Logs 29 minutes last night, in only his third game back from injury. Career over? Are they going to be able to trade him? These are the only teams that I think would even be remotely interested in him with his salary. 1. Cleveland 2. Lakers 3. Miami 4. Possibly Sacramento 1. Cleveland - Pollard, Jones, and Gooden or Snow should work. But it puts them right at the luxury tax, probably over. 2. Lakers - Expirings and Vlad Rad? Are the Knicks interested and does LA want to stay above the luxury tax next season? 3. Miami - JW and Posey get the job done. I'd think NY would pull the trigger just to get the expiring and a more manageable expiring for next season. Does Miami do it? 4. Sacramento - not very likely. Expirings and KT possibly? Pushes Sacramento over the cap. Miami seems possible if NY will take Posey and Williams. Cleveland could be possible. NY may be interested in this deal, especially if they could re-route Damon Jones to the Rox for Sura's expiring. Would Cleveland part with Gooden or Snow? Francis, Hughes, Lebron, Big Z, and Varejo/Donyell....would be interesting. Obviously, NY is showcasing him, trying to prove he is healthy and can help a team.
Does Isiah even have the power to make a trade right now? If Dolan is going to fire him it makes sense to strip him of all roster power so it makes you wonder if that's the case since Isiah hasn't made a roster move in roughly four months -- that's not the norm for him. Granted, the Knicks have improved, have already matched their win total from last year and are only a few games out of the playoffs but I still have a hard time believing his job is safe -- even mid-season. As for Francis, it's difficult for me to picture anybody trading for him. Not on that contract. I love the guy to death but he's too much of an enigma. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed in the hopes he gets bought out and decides he wants to make his big return to Houston.
Believe it or not, a year ago JVG was supposedly interested in acquiring Disenfranchised from the Magic (according to David Aldridge of ESPN). We didn't have the horses to pull it off, I guess. If Stevie were actually healthy during his recent rehab ("rehab"?) in Houston, maybe, maybe JVG would still like him on the team. Certainly gets tiresome seeing Rafer teardrop shot after shot off the iron. ("Another floater from Rafer...!" (CLANK!) It's a big salary to take on, though, unless you could squeeze a Channing Frye out of the trade. Since none of this is gonna happen, I'll go back to work and my coffee.
I think we've got one more roster move. It's either Stoudamire, Chucky Atkins, Jason Hart, or possibly Steve Francis after NY buys him out. Just can't see the Knicks buying him out.
SF didn't look that good against the Lakers and his box score last night was atrocious. I definitely think it's possible the Knicks buy him out to save a couple million dollars because no GM in the NBA will give the Knicks anything in a trade. If SF wants to be paid in full, the Knicks may let him rot after the trade deadline passes.
no way the Knicks buy him out, they're gonna try to move him. They need someone who can guard the interior since David Lee's just not very good at it even though he tries very hard.
Frye's defense is just sad. It should really be Curry's job but he's extremely prone to picking up stupid fouls (think Yao pre 2005)
steve francis had a decent game against the lakers. last night he did dish out 9 assists in those 29 minutes.
No one is going to trade for him since every GM knows that Isiah is gonna make a buyout soon. Why use the cap space if you can just sign Steve at a cheaper price after the buyout.
I still think Stevie can help a team out but I mean he's getting no respect at all in New York...there's no doubt he's out of there pretty soon in my opinion His career can't get any worse at this point...
So the question is: Did the Rockets trade him at exactly the right time or did he go downhill because the Rockets traded him? I think it is more the former. Good call CD.
(Bump) NY Daily News reporting that Francis may have played his last game as a Knick. Knee flaring up again. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/story/500858p-422369c.html
If you remember, he had a monster playoff performance against the Lakers in his last time with the Rockets. He damn near averaged a triple double. His career went downhill once Cats Mobley got traded.
Francis is an idiot, a rich one none the less but an idiot just the same. I wouldn't be surprised to hear in ten years that he was broke and living in a box.
Sounds like Francis is trying to put pressure on them to go through with the buyout close to the conditions he wants. Am I the only one who thinks it is not far-fetched to believe that the talk about the knee condition is mainly a pretense?
I wouldn't call it a monster performance, but he was better than in the regular season. It's like he stopped trying to prove a point and finally started doing what JVG wanted him to do the whole season.
