Will Steve Francis Go Back to Houston?

by Marcel Mutoni

-Thanks to the inimitable Gus Johnson, Isiah Thomas will not be kicking The Sports Guy’s ass.

Minutes later, Gus waved me over and introduced me to Isiah, who was quite gracious and gave me 30 minutes.

I explained my side, he explained his, and that was that. Maybe the details don’t matter as much as the story itself: Gus Johnson brokering peace talks between me and Isiah Thomas at a topless pool in Vegas.

(Methinks we should send Gus to the Middle East and see if he can’t fix that mess.)

-Houston is one of Stevie Franchise’s possible destinations.

Steve Francis ended Wednesday ready to sleep on his choice among four teams, including the Rockets. By tonight, his agent said, Francis could be ready to announce a decision.

(While we’re here, is it time to take away the ‘Franchise’ nickname from Steve?)

-The Pacers have recently spoken to the representatives of both Jannero Pargo and Keith McLeod.

-Jake Voshkul is now a Buck.

-Andres Nocioni says he won’t play for Argentina’s national team because he’s “really skinny”. Here, I’ll let him explain further:

“I’m going to practice for myself,” Nocioni said. “I started to do my exercises and practice so [the Argentine media] believed I was going to play for the national team. But it’s almost impossible.

“I want to play for the national team, but the problem right now is my leg isn’t normal. I’m really skinny. My leg isn’t strong enough.”

(Can you imagine if Yao tried to pull a similar stunt? The Chinese government would probably hang him.)