Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Oh Sweet Lord... Y'Know, Wait Just a Second...

It is unlikely that Francis will return next season. The Knicks reneged on a buyout agreement with Francis after Jamal Crawford suffered a season-ending ankle injury. A Cavs source said that the team was made aware of Francis' pending buyout and had internal discussions about acquiring him. New York Daily News

Initially I thought, "Oh great, the Cavs are gonna shell out for some overpaid bum." But then I thought about it. This might not be so bad. If the Knicks buy out Franchise's contract, he'll still bring home something in the region of 30 million over the next 2 seasons from New York. Which means he'll be inclined to accept a bargain basement vet's minimum to play with Bronny. What's more, I think it's safe to assume getting bought out and released by one of the sorrier teams in the league might be the motivation Francis needs to recapture that old fire. He's not that old, and when he wants to he has exhibited that he can still play.
I also think Francis would be motivated to sign a one year deal for the vet's minimum to raise his dollar to sign another fat contract with some poor sucker next year. If Stevie recaptures some of that spark, make no mistake, there'll be a line of chumps waiting to pay him like he's Sam Cassell. Problem is he's no Sam Cassell. But I'd have been happy to take him for the playoffs this year, and certainly for the whole campaign next year. Bottom line is Francis is a steal for under 2 million.
Hughes has been solid running the point for the Cavs, but we need a point guard. A real point guard. That may not be Francis, but for just over a million a year, that's a gamble I'm ready to take. He's never lit it up in the playoffs, in fact I'm not 100% sure he's ever even been to the playoffs, but he's still Steve Francis, one of the best opportunity creators in the league, one of the best rebounding guards, and one of the biggest egos. And that's actually something the Cavs could use a little of. We need some Franchise swagger.

1 comment:

Gasface said...

I'm open to this idea, but make no mistake, Francis is a ball hog and a turn-over monster.