Steve Francis will not retire

[rady]

You probably heard the news the past days, according to which the Knicks will buyout francis and he will get an early retirement.
His agent denied today the rumors saying "is absurd." "That's not even remotely in the equation," said Jeff Fried, Francis' Washington D.C.-based representative. "This is all about him rehabbing and getting back to helping his team."

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]



What do you think the Knicks should to with him? He has put some decent numbers (dropped 25 on the pacers, 22 and 18 on the celtics 19 on the wolves).. he did ok but only in the first month. Now marbury's back and nobody cares about him anymore

[paris401]

what can the knicks do with him????... he is untradable... no way...no how is anyone taking him... at least till feb 08, when someone mite take him for cap relief... but then we will have to take back an equal contract..

if we buy him out, he still counts against the cap,,, i am not sure if he retires because of injury what effect that has on the cap...

[The 1 and Only]

I say we need to let him do his thing so he can get his knee better and we'll have a rejuventated Steve Francis. Again this guy has mad heart and he roots for his teammates regardless. Does anyone remember that 3OT game? Steve was the guy on the court celebrating Frye for the jumper and on the bench rooting for his teammate, that's more than what we can say for marbury at times. Francis is a team player and he can still help this team. When healthy he is better than crawford because he doesn't jack up jumpers off a hesitation dribble. He take it to the whole hard and gets to the free throw line and shoots well from the line might I add. I'm all for a healthy Francis because bringing him off the bench with nate is excellent because francis can still slay starting SG but if he plays against a 2nd string SG...it's easy picking. HURRY FRANCIS!

[metrocard]

Francis isn't a bad guy, like Marbury. People think these guys are *******s, but they aren't. Francis is a good player on the wrong team, like Marbury. I want to see Francis suceed somewhere else, cause I can't see suceeding with a team that has Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, Marbury and etc. These are guys who turn the ball over alot, we don't need that. Turnovers have killed us, plus none of those guys are knowned for defense, guess what else has killed us? DEFENSE.

[die_hard]

Anything other then seeing his ass on the bench would be good, it was a bone headed decision by trading ariza for him as we had so many people that could play as point guards for the team. if he can get healthy again him and marbury can be dangerous.

they cant noway put up the same numbers they've always done but with the way curry, fry and lee's playing now they dnt have to! theres alot of ways we can beat teams right now, we finally got a good low post game with curry, we got a great rebounder in lee which is also a good post player, marbury and crawford are streaky but good shooters fry has proven that he can hit that mid range jumper when left open (i would like to see him in the post more though) added with francis's talent and som ok bench players we can be a really good team. Dont get me wrong we dont have n ideal roster but we noway have a bad one!

We are a way better team then what our record shows. the main issue is our defence and floor chemistry and chemistry comes in time! if we keep chopping and changing we wont ever get better! right now where looking for an easy answer and the easiest right now is to play with who we got. Yes the knicks organisation is the most disfunctional 1 in the league yes I.T. has done nothin but bone headed sh*t since he's been here! i hate the guy! man i mean i really hate the guy! but i wouldnt fire him or even do anymore trades right now cause like sombody said in another post, we've had like 5 coaches in the last 3 years getting rid of his ass maybe an easy move but at this point it would be dumb!

Chemistry comes in time, an in time Francis will be healthy, Richardson will be healthy and the team will be more use to playing together! The main thing killing us right now is our defence, and decision making down the stretch. If we can get a defensive minded team like the Van Gundy knicks which I gotta add wasn’t a great defensive team individually we will be fine! An don’t kill me now! When I said Van Gundy’s knicks weren’t a great defensive team individually I mean we never really had Ben Wallace type players, only person that was that close athletically and defensively was somebody like Camby. Van Gundy got everybody to play TEAM DEFENCE that’s what I loved and hated about him because that’s all we did!! Scoring never seemed to much of a bother to him for some odd reason.

if we can still score about the same amount of points every night as where doing now an lower the points we give up to about 10 points or less! We good! PERIOD.

[paris401]

if we can still score about the same amount of points every night as where doing now and give up about 10 points or more less! We good! PERIOD.

if the Grizzlies (the team with the worse record the nba) score the same amount of points as they do now, and give up 10 points less, they would be in 1st place...

but i agree our " D " sux's except for jefferies and a little bit from lee..

[donchris]

Why should he retire? He's only 29 or 30 and this isn't a career ending injury. This team's got issues. What ever happened to the idea of brining in a traditional point guard and moving Marbury to SG? If Francis comes back I think we should give him another shot but this time a the point. Marbury at the 2 and Crawford can back up Marbury. It doesn't really make sense to have Francis on the bench once he's at full health.

[die_hard]

if the Grizzlies (the team with the worse record the nba) score the same amount of points as they do now, and give up 10 points less, they would be in 1st place...

but i agree our " D " sux's except for jefferies and a little bit from lee..

i agree but in all honesty 10 points is just like 5 baskets u no. in 4 quarters learning to make a few stops aint alot to ask! thats definetly somthin we should be working at now, specially since isiah has always been a defensive minded player! defence wins games, offense makes it that much easier!

an please dnt give credit to jefferies i swear the guy seems like he dont no what the hell hes doing out there, tha guy is rediculously over rated! balkman was playing way better defence when he was gettin mins. tha last 4 games I.T. has cut his mins down radically for what reason i dont! we are a fast breaking and better rebounding team when balkmans in there. him and lee give 110% every game they play.

[donchris]

i agree but in all honesty 10 points is just like 5 baskets u no. in 4 quarters learning to make a few stops aint alot to ask! thats definetly somthin we should be working at now, specially since isiah has always been a defensive minded player! defence wins games, offense makes it that much easier!

an please dnt give credit to jefferies i swear the guy seems like he dont no what the hell hes doing out there, tha guy is rediculously over rated! balkman was playing way better defence when he was gettin mins. tha last 4 games I.T. has cut his mins down radically for what reason i dont! we are a fast breaking and better rebounding team when balkmans in there. him and lee give 110% every game they play.

I'd like to see a starting line up of

Curry
Lee
Richardson
Crawford
Marbruy

We'd have our shooters in Rich and Crawford. I say let Frye back up Curry, Jefferies back up Lee and Balkman back up Richardson.

[Starks]

Look its quite simple. Franchise stays, then Nate goes. No matter what any of you say, between Nate, Marb, Qrich ,Craw, Collins, and Francis. SOMEONE HAS GOT TO GO. END OF STORY. NEXT

[metrocard]

Look its quite simple. Franchise stays, then Nate goes. No matter what any of you say, between Nate, Marb, Qrich ,Craw, Collins, and Francis. SOMEONE HAS GOT TO GO. END OF STORY. NEXT

Co-sign. People say "Francis can help this team." But never explain why. Isiah apologist need help explaining their statements.

[The 1 and Only]

I've already explained what steve can do in earlier posts by saying his versatility would be a key factor. He's the best rebounding guard that we have next to richardson and his passing is better than JC. He sets up the bigs and can easily create shots for himself. Pretty much what starbury brings but a lil bit grittier. That's pretty much why starks said it's either nate or francis because they pretty much bring the same thing.

[metrocard]

I've already explained what steve can do in earlier posts by saying his versatility would be a key factor. He's the best rebounding guard that we have next to richardson and his passing is better than JC. He sets up the bigs and can easily create shots for himself. Pretty much what starbury brings but a lil bit grittier. That's pretty much why starks said it's either nate or francis because they pretty much bring the same thing.

We don't need rebounding from a PG. We're the best rebounding team in the NBA, or one of the best. plus Francis is getting old, he's not the rebounder he was in Houston, he's not Franchise anymore, get over it. Both Francis and Crawford are ****ty passers, comparing them is irrevelant.

This team doesn't need Francis or Nate Robinson. Francis over dribbles too much, he isn't a great shooter, his defense is poor, and he's confused whether to score or pass, thats why he holds the ball for so long. He's no longer an all star, he will never be an all star again in the NBA.

This isn't even a rant on Francis, I've just telling how its been this year and last year with Francis. No one in New York or in the world will ever explain logically why Francis was needed in a Knicks uniform. Hell, Francis doesn't even do his fancy crossovers anymore, what is he good for? He doesn't entertain me, he doesn't win basketball games. He's good for nothing. It was another bad trade by Isiah. If you want to say Brown "forced" Isiah to do that trade, well its still Isiah's fault. He invited Brown to New York.

Plus, we have better team chemistry when Francis isn't playing.

[metrocard]

Why should he retire? He's only 29 or 30 and this isn't a career ending injury. This team's got issues. What ever happened to the idea of brining in a traditional point guard and moving Marbury to SG? If Francis comes back I think we should give him another shot but this time a the point. Marbury at the 2 and Crawford can back up Marbury. It doesn't really make sense to have Francis on the bench once he's at full health.

O, Francis is a traditional point guard now?

[The 1 and Only]

We don't need rebounding help? David Lee and Balkman when he plays are the only consistent rebounders for this team. I would put Q-Rich in the equation if he ever gets back on the court. In the worst possible equation he'll turn into a nate-rob clone. Of course Francis will be a better passer and why do you consider him a bad passer? I've seen exceptional passes from the kid and the only reason he gets his turnovers are from dribble drives that don't result in fouls. He's averaging just under 2 turnovers a game so TOs aren't the problem. I agree with you when you say he dribble excessively sometimes but JC does the same thing and that doesn't seem to be the problem. If we give francis a role then he'll excel at it but the problem is no role has been give to him. Like what you said...he's confused. Put him in the backcourt with nate-rob off the bench and everything will be gravy. I agree with the Don...Francis at full-health will do some damage but until he's 100% or if Nate Rob emerges he should take the back side of the minutes. I'm rooting for someone to come in and take control. It's either going to be Nate or Francis. I'm hoping someone claims the spot and excels. It doesn't really matter who it is, it's the fact that somebody needs to step it up...