He will have the trade deadline to prove himself. We don't need him for the beginning of the season. We need him for the playoffs. If Francis comes back strong by the trade deadline, his 4 million over two years will still be considered a bargain. If Francis can't recover, we will try to trade him for a trade exemption to get under the LT by the trade deadline.
It seems Francis will be playing later tonight. Good chance of decent minutes if Alston is rested or excused because of his off the court issues.
his expiring contract as a trading piece (also luther head here) is worth more to the team than just outright cutting him. Since we have so many guards right now, we can just wait it out with him and see if he can produce anything by the trade deadline.
My suggestion is lending him to China, to the Shanghai team, which Yao played. I would love to see him playing with my own eyes.
So T-Mac should get some decent minutes, sounds like Francis is going to play, Brooks will be starting. Really want to see this game now.
Actually I went back and read that blog post and it looks like Blinebury is talking about T-Mac. Nuts, I was hoping Franchise would get some playing time.
we keep him until the trade deadline and if hes contributing we keep him if not i duno can he retire to save us the hassle of trading him, i like the guy but if we can get a 7ft center though trade im sure morey will pull the trigger. Hopefully he can come back in even half of what he used to be and that will be enough.
i think he is dedicated, the man has just been sick, so has everyone else on our damn team. **** even i'm sick right now. we are down to a 15 man roster, does that include francis? because if it does all we gotta do is cut dj or von to make room for mutombo if he stays and something about salary issues as well
Exactly. Now that Mike Harris has been cut and the roster is down to the maximum 15 players, the issue of whether to cut Steve Francis before the season should be completely off the table. There is absolutely no reason to do that. Team salary is not determined until the end of the season, so the Rockets have until the trade deadline to move Francis or may even be able to work out a buyout after that (but likely before March 1, so that Steve could still catch on with a playoff team) to reduce the team salary. Right now, Francis's value is at an all-time low. He is coming back from an injury, and no one is sure how he will play. Trading him or cutting him now would be ludicrous. If the Rockets do NOTHING (except keep Francis on its roster), it could only cause Stevie's value to increase. If he plays well, then Morey has another "asset" to deal (either Francis or whoever gets replaced by Steve in the rotation). If Francis plays only half-way decently, then the Rockets could STILL get more for him than they could now. Hold tight. Daryl Morey is a smart man. He knows that, while frustrating, the best thing for the Rockets to do right now is to keep Francis on the roster (even at the expense of guys like Harris, Strawberry and/or Wafer) and see whether his value increases over the next few months.
Salary cap implications aside, the rockets should cut him. In the business world of basketball though, he likely wont be cut because he is a guaranteed salary. Morey may not want to have to deal with the luxury tax implications of keeping a guaranteed salary guy over a non-guaranteed end-of-bench guy later, so he could very well end up keeping Francis over someone that could actually help the team.
1st post. but yeah i have to agree with you on here. really excited to see how the team will play. last game we gave up 97 points to Memphis..Memphis? i know these games are not meaningful but what you do in practice and the pre season contribute in shaping the whole season. now the overall efforts vs the kings on friday night was significantly better and more of what we should want to see. im sure we will dominate tonight
Some people have short memories around here, but when we signed "The Greatest PG in Rockets History" Bobby Sura in 04' he was injured to start the season. But now he has a cult following around here. He was given the oppurtunity to prove himself. Injuries are a part of basketball and Steve should be given the time to heal. I hope he is able to go tonight, but if not his career is not over. Just from his performance last year on a bum leg, I like his chances when healthy.
Tonight's game will make things clear on what Francis will bring to the team. Rafer isn't playing so I'm guessing brooks will start. Brooks back up probably would be Barry but i don't see him running the point that long. Its either Barry or more minutes for DJ. I know Francis hasn't practiced with the team at all but he did play last year and should run a little bit of offense that he knows. We will see after tonight's game if Francis is really in the Rockets plans
Are you slow? I did not say anything even remotely close to the subject of the response you have written. The context of my post was regarding the following... to which I replied I simply was pissed that someone said that letting Francis go is ok, but it was saddening to see Sura go, a player who barely put in one decent season. The post you posted clearly makes it seem like you are someone who can not properly connect to logical streams of thought. Damn, now I know why I stopped posting/arguing in the GARM...
Unfortunately it looks like the bit about Francis playing tonight is wrong. Hope the rest of the team looks good.
