Obviously, its all based on potential, but most scouts think he James is the future.
steve francis is definitely underrated by too many people on this board. he's a legit top 10 nba player who's coming into his prime, therefore, i wouldn't trade him unless he played horrible for the next 3 years.
If you had to trade Steve...I'd think Steve would trade for someone like Vince Carter. Big star, big contract, character or injury problems and problems with the team or market. Something like that. I don't think you'd ever get a big man for him. You could do a 2 for 1 with Jason Terry and SAR for Francis and Rice, or something like that, but I don't think you get anything problem free if you're trading Francis as a "problem" player, too. If you do that you decided Yao and Francis can't co-exist and you're dumping him. I think it'll work out ok.
I'm a little disappointed I was left off this list. I guess i'll have to work extra hard next offseason.
if we did that trade, what would we do about our logjam at center and SF? and who would play the point? if, in a 3-way deal with some other team, we would move cato, rice and utahs #1 for a top tier PG i would do it. and i love steve!
I wouldn't do the Clark trade, but I like David S's proposal. LeBron for Steve straight up. In a heartbeat. But Cleveland is too smart for that. Try again, you are at least on the right track.
Lebron and Yao! YES!!! Total rebuilding! I'm all for it! That gives us like 17 million salaries off! VINCE AND YAO! Even better!
A-Train, I doubt the Jazz would even trade AK-47 for SF straight up. They think AK will improve his offense and become their franchise player of the future. Plus, he's much younger and plays great defense. Having the Jazz throwing in Clark and 1st round pick is simply wishful thinking on our part. I heard the Jazz is secretly keeping an eye on Emeka Okafor. Their record this year might get them there. Their future franchise player(or so they believe) + a top three lottery pick + a solid backup PF for An all-star PG, why would they do that? If you substitude Yao for SF in this trade though, they'd do it in a heartbeat. They might also throw in Harpring, Stevenson, Pavolovic, Borchard, Lopez ... Sloan, O'Conner and Larry H. Miller's wife as well.
People need to seriously stop pimping Lundgren stickboy. Nice roleplayer and all, but franchise player? No. Utah is talking him up because he's the only prospect they have at this point.
I'm pretty sure my comments about not seeing the floor well or not making his teammmates better or the low assist to TO ratio are construed by the pro-Francis extremists as "hating" but I'm just calling it as I see it... Anyway, assuming we are ignoring Francis's BYC status, IMO Keon & AK47 are not enough. And they congest positions where we are already deep....PF and SF. And even with Francis, the Jazz would still have nearly $10m in FA money remaining this year. 1) Francis / FA M.Jackson 2) FA > SJax / Stevenson / Pavlovic 3) Harpring / FA > Dermarr Johnson or JJax 4) FA > A. Mason / C. Parks 5) Ostertag / J. Collins / FA > Stepania With a core of Francis, Stephen Jackson and Harpring, the Jazz could be very competitive negating the value of the pick. I'd pass on this one. It's not enough direct value for direct value. But Kidd? Hmmm......
This is the article that got Jazz fans' hope up. I personally like AK alot. I like his defensive effort and energy provided on the court. I actually wish the Rockets would do a trade like that. That would be a huge steal for us in my opinion. AK at the 3, has the ability to do major damage on defense for the Rox. He's athletic enough to defend most pfs, and versitile enough to guard most pgs. In many instances in the past couple years, he shut down guys like Kobe/McGrady, and of course in other case, he got owned by them. The great thing about him is that he's only 22, got a a great attitude(only if EG has AK's attitude, he'd been really special) and his potential is huge(remember he put up bigger numbers than Dirk in the European games, so his offense is coming along as well). I doubt he'll ever become a SF caliber player, but when you are 22 and that athletic with a good work ethic, you never know. Here is the Rockets lineup with the trade proposed by A-Train: pg: FA/Moochie(ouch) sg: Cat/Pike sf: AK/Boki pf: EG/Clark c: Yao/Cato With that lottery pick, we have a shot at Howard/Okafor/ or that Russian dude. The worst case, we can have Ben Gordon to be our pg. Not bad huh. That's why I think the Jazz won't even entertain this trade. BTW, it is criminal not to do a caption game on this picture.
i love all your sentences that start with remember. it's always as if you're the only one who watches the nba. really, he's 18 and unproven? did y'all know that guys?
