For all his baggage I have no doubt he can get the full MLE. 2 time all star, 27 years old... someone will give him 3 years $15mm. If we can buy him out for that we could save $30mm when you factor in the luxury tax.

I think if you told him he's not a part of the plan, there are no minutes but we wont just waive him he will agree. He loses nothing $$ wise, and can go be wooed. Hell, the Rockets can sign him.

This would solve a lot of problems IMO. His presence here is a major personality problem and a monster distraction. Isiah cant have this guy grumbling about minutes in training camp.

What a waste, but if we can't dump him for equal or less cash I would definitely consider this. There's zero fit for him here.

he's not going to have much value averaging 11pts of the bench

fish is turning into Larry Brown

hes 29 years old!!!!i know what if cassell dosent sign with the clippers why dont we trade francis to the clippers and he can reunite wid cat

Posted by unstopaball12:

hes 29 years old!!!!i know what if cassell dosent sign with the clippers why dont we trade francis to the clippers and he can reunite wid cat

How does the rule work, if a team is under the cap, tey can trade without the salaries matching? Thats the only way Francis can make it out over there and be reunited with his lover Cutino.

Posted by Killa4luv:

Posted by unstopaball12:

hes 29 years old!!!!i know what if cassell dosent sign with the clippers why dont we trade francis to the clippers and he can reunite wid cat

How does the rule work, if a team is under the cap, tey can trade without the salaries matching? Thats the only way Francis can make it out over there and be reunited with his lover Cutino.

think of it this way, for every dollar under the cap, it's like a "GHOST" player making that much money.

francis makes $15 mil. so we have to trade him up to 125% of his salary, which means either $12 mil or $18 mil is coming back.

let's say a team is $5 mil under the cap. then we must take back players totalling $7 mil to match the $12 mil total. (or $13 mil to match the $18 mil total).

that $5 mil under the cap comes back to us as a "TRADE EXCEPTION" which we can use to trade for any single player within a calendar year.

I love you fish!

Posted by fishmike:

TMS, the days of getting "value" are over. If we wanted value we should have taken Marcus Williams.

the proof will be in the pudding... let's see how these guys progress next season & then decide how much value Isiah got in this year's draft... there were many other GM's who passed up on Marcus Williams too, btw... maybe there's a legitimate reason for that.

[Edited by - TMS on 06-29-2006 12:27 PM]

Posted by crzymdups:

If a team paid Francis $15 million, it would save us $15 million. The ammount paid to Francis would not come off the cap, and therefor would not affect the ammount of luxury tax we pay.

I'm pretty sure in a buyout we are off the hook for whatever less $$$ we owe Francis. A buyout motivates Francis to look for the best offer, because he's agreeing to a salary cut from us. If we waive him its like you said, he's locked in the same salary. Waiving him only motivates him to sign whereever he wants for the vet minimum which hoses us.

Regardless I cant think of a bigger priority then dumping this jerk.

RV... I like our young guys, always have. But as a group I dont see them as anything spectacular. When you look at the great teams around the league almost all have that one or two guys that elevate the play of the rest of the team. I dont see any of those types on our squad. Good skills, yes. Good guys, yes. Upside? Versatile? Sure. Star? Dont see one. So what you need to get a group without a star to play great is one of two things: a playmaker that makes everyone around him better (Marcus Williams was a pass-first possibility there) and/or a major commitment on defense from the whole group.

I'm not saying it cant happen, I am saying I will believe it when I see it.

This guy has already bitched and moaned about the fact that he better be starting this year. But judging by his lack of effort at the end of last year he doesn't feel that he needs to show why he better be starting. I dont' want players like this in NY. A buyout woould be fantastic. Steve Francis has great skill but is a media created star. He has not accomplished anything besides looking pretty and should not be demanding anything. The NBA appears to be moving on from players like this. Hopefully we can break free from our 6 year hiatus and rejoin the NBA this year.