First post from a YOF. Hope it has not been posted before. I picked up this from a Chinese website that runs a translation of a NY times article. Here is the key quote: Asked if the disagreement would lead to an off-season trade of Francis, Van Gundy said, "Absolutely not." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/sports/basketball/11HOOP.html
I've heard of blowing old quotes out of proportion but this is ridiculous. Francis is gone after this season, deal with it.
OK, i just realized that NY times requires registration to read. Here is he original article. INSIDE THE N.B.A. Rockets' Glare Is Van Gundy's Scowl By CHRIS BROUSSARD Published: April 11, 2004 he notion that Stan Van Gundy's Miami Heat would qualify for the playoffs before Jeff Van Gundy's Houston Rockets was laughable a few months ago, even a few weeks ago. But that is exactly what has happened. While the surging Heat entered the weekend fighting for home-court advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the reeling Rockets needed a tense 106-103 victory Friday night against Denver to claim the postseason slot that once seemed a sure bet. Advertisement Behind the stifling defense that has come to characterize Jeff Van Gundy's teams, the Rockets were 13 games over .500 on March 13. But that defense suddenly turned porous, causing Houston to lose 9 of its next 12 games, including five straight, before Wednesday's victory over the struggling Clippers. The Rockets lost again last night, 82-69 to the Jazz. The late collapse had put the Rockets in jeopardy of becoming the first team to miss the playoffs after being 10 games over .500 with less than nine games remaining since the current playoff format was instituted in 1983-84. "We're not playing as hard," said Van Gundy, whose team allowed 98 points a game during its five-game losing streak. "It wrenches my gut. There's plenty of blame to go around right now, and it starts with me. I've got to get the team playing better." The Rockets' recent struggles were the latest for Van Gundy, the former Knicks coach who made the transition from the broadcasting booth, as an analyst for TNT, to his first season with Houston. Accustomed to the laid-back approach of Rudy Tomjanovich, the Rockets, particularly the starting guards, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, were initially taken aback by Van Gundy's intensity. Last week, Francis said that players were playing too tight because they were afraid of making mistakes. Mobley said: "We didn't buy in right away. We bumped heads a little bit. Steve and I came in with Rudy and we spent five years with him, so he was like a father figure. So to have somebody new come in was a process. But Jeff's a great dude. He's passionate, and he's actually a funny, funny guy. He's like smart-alecky." Van Gundy found nothing funny about a controversy involving Francis, a three-time All-Star guard, on Super Bowl Sunday. After Francis missed the team's flight from Houston to Phoenix, Van Gundy said Francis told him he had skipped the flight to attend the Super Bowl, which was held in Houston. Van Gundy suspended Francis for the next night's game at Phoenix. Francis and his agent, Jeff Fried, denied Van Gundy's account, saying that Francis was tending to a family issue and did not attend the Super Bowl. To this day, the two sides have yet to agree on what happened. But Van Gundy and Francis deny any disagreement exists. "I don't have a problem at all with Steve," Van Gundy said last week. "I think Steve has worked diligently to try to be what I want him to be. But you're never going to go through a season without disagreements. Everybody wants to harken back to the missed plane-Super Bowl thing, and to me, that's a blip on the radar screen. I did what I thought I had to do, and that was it." Asked if the disagreement would lead to an off-season trade of Francis, Van Gundy said, "Absolutely not." Francis is averaging about 16 points a game on 40 percent shooting, both career lows. But he is in the playoffs for the first time in his five-year career. "If I ever look at my season individually, that would be selfish because the years when I did do a lot of scoring and a lot of things individually I was looked at as a person who looks for numbers," Francis said. "Now that my points are down, and my team is in a great position, I'm definitely happy with that. "As far as me and Jeff, I don't really see anything. People can assume whatever they want. I'm just going to concentrate on our goal, and that's to help our team win. He's given me an excellent game plan to help our team win. Me and Coach are on the same page as far as the progress of this team." The question heading into the weekend was if the Rockets were still progressing.
What do you expect JVG to say? "Yeah, he doesn't like playing for me, I don't like playing for him, so he's gone"? He has the playoffs looming. He needs Steve, especially now.
Even if JVG were ticked off, he sure as h*** isn't going to tell some reporter a week before the Rockets' first playoff game since May 15, 1999. Super Bowl wasn't enough to tick off JVG. But I've got a hunch the season long TO Fest, the Lakers' cell phone incident, the late show for the last DEN game, the Spurs 15 second dribble fiasco, the horrible decisions in the last 3:30 of the last Kings game, the JVG makes us nervous comment to the press and the fact that VG has to cattle prod Francis into getting the ball up the floor quicker and starting the offense are enough to seal the deal.
JVG doesn't have the sway that Rudy did. I don't think Les or CD will be that quick to trade away Francis anyways.
