Orlando
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Steve Francis, celebrating his 28th birthday yesterday, called head coach Johnny Davis early in the day to explain that he had somehow missed his scheduled flight and would not be with the team for practice at 3pm, a time that had already been deliberately pushed back to give players time to get in and ready. Stevie Franchise was the only one absent. The birthday boy will be fined, of course, but will still be in the starting lineup tonight. Steve made headlines last year when he somehow was unable to join the team for practice on Super Bowl Sunday.
Davis tried to make a rallying speech about making a hard push now after the playoffs but somehow the effect was muted with the absence of their starting point guard. Jameer Nelson practiced with the starting unit in his place.
Is this the sort of behavior that would trigger emotion in John Weisbrod and a quick trade of the mercurial guard? Or is it simply a coincidence that Francis missed his flight on what happened to be his birthday? Davis expressed loads of disappointment: "There is no amount of money you could fine a guy here that would make him adhere to team rules. It has to be about the team." Davis believes Francis is flouting the Magic's most important team-first philosophy. The question is does Weisbrod agree? If so, he has two days to do something about it.
NEXT GAME
Fellow Eastern Conference All-Star winners Grant Hill and Jermaine O'Neal will face off on opposite ends of the court as the Orlando Magic (28-24, third in the Southeast) host the Indiana Pacers (25-26, fourth in the Central) TONIGHT, Tuesday, February 22nd. The game starts at 7:00pm and will be broadcast on WRBW and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
Orlando Magic Ball Kid Auction: Bid for a very special experience that you can only have with your hometown Orlando Magic. This is the ultimate fan experience for your child! Get up close and personal with NBA players as your child "works" for the team for one incredible night. (Ball Kid ages 7-14 only).
INJURY UPDATE
Mario Kasun(knee) andAndrew DeClercq(knee) are on the injured list.
David Simmons ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: As the legislator who recently filed the much-publicized bill in the Florida House seeking additional funding for the Orlando TD Waterhouse Centre, I read with interest Mike Thomas' column on Thursday concerning the Orlando Magic. I would like to point out that while Thomas' column on the surface may sound good to some people, it incorrectly concludes that city officials are "happy to stuff public dollars in the owner's pocket." The funding in my bill is not for the Magic.Instead, the funding is for the city of Orlando, which owns the TD Waterhouse -- a big difference. The Magic simply have a lease to use this facility, which I repeat is owned by a local government, the city of Orlando. All of us benefit from this arena, which has other uses than simply housing the Magic.
Ken Hornack ofThe News Journal Onlinewrites: An optimist would say the Orlando Magic are halfway to a berth in the NBA playoffs and expunging every trace of last season's 21-61 debacle.A pessimist would say the Magic are a team that can't be taken seriously at the halfway point because they have yet to rattle off more than three victories in a row while their assists-to-turnovers ratio would make a basketball purist cringe. A realist would say the halfway point of the season actually took place in late January, not at the all-star break this past weekend.
Marc Narducci ofThe Philadelphia Inquirerwrites: After trying to defend against Iverson during the all-star point guard's 60-point outburst at the Wachovia Center on Feb. 12, Orlando Magic rookie Jameer Nelson, a former star at St. Joseph's University and Chester High, saw his minutes decrease considerably in the next two games.Nelson scored 10 points in 25 minutes against the Sixers, then played a total of 10 minutes while going scoreless in victories over the Los Angeles Clippers and the New Orleans Hornets.
Tim Povtak ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: The Orlando Magic spent the first part of the season riding the highs and the lows -- the good and bad -- of talented but tempestuous point guard Steve Francis. Don't expect much to change now. It's a precarious tightrope the Magic and Coach Johnny Davis will walk with Francis. He missed the first day of practice after the NBA all-star break Monday, dampening the push-for-the-playoffs speech that Davis delivered to his team.The Magic went through a hard practice with rookie Jameer Nelson working with the starting unit.