Kings were talking to the Magic about Francis?

[Fillmoe]

Magic Talking... But Not About Francis6th February, 2006 - 4:18 am

Florida Today - Orlando assistant general manager Otis Smith denied a published report that the Magic are close to finalizing a multi-team trade that would send guard Steve Francis to the Denver Nuggets .

The New York Post reported Sunday that the potential blockbuster trade could involve Orlando, Denver, Seattle and New York. Francis would head to Denver and Earl Watson and Nene would go to Orlando, Seattle or New York. Seattle is reportedly offering Reggie Evans, Flip Murray and Vitaly Potapenko. New York is peddling former Magic star Penny Hardaway, who has great worth because his $15.75 million contract expires at the end of the season.

Smith admitted that he's talked to several teams about potential trades -- specifically Denver, Sacramento, Indiana and Detroit -- in hopes of shaking up a Magic team that is 19-26 and 10th in the Eastern Conference. But he shot down The Post story, saying that he intends to keep Francis in Orlando unless he's blown away by a particularly appealing deal.

"There's nothing to it," Smith said. "I'm talking to everybody about just about everything. But right now it's just talk.

"Steve is still a part of our future here. But I'm not in a position where I don't listen to what's out there. A lot of people are throwing stuff out there to see what will stick right now, so we're just evaluating things."

 

[Burrito06]

Heard the same thing on the rise guys this morning.

 

[piksi]

who wrote the article ?

 

[PFFFT!!]

According to the NY Post? hehe ok, so who would we trade? Bibby? Miller? Would he be a good fit with Artest and Bonzi?

 

[Warhawk]

"Smith admitted that he's talked to several teams about potential trades" could mean he called Petrie, Petrie said, "uh, no thanks", and hung up.

 

[nbrans]

He never said "I was talking to Sacramento about trading Steve Francis." My guess is they were talking about trading Kenny Thomas for either Kelvin Cato's or Tony Battie's expiring deal so they'll have space under the luxury tax to either re-sign Bonzi or go for a sign and trade. At least I hope so.

Kenny Thomas and Jason Hart for Kelvin Cato works on RealGM, as does Kenny for Battie straight up.

 

[Bricklayer]

I never do this, but I am just going to copy part of my post from a thread that mentioned this in the NBA Forum:

Hmm...have real doubts about our interest in Francis.



Just looking at salaries and whatnot, I would think our targets would most likely be Tony Battie, Kelvin Cato, possibly Hedo, and maybe flakeboy (Fran Vasquez) if we could get his rights for cheap. I can easily see Battie because his contract is about the same size as the Philly three, and its ending. So could very well be us trying to dump some of those deadweight contracts for a tall/long frontcourt reserve with an ending deal. Cato has been injured all year, and that would have to be a salary dump. Hope not. Hedo is very interesting. Would not completely surprise me if Bonzi is moved, Kevin is promoted, and getting Hedo back would give Rick some tremendous versatility with he and Garcia off the bench (of course also the versatility to kill us with small non-rebounders at PF). And Vasquez...we've had success with international players before. And we've even dealt with players who's lives are run by their girlfriends, so who knows. I remember last year his draft profiles were calling him a poor man's Marcus Camby, and we could really use that.

 

[playmaker0017]

Not a fan of Francis.

I'm no Bibby fan, but I'd prefer Bibby over Francis.

Francis typifies the volume shooter mentality. He gets numbers, but usually they are pretty hollow. He's never seemed comfortable, unless he's allowed to be the man.

So, I'd definitely be unhappy about Francis.

 

[Folsom Al]

Would we keep him for a half-a-season, then ship him off to the Clippers ???

 

[foretaz]

the supposed trade talks probably went something like this:

smith: hey geoff, hows northern cali???

petrie: just great otis, thanks for asking...hows disney world??

smith: hot, humid and overcrowded as hell...bout the usual this time of year...

petrie: sorry to hear that....hey, hows hedo these days??

smith: hes doing great, we love him...which brings me to the purpose--

petrie: otis, let me stop u right there....we have zero interest in francis....and we have zero interest in trading garcia or martin....

smith: oh ok....thanks anyway....(click)

 

[tradepeja]

picking up cato or battie and getting rid of a philly 3 and hart would be an excellent, i hope it happens

 

[VF21]

the supposed trade talks probably went something like this:

smith: hey geoff, hows northern cali???

petrie: just great otis, thanks for asking...hows disney world??

smith: hot, humid and overcrowded as hell...bout the usual this time of year...

petrie: sorry to hear that....hey, hows hedo these days??

smith: hes doing great, we love him...which brings me to the purpose--

petrie: otis, let me stop u right there....we have zero interest in francis....and we have zero interest in trading garcia or martin....

smith: oh ok....thanks anyway....(click)

foretaz wins the thread.

 

[Kings113]

picking up cato or battie and getting rid of a philly 3 and hart would be an excellent, i hope it happens

I agree, but on Cato it was reported yesterday he has a cracked bone in his right foot. Nothing on when he can return, but if he can come back soon, I'd like to get him.

 

[BMiller52]

Maybe a 3 way deal with us sending someone like bonzi and getting back Watson/NeNe/Hedo? I know Geoff really wanted NeNe this offseason. We could use Hedo or Watson. Obviously that wouldn't be the whole deal but I don't know. Why would we move Bibby for a worse player with a worse contract? Geoff wouldn't. So those are pretty much the only players that those teams could interest us in right(besides Kenyon Martin)?

 

[ParniValjak]

the supposed trade talks probably went something like this:

smith: hey geoff, hows northern cali???

petrie: just great otis, thanks for asking...hows disney world??

smith: hot, humid and overcrowded as hell...bout the usual this time of year...

petrie: sorry to hear that....hey, hows hedo these days??

smith: hes doing great, we love him...which brings me to the purpose--

petrie: otis, let me stop u right there....we have zero interest in francis....and we have zero interest in trading garcia or martin....

smith: oh ok....thanks anyway....(click)

I don't think we are interested in Stevie Franchise. I agree with Brick, its probably for one of their other players (Cato, Battie or Hedo)

 

[mcsluggo]

I would love to have Hedo back... in theory... I love the guy, he was my favorite King when he was here (not exactly sure why, it just was what it was )

But if he did come back here, what would the Kings do with him.

he is a small forward trapped in the body of a power forward. The kings have an over-abundance of these identity challenged forwards (tho the king's batch tend to be pf trapped in the body's of sf), there are already far too many cross dressers on this team.

 

[Bricklayer]

I would love to have Hedo back... in theory... I love the guy, he was my favorite King when he was here (not exactly sure why, it just was what it was )

But if he did come back here, what would the Kings do with him.

he is a small forward trapped in the body of a power forward. The kings have an over-abundance of these identity challenged forwards (tho the king's batch tend to be pf trapped in the body's of sf), there are already far too many cross dressers on this team.

Hedo's particular brand of crossdressing actually works pretty well though for a reserve. Its really the opposite guys -- the college centers and whatnot who have inside games but only midget size for the NBA that are the true bastard children of basketball. With guys like Hedo, they can be quite effective offensively and the question just becomes whether they can defend or not. In Hedo's case he can, so he's actually one of the better reserves in the league. Would love to see him come back, expecially with our current lack of shooters. But obviously would clear up none of the stack of puny SF/PF combos and flatfooted farm boys that currently comprise our "bigs". For that, we need at least one, and preferably more, 4/5s.

 

[mcsluggo]

Why the hell isn't Hedo better than he is?

I confess to not having watched/kept up with him much since he left Sac, but damn. The guy is fleet footed for a 6'10" dude, he ain't a wuss (standing nose-to-nose with the leaner meaner Shaq of 5 years ago), he has a nice outside shot. He actually has some handles for such a big guy.

Why hasn't he blossmed into something great? (or at least better) Just doesn't really care?

My biggest issue with him when he was a king was always the fact that every aspect of his game shined when his shot was falling. And when it was missing-- everything fell apart. Is he still that way? Where does that sort of crap come from?