Your Daily Steve Francis Update

by Steve Perrin on Jul 12, 2007 5:19 PM PDT in News Comment 5 comments

I'm going to stop speculating on the contract that Steve Francis is going to sign. It's all conjecture on my part, and clearly I have no idea. I assumed he'd be able and interested in getting the mid-level (the same figure Art Thompson III speculated on in today's OCR), but then his agent spoke of being 'made whole' after the Portland buyout, a figure that would be much lower. So who knows?

Instead let's just do a quick link dump.

The Lakers are going to sign Derek Fisher. Like Francis, the deal can't be official until Fish clears waivers, but it's going to happen, and it removes the Lakers from the pursuit of Francis.

Today's Palm Beach Post says the Heat are NOT interested in Francis, although they continue to be one of the teams mentioned. Take it for what it's worth. The Heat continue to pursue Mo Williams as their top priority.

Today's Houston Chronicle is reporting that that Francis is interested in the Rockets. What it doesn't report is that the Rockets are interested in Francis. All the talk at this point is coming from Francis' agent, Jeff Fried. Beyond the obvious connections (Francis was an all-star with the Rockets, Yao reportedly likes playing with him, Francis has a house there) this idea makes no sense. The Rockets still have last year's starter Rafer Alston, and recently acquired Mike James for a second tour in Houston, and spent their first round draft pick on point guard Aaron Brooks. As it happens, the Rockets traded James for Alston two years ago, and then brought back James. So to bring back Francis to play alongside the guy the got for him (McGrady) would fit the theme. But exactly how many shoot first point guards is too many? Houston can't even consider this unless they get rid of Alston or James or both.

The Mavericks reportedly remain interested in the future ClipperSteve, but they just seem to be stockpiling assets. They are also reportedly interested in Chris Webber. Maybe they can also sign Gary Payton and trade for Wally Szczerbiak and stage the 2002 all star game.

Reader pookeyguru provided a link in a comment on yesterday's port with more info about the Blazers buyout. Mike Barrett is the Blazers broadcaster, and knows what he's talking about, but I must admit I found the post more than a tad confusing on the subject of the buyout.

That leaves the Clippers. Jason Quick of the Oregonian, who from my reading of Blazer's Edge seems to be extremely well connected, is reporting that Francis will sign with the Clippers:

It is believed Francis will sign a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, probably for around $1 million this year and around $5 million next season.

That is a pretty specific deal to be reporting. Makes you wonder if he really knows something about this.

0 recs | Comment 5 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Luxury tax

And the Clippers continue to try to dodge it. $1M this and $5M next and they are safe out of tax range.

Conservative speculation would say the other scenarios are his agent trying to squeeze every dollar out of the Clippers and the rumored actual price indicating Francis is ignoring his own agent and just trying to get where he wants to be.

But then again, the Clippers as where a free agent wants to be is still so counter-intuitive that I am downgrading the percent chance of ClipperSteve Francis back to 19.43%, that's taking into account that of all those teams only the Clippers would actually benefit from a "shoot-first" guard. Lets not kid ourselves; this is what Sam is. If Franchise is motivated to just dial it down a little bit and feed the Horse, that's just about perfect.

by John R on Jul 12, 2007 5:36 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

There's another reason

As Steve alluded to the buyout works like this. Francis gets 30 million up front except for this. The Blazers get a part of this contract and next contract. The question is how much of each contract do they get. That's where the Barrett link comes in. I've read it several times and that's basically what it says. And for the record it is confusing.

Playing basketball at the LA Arena is kind of like volunteering to be Satan's Spawn. It just shouldn't be contemplated.....

by pookeyguru on Jul 12, 2007 10:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah about that

It is more confusing that revealing. It reads like the dude has a little knowledge of the CBA (which is a dangerous thing.) Francis agreed to take 4M less than his original contract. Pretty typical. But then he goes on the say that the Blazers get some of his next contract which doesn't make sense. I assume he is referring to the right of set-off. The Blazers don't "get" any money, but they get to reduce the amount they have to pay. But that's not really the Clippers concern, or Francis' really. And its not some genius negotiation by the Blazers. Its just how the CBA works.

Or maybe the Blazers did better than this. Its possible I suppose. But mostly I think that broadcaster kinda misunderstood something he learned.

by John R on Jul 12, 2007 11:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was my take as well....

The Blazers cap amount will be reduced by 50% of Francis' new contracts for the next two seasons, the number of years for which the Blazers are still responsible for him. As far as I know, the Blazers get cap relief ONLY, not actual money. Barrett implies they get money.

Jason Quick's article in the Oregonian correctly describes it as cap relief.

The Blazers negotiated a 50 percent offset in the deal, meaning the team will get 50 percent cap relief from whatever Francis earns in the next two years. It is believed Francis will sign a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, probably for around $1 million this year and around $5 million next season. That means the Blazers will save about $3 million.

Or at least I assume his is correct, and Barrett's description is at least misleading.

by Steve Perrin on Jul 13, 2007 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs