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fishmike
Posts: 53903
Alba Posts: 1
Joined: 7/19/2002
Member: #298
USA
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BY DAVID WALDSTEIN
Star-Ledger Staff
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- In seven years in the NBA he has been the kind of player who delights so many of the game's young fans, but also the kind who has turned many old-timers away from the league.
He loves to shoot that ball. He loves to dribble it, too. He isn't known as a prolific passer, but he could score almost at will, and would fill up a highlight reel in the process. He has averaged 21 points three times in those seven years, and played in three All-Star games, but in seven years he has been in only one playoff series.
Now Steve Francis has the seven-year itch.
Here in the second week of training camp, in his first full season with the Knicks, Francis vowed old highlight-reel player to be a thing of the past. The old Francis who pounded the ball on the perimeter and then drove to the rim? No more, he says.
"I don't want to be that," he said after yesterday's practice. "I want to be the Steve Francis of new. Every year you mature in the NBA as a player and a person. I just want to do something that I've never done. The stuff that I did was points and dunks. But that didn't equal victories. It didn't equal playoffs. I've done everything but win games, and that's what I'm out to do."
That's a rare admission from a superstar player these days, but perhaps that's what comes from the soul-wrenching misery Francis says he endured last season after being traded to the lowly Knicks. Bad?
"It was the worst thing that I've ever experienced as a basketball player in my career, he said."
Francis was traded from Orlando on Feb. 22 for Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway, and was supposed to be the Earl Monroe to Stephon Marbury's Walt Frazier -- even though Marbury claims Larry Brown brought in Francis just to push Marbury out. Either way, neither scenario worked out that way.
Brown started Francis the first two games, then moved him to the bench, and then back into the starting lineup again. In his return to Orlando, Francis started and played only 11 minutes, and later called it the absolute low point of his career. His 14.4-point average was also the lowest of his career, as were his assist (4.9) and rebound (4.1) averages.
In New York, he fit right in.
In fact, Francis said when he joined the Knicks morale was so low that basketball was secondary to the off-court sideshows, most of which involved Brown, Marbury and Thomas.
"There was so much stuff that went on last season that basketball didn't seem to be the focal point of the players on this team," Francis said.
And what was?
"I couldn't even tell you," he said. "I don't remember. I don't remember nothing from last year."
That's probably for the best. Like all of the Knicks, Francis claims to be hyped about the upcoming season, and is reveling in the clean, fresh air of Isiah Thomas's new regime. Thomas made it his priority to return some of the joy and love of the game to the players, and so far Francis has bought in.
"It's good to feel good about basketball," Francis said. "As much as people say, 'Oh, you make all this money,' still you're human and there's a mental part of basketball that you have to be prepared for. Throughout our training camp and our practices, we're all prepared for what we have at stake."
In the past, that was always about scoring points, dunking the ball and making an All-Star team. Now, he claims, it's about those elusive victories, and last season that wasn't the case for anyone.
"It's not new," he said. "I just think guys have found it back in themselves that, 'Hey, I can do this, or 'I can do that.' From the time that I was here last year, I didn't see that from anybody on this team."
Stephon Marbury, who launched his new Starbury line of sneakers this summer, said Starbury II is coming out soon, and a third edition of the shoe is in the works, too. He said they will "always" sell for $14.98.... Thomas said he plans to "experiment" with lineups during the team's exhibition season, which starts tomorrow against the Nets.
FIVE THINGS WE'VE LEARNED SO FAR AT CAMP
1. It's all Larry's fault -- everything from the 23-59 record last year, to the high prices of gas over the summer: And since its now company policy, the players are all very willing to go along with the program and rip the Hall of Fame coach for last year's debacle.
2. Up is down and day is night: To renew his players' confidence and love for the game, Isiah Thomas made it a point to be the anti-Larry. Whatever Brown did last year, Thomas has done the opposite -- hoping the record will be closer to the opposite, as well.
3. Run and fun. They won't be the Suns, but they promise to finally run more than last year. That won't be hard, considering their performance last year.
4. Channing Frye grew sideways. The Knicks asked him to beef up over the summer, and he obviously spent a lot of time in the weight room. Boy, did he. You'll notice much wider shoulders, which the Knicks hope will make him tougher inside.
5. The rookies are going to sit: Thomas said it's going to take a while -- perhaps all season -- for Mardy Collins and Ronaldo Balkman to see meaningful time. It won't be like last year's precocious class.
CO-BEST PLAYERS: Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson. They were paired together in Charleston and never lost a game.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Has to be Jerome James because of his injury. He worked hard all summer to get into shape and put last year's injury-riddled season behind him, and in the first practice he injures his plantar fascia in his right foot and is out indefinitely.
BIGGEST SURPRISE: That the Knicks didn't blame Larry Brown for the Yankees collapse as well.
-- DAVID WALDSTEIN
"winning is more fun... then fun is fun" -Thibs
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10/12/2006 12:31 PM