Florida Today on Francis
Peter Kerasotis Florida Today on the Magic trading Steve Francis.
The Magic are currently a hard team to follow on the road as they get no national attention whatsoever. Besides not being able to watch them, you can't even read about them. Even the big win against Phoenix only earned a two sentence blurb in USA Today. It's so bad that Chris Bosh may make the All-Star team while Howard will be playing in the Rookie-Sophmore game. That's sad.
I'm not sure it seems right. I go away for a week and the Magic go on a compelling 4 game win streak and my first post back is linking to a somewhat negative story."This is not quite another lost season for Orlando. After all, Dwight Howard got another year of development and Jameer Nelson has emerged as the guy the Magic should play at point guard. The organization is also one year closer to ridding itself of Grant Hill's contract. It's a young team, and there are some good pieces to build on.
Steve Francis isn't one of those pieces.
If the Magic play this right, they can still salvage the Steve Francis trade with another trade. They can still get something of value from him.
It's all about learning from your mistakes."
The Magic are currently a hard team to follow on the road as they get no national attention whatsoever. Besides not being able to watch them, you can't even read about them. Even the big win against Phoenix only earned a two sentence blurb in USA Today. It's so bad that Chris Bosh may make the All-Star team while Howard will be playing in the Rookie-Sophmore game. That's sad.
posted by WeRDevos @ 2:02 PM
6 Comments:
At 2:15 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
I understand what you're saying, WeRDevos. Even on ESPN's Sportscenter, the highlights of the Magic/Phoenix game weren't shown until about 45 minutes into the show. Well, with Kobe Bryant scoring 81 pts last Sunday, the Pistons winning at a near record clip, and Antonio Davis going into the stands in Chicago to protect his wife last week, the Magic are not quite a compelling national story yet. I hope that Francis can prove his critics wrong, as he's played good team basketball since returning from his suspension.
At 2:57 PM,
Matt said…
I disagree with the premises of Florida Today's article about Jameer Nelson's emerging as the point guard that Magic should start. Additionally, I don't undersatnd the latter part of the statement about trading Francis without any validation.
At 3:31 PM,
OVERWADED said…
It's weird, that writer pretty much stole my thoughts. Like him, I think Nelson is a "starter", and the vibe in Orlando seems to be that he will have that position. I have to ask you Matt, as great as Nelson has looked this year, why do you not think he should be our future starter? I mean, Iverson is a small guard, although in no way is Nelson close to that talent level yet. He's a Damon Stoudamire in my books. But, unlike Damon, I think his career will be a little more solid. Damon is a baller, but the teams he ended up on kind of hurt him. I just think Nelson and Howard side by side for years is going to be something special. But for a little man, playing the hardest position on the floor, in his 2nd year in the league, doing what he has, Nelson has won me over. There are plenty of guards that come in the league and don't do much at all for their first years. Some nice examples would be Billups and Nash. They started out their careers very slow, and Jameer is off to a fast start in my books. Would it not make sense that he'll only get better?
Francis... I love Franchise. I want him on the floor, playing unselfish basketball, and closing out games. But it just seems like a cycle for him. He locks himself down, and plays focused basketball, but then eventually gets distracted and carried away. And this team is as good as Howard's team. If Francis will be OK dumping the ball down to him, and not worrying about dropping 20 a night, it'll be great. Francis the last 4 games has been perfect. He's been a 15/6/6 guy pretty much, and what more could you ask for? He has always had turnover problems, but you expect that with an energy player, just like D. Armstrong used to be for us back in the day. I hope it all works out for Francis here, but because of his style of play, and coach Hill not being able to convince him to do otherwise, he'll be the odd man out. IF he can learn to play his role, and that will be on coach Hill to put that out there for him, then I can see him fitting. And the reason I think we can all see Francis being traded, is because none of us are convinced with coach Hill yet...
At 4:52 PM,
Big Figure said…
Intro,to even strengthen your arguement i would say,that if you look at the opponents the magic played over this recent win streak,none of them:arenas,knight,bibby or nash like to post up,so starting jameer wouldnt have been a defensive liability,and i think thats the only arguement that can be made as to why he wouldnt be a good starter! And over the next 8 games you wont find a point guard who posts,the detroit game which would be the 9th game from know,is the first time you get to a point guard that will try to post up jameer if he were in the starting line-up,there's only a few nights on the season that he'll actually be outsized,his dribble penetration and outside shooting ability make him just as tough a match-up for opposing guards,and if he's gonna average 20 points a game when in the starting line-up and spread the floor shooting the three,thats something we have never had as an organization,and its gonna be fun to watch him complement dwight for the next someodd years! All jameer needs is time,time as the starter,time on national tv playing in big games as the magic starting point guard,time to speak to all the refs in all the buildings he will eventually play in as the starter so he can be on a first name basis and start getting some of their respect ,and time to play with five consistent starters!
At 5:23 PM,
Big Figure said…
Personally i love steve too...man i wish the guy could just put it all together,but the fact is,even as solid of a game he played,we needed travis's outside shooting from that position against the suns,we also needed keyon's defensive ability,energy and relentlessness to start the fast break,steve isnt either of those type point guards,he's like a two guard in a point guards body,which is the reason the magic played really well against the suns in the fourth b/c steve was in foul trouble and keyon was forced to play the point and not out of position,with jameer out,and steve in foul trouble,we saw that the line-up of keyon-deshawn-turk-dwight & tony was down right dominating against the leagues best scoring team,a guard combo that's big,can score and defend,while turk was able to post up a smaller rasha bell,dwight was able to post a smaller kurt thomas,and battie did all the dirty work! steve is the type guy that if he has it rolling on any given night then you ride him,but his days as the magic starting point guard are numbered,b/c of what his game actually offers you,he's a combo guard and i think he'll eventually be traded,if it were up to me,i'd make steve a full time two,the chicago bulls start a small back court and it worked out real well for them last year,i think jameer's outside game would complement steve's all-around game very well and they'd be a deadly back court with a healthy grant hill to help out,and a full cast of reserves,the league better watch out b/c when healthy i think thats the direction this team is going in!
At 10:26 PM,
Matt said…
I have aired my views on the starting point guard throughout my postings. I love Jameer as a baller, but my idea of a prototype point guard is the mold of Kidd, Billups, Davis and likes. Jameer is a point guard in the mold of Travis Best, Brevin Knight and likes. You may even compare him with Darrel Armstrong, although his defense is not there yet, but to elevate him to the level of Kidd and others is another issue. To compare height wise, Nash is 6-3 and Bibby is 6-2.
Furthermore, in my view, the idea is to find a point guard to pair with Dwight for years to come, and right or wrong, I believe Jameer is not that caliber of a player. I think Keyon has more intangibles to be that kind of a player.
Now Jameer may end up becoming the starting point guard for the Magic due to the fact that Steve may eventually get traded. That does not make him an ideal pair with Dwight any more than making Brian Hill a coach that can take the Magic to the next level.
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