Where Is Steve Francis?

by Tommy Dee on August 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 am

Francis is attempting to jump back in the NBA with Miami. It’s a tremendous longshot, but Francis is working out and focused.

Via Slam

Steve concedes. He finally relinquishes the truth: Both the Houston Rockets and his own ego play huge roles in him being inactive today. It began with Jeff Van Gundy replacing Rudy Tomjanovich as the Rockets’ head coach in ’03. Van Gundy quickly replaced Francis as the team’s offensive focus in favor of Yao Ming. Francis’ freestyling, run-and-gun game was of no interest to Van Gundy, and after a season of PG/coach head-butting, Steve-O was traded to Orlando. Though rough for him at first, Disney World became home to his second-best statistical season (21.3 points, 7 assists, 5.8 rebounds). In the middle of the ‘05-06 season, Steve was bounced to the Knicks, into the middle of the Larry Brown nightmare. In ’07, Francis found himself back on a Rick Adelman-navigated Rockets team. “They ain’t start me [and] that rubbed me the wrong way,” says Steve through a jaw full of shaving cream. “I’m playing behind a guy that wasn’t drafted—Skip To My Lou. You can’t put a three-time All-Star on your bench. So [I decided] if I’m getting x-amount of dollars, I’ma fall back and just get my money for my kids.” more.

As a fellow Terp, I was always a huge Francis fan. Sadly, Knicks fans never got to see the real Steve Francis due to injury/miss constructed roster. He and Marbury were the same player, they could never have worked since both were ball-dominators, let alone be the next Pearl/Clyde (loud laugh…). Francis ruffled too many feathers in his career, and it overshadowed his career. Fair or unfair, his run in with Jeff Van Gundy was a turning point in his career in many ways.

I went to Maryland with Francis and he was easily one of the most dynamic guards I’d ever seen. His combination of power, skill, speed and athleticism at the guard position was like few who have ever played the game. I watched him try to dunk on Jamaal Magloire in person at Rupp Arena that missed- it would hit the back rim and flew to half court. Had it gone down, we’d be able to find it on YouTube as one of the sickest dunks ever.
  • Joe-V

    Stevie is making a COMEBACK, LOL,

    I wish him well, he was a premire player for about 5 years his attitude and injuries killed his career. I don’t think the Heat is a good look for him, he should probably play in Europe somewhere and get his skillz up.

    The Heat should go after all the old Vets don’t stop at Stevie… It’s a good idea get a whole bunch of old washed up players w/ big ego’s mix it in w/ the 3 Stooges and let’s see what happens.

    I can’t wait for Randolph to go off on these clowns!!

  • jingo

    Marbury and Francis together again. Dare to dream.

  • JustinCharles

    How dare Jeff Van Gundy drive one of the greatest talents of our generation out of the league! What a “coach”, playing mind games with an all star like that.

    In all seriousness, Francis was in the same mold as Marbury – he dominated the ball so much that he had to the teams best player, but if the guy was the best player on your team you werent going anywhere.

    Take the Francis/Van Gundy interaction as an example of a coach having a distinctive taste. Some coaches like certain types of players. While Rudy T let Francis run the team, Van Gundy wanted a more traditional offense run through a more traditional center. Who was right? No one, really, neither of them got the Rockets out of the first round. It just shows, certain coaches have certain styles and preferences, and there really isn’t a definitive right or wrong way to do it.

  • Mal

    Stevie Franchise another finished guy trying to hop on the Miami bandwagon. :(

    I hate Miami Heat BUT Ive always hated the Heat since the battle days and when PJ Brown stole our chance at a championship…that was CLEARLY the year we had DA Bulls number

    If we get a real shooting guard and maybe a rugged defender( a healthy Posey or whatever specialist is out there) that can slow down Wade and LBJ and a defensive scheme designed to have those guys beat you with jumpers,I’d feel better.

    I still think we just like every other NBA team has a chip on their shoulder concerning the Heat and we will let them know we mean business when we play. If not fire D’Antoni and bring in a real coach with conventional style offense and scrappy defense philosophy

  • ds2488

    lol Tommy, what is this? Yesterday a Fred Weis article, today a Steve Francis post. We’re reliving our greatest hits right now.

    In all seriousness, that was one of the biggest headscratchers of a move in a decade full of headscratchers. Never understood what was going on there, what LB and Isiah were going for, whether it was even about basketball or politics.

    That was real insanity right there with that trade.

    On a sidenote, it’s kind of disgusting what’s happened with veterans flocking to Miami now. I mean, I understand the desire to win but to watch guys like Francis coming out of the woodwork now all of a sudden looking to play for them is really just wrong. Same goes for Penny Hardaway.

    If those guys win rings, are they really proud of themselves? It would be one thing if they toiled on a bad team for the past few years and carried themselves respectfully and did their work. But, I mean, these guys have been basically retired now for the past few years doing nothing. And all of a sudden they want to play again…

  • Joe-V

    LB, has problems w/ Posey…

    I think Randloph will guard LB, Amar’e is on Bosh, and we need help w/ Wade unless AZ can stick him..

  • johneco

    I disagree.
    If your goal is to win an NBA championship, Van Gundy was right. At least his system had a chance of eventually winning one. Any system that allows Francis to freewheel and dominate the ball, especially once his skills started to decline, but even during his peak, will never win a championship.

    If your goal is just to put a decent product out there, well then maybe you have a point.

  • http://twitter.com/NYKConnoisseur Matty_Pickles

    They should sign Marbury as well and then he can say in a press conference “With us together we just run, dont even call plays”… again

  • bmathews77

    I bet Antoine Walker will want to make a comeback with them next…
    Course he probably just wants a ring so he can pawn it off for his debts.

  • JustinCharles

    The point is, the results ended up being exactly the same.

    How can you say “at least his system had a chance”? Rudy’s system had a chance too, right? The same chance as Van Gundys, technically.

    Rudy won two championships, he clearly knows a thing or two about basketball.

    The point of this post wasn’t about offense vs. defense or defending freewheeling point guards – I hate them…rather, it was to show you that there is more than one way to build a team and win basketball games. You can’t look at every team and say, oh, well, we need a defensive center and a traditional point guard and then a coach who preaches defense. Sometimes – whether its the talent on the team, your main rivals, whatever it is, you sometimes have to think outside the box, and so something different.

    The point is, if the Rudy/Francis Rockets where the Knicks now, and if everyone was yelling “they dont play enougn defense, get us a real point guard, run the team through the center, get us a defensive minded coach”, well then your prayers would have been answered – you would have gotten Van Gundy as your coach, and Francis traded for TMac, and you would have watched the team still not make it past the first round of the playoffs.

    Again, the point is, you had two coaches with vastly different styles who coached a very similar roster and had very similar results – they both lost.

  • dino of syracuse

    All aboard…the NWO South Beach Gravy Train is about to depart! Calling Juwan, Steph, Penny, Shaquille, Rasheed, The Answer, Kwame, Stack, ‘Toine, T-Mac, White Chocolate, Spanish Chocolate, Reggie, Sir Charles…Stevie Franchise?!

  • KnickFan4Life

    At his age going to Europe is probably not the best idea if he wants to make it back to the NBA.

  • KnickFan4Life

    lol

  • YO SON

    good points…

  • Infidel55

    So with everyone admitting that Francis seems to be the kind of player who needs to dominate the ball…just how does he fit into a team with James and Wade?

  • Melo2NYplz

    I remember at one point Isiah was dying to get Antoine Walker on the Knicks.. smh

  • HaS

    Rudy T was a defensive minded coach. I agree coaches can employ different offenses to achieve success, but defense has always been the common denominator of a championship team/coach.

  • KnickolasKnickelby

    OWWW

    had a nightmare instead…

  • KnickolasKnickelby

    Agreeed

    Would like to see the Knicks play tight D

  • http://twitter.com/NYKConnoisseur Matty_Pickles

    because everybody needs to dominate the ball on the heat squad! he fits perfectly!!

  • Bloop33

    I’m still laughing from the time Clyde called him “Stevie Nicks” LOL.

    I wish I could honestly say I wish him well.

  • JustinCharles

    Rudy was a players coach – he let his guy out and play there own style of ball. Rudy’s dominating defensive teams were really when Hakeem was on the team, really more based on the talent than the coaching.

    With the exception of a year a little higher and a year a little lower, the Rockets under Rudy T were very defensively average. When JVG took over, he dropped their Oponnent’s PPG by like 5 point a game.

    I mean, obviously, a championship team is going to be at least average on defense, but a great defensive team that sucks on offense is just as good as a great offensive team that sucks on defense.

    I mean, just as an example – The Bobcats and Bucks were the best two defensive teams last season according to basketball-reference’s defensive ratings. Why did they not win the championship? Because their offensive ratings were in the lower half of the league.

    In my opinion, a championship is very possible if you can stay within the upper half of the league average defense – which D’Antoni managed to maintain for the most part in Phoenix, as long as you also have a great offense. Example: The 06 Champion Heat were ranked 9th but there offense was 7th (regular season stats, Wade’s offense carried them to the ‘chip).

    I mean, besides that 2004 Pistons team, I can’t really think of a championship team that had a great defense but a below average offense.

    Saying defense is the common denominator to championship teams is like saying scoring points or getting rebounds is the common denominator. Its a basic element of the game, of course you’re gonna need to play great defense to be the best team of the league, you’re going to have to be great at a lot of things to be the best.

  • http://www.twitter.com/ThisisDowJoNeS Dow JoNeS

    lol…smh….1st Penny wants to comeback for the Heat …..now Stevie?…smh…..might as well sign Barkley too…he needs a ring

  • dino of syracuse

    Clyde’s the greatest! In a way, I was hoping Bosh would sign, only so we could have a full season of Clyde saying things like,

    “Chris Barsshh with the sweet slam…he’s now beginning to percolate, folks”