New York Knicks (2x NBA Champions)

[sears3820]

ESPN

Steve Francis is headed to New York under a deal agreed to Wednesday by the Knicks and the Orlando Magic, ESPN.com has learned.

The teams agreed to a trade of Francis for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza, two league sources with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.com.

The trade was expected to be announced later Wednesday afternoon after being called in to the league office.
In New York, Francis will be paired with Stephon Marbury as the highest-paid backcourt duo in the NBA.

The Knicks were still talking with several other clubs as team president Isiah Thomas worked at remaking a roster that has stumbled to the league's second-worst record, 15-37. For the Magic, the trade will provide salary cap relief to a franchise that can now go further beneath the cap than any of the league's 30 teams in the summer of 2007 when a bumper crop of free agents will be on the market, giving Orlando several options in figuring out how to rebuild around 20-year-old power forward Dwight Howard.

 

[NFBuck]

Seems to me like Isiah is trying to burn that building down before he's shown the door. Marbury and Francis in the same backcourt? I give two weeks before they're brawling at center court...MID GAME.

 

[LoKyBuckeye]

Penny back to Orlando....

can't wait to hear how the Magic fans react.... if there are any left.

 

[exhawg]

Another guard. Just what the Knicks needed. Think they'll take Eric Snow for Nate Robinson?

 

[BGriffBuckeye]

Well, the deal sucks for us (yes us, I live in Orlando and am I Magic fan by default). However, once the Summer of '07 Hits after next season, we will ahve the most salary cap space of any other team. And guess who the free agents will be in '07: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and that whole draft class. Now, I do not have much faith that we bring in either of those two... but Dwight Howard is the future of the NBA as far as bigmen go, and he will need a wingman.

 

[exhawg]

Well, the deal sucks for us (yes us, I live in Orlando and am I Magic fan by default). However, once the Summer of '07 Hits after next season, we will ahve the most salary cap space of any other team. And guess who the free agents will be in '07: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and that whole draft class. Now, I do not have much faith that we bring in either of those two... but Dwight Howard is the future of the NBA as far as bigmen go, and he will need a wingman.

Sasha Pavlovic was a first rounder in that draft class too. You might have a shot at him. :p

 

[RAMdrvr1]

Well, Francis got what he wanted. Traded. Him and L. Brown. Too funny!

 

[OH10]

Well, the deal sucks for us (yes us, I live in Orlando and am I Magic fan by default). However, once the Summer of '07 Hits after next season, we will ahve the most salary cap space of any other team. And guess who the free agents will be in '07: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and that whole draft class. Now, I do not have much faith that we bring in either of those two... but Dwight Howard is the future of the NBA as far as bigmen go, and he will need a wingman.

I would argue that Greg Oden might be the future of big men in the NBA along with Howard.

This deal sucks for the Magic and it was going to suck, because Francis had no trade value left. Penny is washed up. Ariza may have some untapped talent, but I have a feeling it's going to remain on ice. Obviously, there are salary cap benefits for Orlando, but I remember the last time they had that much cap room when they picked up McGrady and Hill. That didn't work out too well, due mostly to bad luck.

Basically, Orlando has now traded Tracy McGrady for Ariza and a Penny worth a penny. That's sad.

Knicks? Well, what can you say? Isiah is the new master of team chemistry. And with this deal, he's sending a real message to the league....

HEY, ANYBODY WANT TO GET RID OF AN OVERRATED PLAYER WITH A SHITTY CONTRACT? CALL ISIAH THOMAS AT 555-KNICKS-SUCK.

 

[akronbuck]

well knicks will continue being a joke with those 2 playing the guard spots together
They will have to do something again or the media will have to do some reporting about those 2

they gave nothing for another headache pennys days have been done

Orlando did a great job, getting rid of Francis for the future. I watched them when ever I could and he was to much of a scorer first then passer for the better scoring option., Howard is becoming a great player already and Francis hardly tried to use him to make his own game easier

 

[bearonu]

Not only is Francis now in that backcourt with Marbury, but Jamal Crawford wasn't included in the deal like he was supposedly going to be all along. So now Francis, Marbury, Crawford, and Nate Robinson are all back there in two spots. Have fun Larry Brown!

 

[scarletngrey11]

The Knicks were idiots to give Larry Brown all that money, he isnt even a great coach, and im a North Carolina guy!

How do you pay a coach $10,000,000 a year that has serious health problems, and probably cost his team an NBA championship last season?

 

[exhawg]

Personally I love both of the moves that the Magic made over the past week. They pick up Darko, who could be a Z type of player once he learns the Magic's system and gets broken in. He needs more than the 3 minutes that he played last night. I'll chalk that up to not getting to practice with the team enough before the game. As all of the analysts have said it is a crime if the Magic don't get Darko 20-30 minutes a game. Darko was a good enough prospect to be the #2 pick over Melo, Wade, and Bosh. He will probably never be as good as those other players, but he has a ton of potential especially playing next to Howard. Those 2 on the floor together might be scary in a year or 2.
Arroyo will take over most of Francis's minutes. He already seems to have some chemistry with Howard by giving him 2 good feeds last night. A big man like Howard needs a good PG to get him open looks and Arroyo can do that off the bench. Jameer Nelson will be a good starting PG. I would gladly trade him for Luke Jackson right now (hopefully not after another season).
Getting rid of Francis for an expiring contract will be worth it for the Magic. They might not even be any worse the rest of this season since they weren't playing well to begin with and Francis wasn't doing much except ruin their chemistry. Now all the Magic need to do is keep their good young players in Orlando, which has proven to be the hardest thing to do.

 

[Piney]

The only thing that really scares me about this is that NY is wheeling and dealing and one of the rumors was a Gooden for Richardson/Crawford type deal and this move kinda opens that up even more. Please let the Cavs keep Gooden, pretty please?

 

[2002AGAIN]

ORL fans like BGriff should be happy (as long as they don't think about the fact that they traded Juwan Howard, T-Mac, and Reece Gaines for Penny, Darko, Arroyo, and Ariza...) because they get tons of caproom in the future. Sort of like, IIRC, 2001 when they were wooing Grant Hill, Tim Duncan, and T-Mac with that insane amount of capspace they had. Dwight Howard is a stuid (REALLY needs to work on his offensive game, though...kind of looks like Ben Wallace sometimes) and they're building around him and Darko if he pans out. Still, I do think they could have gotten a little more; at least a pick or something from NY...

As for NY...Zeke has absolutely no idea what he's doing. Pairing up Starbury and Franchise in the backcourt is a horrendous idea. They have had beef in the past, they're almost clones of each other in terms of strengths/weaknesses, and they both have never led a team anywhere (I love to bring up the fact that Stephon's teams have only gotten stronger AFTER he's left them). Crawford is probably on the outs before deadline hits; there have been rumors that KG might go to the Knicks...so it should be interesting.

 

[scarletngrey11]

The thing is, Isiah Thomas went up to Larry Brown something like two weeks ago and told Larry to make a list of players that he wants to get on the Knicks, so then they can deal for them.