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View Full Version : Steve Francis to the Knicks



TopDawg
2/22/2006, 05:43 PM
For those of you who care.


NEW YORK (AP) - Steve Francis was traded Wednesday from the Orlando Magic to the last-place New York Knicks for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza, with both teams wheeling and dealing again in an attempt to find the right mix.

Francis is averaging 16.2 points to lead the Magic, but the star guard has feuded with coach Brian Hill this season. By dealing him for Hardaway's expiring contract, the Magic will get salary cap relief after this season.

In New York, Francis will be teamed with Stephon Marbury, forming one of the league's most expensive backcourts. The deal came a day before the NBA trading deadline.

Scott D
2/22/2006, 08:34 PM
this just in..the Knicks still suck :)

RacerX
2/23/2006, 12:27 AM
He'll refuse to go...

Rhino
2/23/2006, 12:42 AM
I was shocked when I looked up Penny's bio and saw he was 35.

Unless there's other deals in the works by 2pm tomorrow, this trade looks stupid from both sides. Why do the Magic need another Grant Hill? A poor man's Grant Hill at that. And who the hell is Ariza?

And the Knicks need another PG as much as they don't need to fire Zeke.

King Crimson
2/23/2006, 05:23 AM
Zeke is an idiot and a phony. he's got a great track record...he ran the CBA into the ground, sucked as the coach of the Pacers, sucked as the GM of teh Raptors.......and is sucking with the Knicks.

RacerX
2/23/2006, 07:22 AM
Joe Dumars he ain't.

Scott D
2/23/2006, 10:27 AM
I was shocked when I looked up Penny's bio and saw he was 35.

Unless there's other deals in the works by 2pm tomorrow, this trade looks stupid from both sides. Why do the Magic need another Grant Hill? A poor man's Grant Hill at that. And who the hell is Ariza?

And the Knicks need another PG as much as they don't need to fire Zeke.

Hardaway is a throw away contract for the Magic, he's a UFA at the end of the season so it frees up a lot of cap space for the Magic going into next season. Ariza is probably a contract throw in who will be cut at the end of the season. I hope Zeke enjoys his 150 million dollar payroll that is fighting Atlanta for the #1 pick that they won't even get (Chicago has NY's 1st round pick this year I think).

TopDawg
2/24/2006, 02:40 PM
From Bill Simmons (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060224)


When we were in Houston for All-Star Weekend, one of the marquee events was the annual Technology Summit at the Houstonian, featuring celebrities such as Mark Cuban, David Stern, George Bodenheimer, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and Anderson Cooper. Little was made of another gathering: The first-annual Atrocious GM Summit, held Sunday morning at the La Quinta Inn...

Of course, when the NBA asked me to moderate this discussion, I couldn't have been prouder. Here's a transcript of what happened:...

Thomas: And that's one of the reasons I wanted to work for the Knicks. When I screwed up in Toronto, nobody cared. When I ran the CBA into the ground, nobody cared. When I coached the Pacers and lost a series to Boston in which we had 10 of the best 12 players, nobody cared. In New York, they care. Right now, I'm working on a trade with Orlando where we give up Penny Hardaway's expiring deal and Trevor Ariza for Steve Francis. It's an illogical trade in every respect -- Francis' contract is terrible, there's no way he'll mesh with the other guys, he's never won anything, he gives us the same problems that Marbury gives us, it's a disaster right out of the gate. And that's what makes it so great. When we pull this trade off, New York fans might actually riot. I'm not kidding.

Kupchak: Sure, Isiah, rub it in.

(Everyone laughs.)

Simmons: Isiah, don't you think you're almost too obvious at this point? At least we could see both sides with some of Mitch's moves. In your case …

(Editor's note: Over the next 30 minutes, Simmons proceeded to list all of Isiah's terrible decisions since he took over the team in December 2003, in chronological order, as the crowd voraciously applauded each move, almost like how the president gets applauded over and over again during the State of the Union address. For space reasons, we're skipping to the tail end of Simmons' question.)

Thanks to all of those moves, the Knicks have more untradable contracts than everyone else in the league combined; they won't be under the cap until 2009; they have a payroll that's $50 million higher than anyone else; and they won't have a high lottery pick until 2008 because of the Curry trade. So how can you sell this as a rebuilding effort when you don't have any picks, and how can you sell this as a move to contend when none of the current guys could possibly mesh?

Isiah: That's an excellent question. The key is to make people believe you're trying something that's never been done before. In my case, I always try to acquire the best guy in the trade, regardless of whether it's a good deal or not -- then I can say I'm "stockpiling assets," which throws people off the trail a little bit. Then, I like to float big names to reporters … like right now, I'm making it seem like KG is a possibility for us, and that's why I'm gathering all of these assets. But I don't have a chance in hell of getting KG. If Minnesota trades KG, it's going to be for cap space, picks and young players, and we can't give them two of those three things. So they would never deal with us ---.

Mjcpr
2/24/2006, 03:00 PM
#1 pick that they won't even get (Chicago has NY's 1st round pick this year I think).

I should be happy with this fact except that my Sporting News had an article in it this week about sucky high draft picks and the Bulls had 3 on the list. The 3 that were supposed to lead them back to being a playoff team. :rolleyes:

Those 3 picks would be Tyson Chandler, Jason Williams and Eddie Curry.

TopDawg
2/24/2006, 05:34 PM
Lately the NBA has been full of boneheaded draft picks...even at a higher clip than in the past.