Posted by djsunyc:

francis is already bitching and moaning b/c he doesn't want to play in orlando.

Francis is a whiney little biatch. Dude should have learned real quick how to play with Yao.

that deal is BS. orlando can get much better than francis, who is after all nothing more than an undersized shooting guard.

Francis is already complaining about this trade...i don't get why the Magic would hunker themselves down w/a guy making max dollars for the next several years who doesn't even want to play for them...unless the Magic have another trade in the works to unload Francis on another team, i don't think i would have made this trade w/the Rockets...

i would much rather trade T-Mac to the Pacers for some of their young players who are hungry & who want a chance to play someplace rather than a guy like Francis who has already been known to refuse to play for the Grizzlies when they drafted him which forced them to trade him to Houston, then complained about his situation in Houston under Jeff Van Gundy, & then is complaining again about his trade to Orlando.

they could have easily gotten Al Harrington, Jonathan Bender & Fred Jones for T-Mac, which would have given them 3 talented young guys to totally rebuild that franchise with & that would be perfect complementary players for Okafor...that would have been the smarter move imho.

It seems to me that the Magic got the best of this deal.

Especially if they turn around and turn Francis into Al Harrington and Tinsley. Look at the Magic's possible lineup:

PG: Tinsley, (rookie or MLE signing)
SG: Cat Mobley, Stephenson, rookie
SF: Al Harrington, Grant Hill?
PF: Emeka Okafor, Drew Gooden
C: Cato, Hunter

It's pretty good and has a lot of room to get better. It's still good if they keep Stevie Francis, but Stevie does need to grow up.

But the whole point of this trade is that TMac needs to grow up too. The Pistons proved you can win the title with 5 very good starters and no superstars, the Magic will probably go that route and so will a bunch of other teams (at least until the next superstar wins it all...)

Posted by crzymdups:

It seems to me that the Magic got the best of this deal.

Especially if they turn around and turn Francis into Al Harrington and Tinsley. Look at the Magic's possible lineup:

PG: Tinsley, (rookie or MLE signing)
SG: Cat Mobley, Stephenson, rookie
SF: Al Harrington, Grant Hill?
PF: Emeka Okafor, Drew Gooden
C: Cato, Hunter

It's pretty good and has a lot of room to get better. It's still good if they keep Stevie Francis, but Stevie does need to grow up.

But the whole point of this trade is that TMac needs to grow up too. The Pistons proved you can win the title with 5 very good starters and no superstars, the Magic will probably go that route and so will a bunch of other teams (at least until the next superstar wins it all...)

I don't think the Pacers will trade Harrington since they have been reportedly trying to trade Artest (same position) since the post season ended (flagrant foul, skipped exit interview with Bird).