Steve Francis, whose trade to Portland in the Zach Randolph deal got him a $30 million buyout from the Blazers, has signed a two-year deal with the Houston Rockets.
Francis has kept a home in Houston since he joined the Rockets in 1999 and had his best years in the league there. The deal is worth about $6 million, meaning that Francis will wind up about $2 million ahead after having $30 million of the $34 million left on his contract bought out by Portland.
The Rockets have scheduled a news conference for tomorrow to announce the signing. More details to come later.
Comments (1)
Ken, I read your blurb about Francis in the paper this morning (7/20). You should stop taking little digs at Marbury.
I don't disagree with your guys' take on the Post vis a vis journalistic ethics, but that's not Steph's problem. How is it so different than you blogging about how much you hope the Knicks acquire Artest, and then "objectively" relating his Kenya experience and his take on his life in your newspaper? He's a domestic and animal abuser and you made him sound a little too much like Mother Teresa. It was interesting, and I'm not writing this to fault you for your coverage --just pointing out some latent hypocrisy in your criticism.
Furthermore, what's so ridiculous about Marbury wanting to live in Italy? I hear it's a great place and I think it would be fascinating to see. I hope he does it, and if I was wagering, I'd bet he does. And if he does go, I really hope he blogs.
Steph is definitely flaky and a little strange, but he's shown himself to be a really good, generous citizen of the planet. In the end, journalistic standards aside, I'm really glad he's had this opportunity to make himself a little better understood.
P.S. If your main criticism is really just that the story is so big that he chose the wrong forum to break it, well, I don't think anyone else really cares about that. You all picked it up 20 minutes later. Get over it and move on.