There’s got to be more than this than we know. That’s what it has to be. I have heard rumors that the Knicks would flip Steve Francis as soon as today, and I’m thinking that has to be the case. I don’t even think Isiah Thomas is foolish enough to believe that a starting backcourt of Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury is a good idea.
So either Francis going to be shipped somewhere else by this afternoon, or they’re going to move him the summer as part of a larger package… I don’t know. What I’m doing here is not giving Isiah Thomas the benefit of the doubt. What I’m doing is refusing to believe that any one human being is that fucking ignorant. It’s a basic faith in humanity. I have to believe that no one could possibly think that playing Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis together is a viable, long-term solution for a basketball team. If I can’t believe that, then I’m not sure I want to be a part of humanity any longer.
And hey, don’t get me wrong… in the short term, the Knicks actually might get a little better. They will have more talent on the floor, and they can potentially become more difficult to guard. If they don’t pawn Francis off on someone else today, it will probably result in a few more wins for them. But they’re still not making the playoffs, and there’s still no nope of building a team around the pieces they have in place right now.
As for the Magic… this is brilliance. If, in five years, the Magic aren’t one of the league’s best teams, that probably means they hired Isiah Thomas as their general manager. In 5 years, Dwight Howard is likely to be one of the best 2 big men in the game. Jameer Nelson will be an excellent guard. And if Darko Milicic and Fran Vaseuz turn into anything at all, the Magic should have a great core. Plus, Penny’s expiring contract sets them up to be well under the cap in the summer of 2007 when there should be some quality players available.
I’ve seen people looking at this trade as the Magic getting almost nothing in return for Tracy McGrady… and I guess that’s true, but what did they expect, that Steve Francis going to win them a title? Why look at it like that? Just accept that trading for Steve Francis was dumb, be glad that the Knicks exist as the corrector of all league contract mistakes, and look at the future. Orlando’s in a great position, and that’s more than most of the mediocre teams in the league can say.
Raj Says:
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Im just playing devil’s advocate here (cuz I believe everything you and the rest of the free world believes, “what the hell are they thinking?”)
But maybe just maybe, they could pull it off, have some chemistry. Maybe it takes the presence of francis for marbury to give some shots up, and the same the other way, it takes the presence of marbury for francis to play some team ball. If these 2 guys can get on the same page, then that disease could maybe spread to the rest of the squad. This is really some fantasyland hoping, but it could happen. And dont get me wrong, when I say have some chemistry, and be successful, at best it would be like a 4th or 5th seed in the playoffs next year. Just to have more wins than losses would be considered a success. There is no way in hell this squad could be a championship contender.
And if it doesnt work, Isiah has another asset he can dump for his next idiot move. Props to the Magic for cutting Jamal Crawford out of the deal.
Todd Says:
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Somewhere, David Stern is sitting in his office shaking his head and wondering just how dumb this guy can possibly be….
BigBoi Says:
February 23rd, 2006 at 5:00 pm
He got Francis to Package him, Crawford, Others and draft picks so he could offer it to MN for KG during the summer.
The Big Picture Says:
February 23rd, 2006 at 5:12 pm
all they need now is kobe off the bench and the knicks could score 90 points a game and average 2 assists.
alex Says:
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:15 pm
bigboi that would be a pretty nice coup by isiah actually, but do they have the draft picks to do it? it’s KEVIN GARNETT, it’ll take a king’s ransom. they’d almost definitely have to throw frye in there. that would be crazy though and i wouldn’t mind seeing him on a big stage like NYC, not that it would really get him closer to a ring.
in the meantime though…man, it just really doesn’t make any sense, does it.
ReKen Says:
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Packaging for KG is flawed logically. Minnesota isn’t going to want Crawford, Steph or Francis. Giving up on KG means rebuilding with young players and Minny would want picks, which NY doesn’t have.
I can’t see any team seriously wanting any of those 3 guys with the contracts and playing style they have so they’re not assets until their contracts are near expiration (a la Penny).
Basically, Isiah’s trying to save face for giving up his draft picks to Chicago by winning a few more games. Hopefully he’ll deal Rose’s expiring contract to GS for Baron Davis next season to keep things interesting.
BigBoi Says:
February 24th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Wow, B. Davis S. Marbury, and S. Franchise on the same squad, somebodys gettin shot.
BigBoi Says:
February 24th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
I don’t know if you guys have read this yet but I found it hilarious. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060224
theotheruw Says:
February 24th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Skip Bayless wrote an article about this trade that isn’t clinically retarded. He backed his opinion up with “facts” and the like. He may not be right, but at least he rubbed some neurons together prior to putting pen to paper. Very refreshing.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=bayless/060224
Mr. Bojangles Says:
February 24th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
The Knicks / living room metaphor at the end of that Simmons article is fantastic. Check it out if you haven’t.
asilv Says:
February 25th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
yea the metaphor is great as well as the whole article, check it at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060224