Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis.

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Could/Should Zion Williamson force New Orleans to trade him elsewhere?

Yes
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No
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Total votes: 128

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Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#1 » by Spens1 » Wed May 15, 2019 12:27 pm

Let me state this first, whilst Zion looks dissappointed (as would anyone when they first realise they're not going to New York to play full time) I fully expect him to be a Pelican for the next 3-4 years (at least), after that is sketchy, but his short term future is as a pelican.

However, should we rule out a possible Steve Francis situation. Basically, Steve Francis was drafted #2 by the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1999. He then refused to play for them altogether and forced his way to Houston (and honestly, it could have been the main reason the Grizzlies moved to Memphis).

Could this option be available to Zion perhaps, if he really is adamant about forcing his way to New York or any other team with the assets to be able to trade up (Boston perhaps, Atlanta, Dallas etc). What would the impact be if he did decide to pull this move, using the agents he hires.

I'd imagine his reputation going into the league would be absolutely shot by most fans and he would be villified immediately, also i do worry by the precedent it would set (as would the NBA owners).
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#2 » by Arteezy » Wed May 15, 2019 12:29 pm

Sure. He states he doesnt want to play in NO or Memphis, small markets.

Ends up in the Knicks who trade him to NO.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#3 » by iggymcfrack » Wed May 15, 2019 12:31 pm

New Orleans isn’t that bad. It’s actually a great space to land from a basketball perspective since they’ll be getting a lot of good young players back for Anthony Davis. What if he waits another year and gets drafted by Detroit? Or Charlotte without Kemba? Or Washington? It could totally be worse. Might as well just accept the way it went down. It’s only worth pitching a fit if you get a truly terrible situation.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#4 » by donato » Wed May 15, 2019 12:32 pm

This is dumb
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#5 » by RaptorsLife » Wed May 15, 2019 12:36 pm

I still have no idea why Steve Francis did that

Vancouver is better than 95% of nba cities even Toronto

Amazing city. I’m glad Steve Francis career turned out the way it did

If Zion does what Steve Francis did. I hope he has the same success as Steve Francis
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#6 » by ShazamDaShiznt » Wed May 15, 2019 12:36 pm

Of course it's more of a chance that Zion plays for the pelicans, but anything can happen. In this new NBA era players dictate more rules than before.

A "great start" for Zion. He gets drafted by a team whose current franchise player wants to leave them already :lol: how would that motivate you when your dream is to win a championship title?
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#7 » by Spens1 » Wed May 15, 2019 12:37 pm

RaptorsLife wrote:I still have no idea why Steve Francis did that

Vancouver is better than 95% of nba cities even Toronto

Amazing city. I’m glad Steve Francis career turned out the way it did

If Zion does what Steve Francis did. I hope he has the same success as Steve Francis


I remember watching a documentary, it was mainly flimsy things like travel etc. Also the fact that they had Bibby at the time and they said they didn't have a plan for him (bit skeptical on that). It sounds like his mind was made up that he didn't want to go to Vancouver and was salty that the Bulls had the audacity to pass on him at 1 :lol: .
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#8 » by ShazamDaShiznt » Wed May 15, 2019 12:38 pm

RaptorsLife wrote:I still have no idea why Steve Francis did that

Vancouver is better than 95% of nba cities even Toronto

Amazing city. I’m glad Steve Francis career turned out the way it did

If Zion does what Steve Francis did. I hope he has the same success as Steve Francis


Back in the days NBA players HATED playing for Canadian team. When Alonzo Mourning got traded to raptors he was crying lol they had to buy him out.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#9 » by red96 » Wed May 15, 2019 12:40 pm

I think you have to give that Francis situation a little more context. Not only was he drafted by a terrible team in Canada. They already had a young PG by the name of Mike Bibby that they got at #2 in the draft the year before. It still didn't make what Francis did , right.
"Morey decided in 2007 that Steve Francis was to be the "franchise player" of the Rockets only to play what... 5 games? Morey didn't think Marc Gasol was worth a look that year,"
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#10 » by ShazamDaShiznt » Wed May 15, 2019 12:53 pm

iggymcfrack wrote:New Orleans isn’t that bad. It’s actually a great space to land from a basketball perspective since they’ll be getting a lot of good young players back for Anthony Davis. What if he waits another year and gets drafted by Detroit? Or Charlotte without Kemba? Or Washington? It could totally be worse. Might as well just accept the way it went down. It’s only worth pitching a fit if you get a truly terrible situation.



NOLA is a bad destination, they have the chance to draft Zion and they got AD still willing to walk away. What kind of motivation is that for Zion? Getting to play with bunch of young guys knowing their franchise player walked away from him? :lol:

This is Zion + those young players getting overpaid in couple of years situation waiting to happen. Anthony Davis part 2.

What New Orleans has to show from this decade? Wasted prime years of CP3 and AD....and almost killing Lamar Odom when that boy found out about the trade :lol:

At least pistons are 3 time champs, washington had couple of fun eastern conference playoff years and charlotte....well they never had a luxury of drafting a player like AD or Zion
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#11 » by heatwillbeback » Wed May 15, 2019 12:55 pm

With them now being allowed to go back to the NCAA, the rules are different and we won’t be seeing anybody do what Francis did imo.

Somebody will take advantage of new the pull back rules though and I think soon. But it won’t be Zion staring at a 100 million dollar shoe deal.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#12 » by iggymcfrack » Wed May 15, 2019 12:56 pm

ShazamDaShiznt wrote:
iggymcfrack wrote:New Orleans isn’t that bad. It’s actually a great space to land from a basketball perspective since they’ll be getting a lot of good young players back for Anthony Davis. What if he waits another year and gets drafted by Detroit? Or Charlotte without Kemba? Or Washington? It could totally be worse. Might as well just accept the way it went down. It’s only worth pitching a fit if you get a truly terrible situation.



NOLA is a bad destination, they have the chance to draft Zion and they got AD still willing to walk away. What kind of motivation is that for Zion? Getting to play with bunch of young guys knowing their franchise player walked away from him? :lol:

This is Zion + those young players getting overpaid in couple of years situation waiting to happen. Anthony Davis part 2.

What New Orleans has to show from this decade? Wasted prime years of CP3 and AD....and almost killing Lamar Odom when that boy found out about the trade :lol:

At least pistons are 3 time champs, washington had couple of fun eastern conference playoff years and charlotte....well they never had a luxury of drafting a player like AD or Zion


Anthony Davis is as close to Zion’s age as he is to Chris Paul’s. He’d be a fool to make him a significant factor in his free agency decision unless the Pelicans are trading him. He wants someone he can win with NOW, not 2 contracts from now if he happens to stick around.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#13 » by RaptorsLife » Wed May 15, 2019 12:58 pm

ShazamDaShiznt wrote:
RaptorsLife wrote:I still have no idea why Steve Francis did that

Vancouver is better than 95% of nba cities even Toronto

Amazing city. I’m glad Steve Francis career turned out the way it did

If Zion does what Steve Francis did. I hope he has the same success as Steve Francis


Back in the days NBA players HATED playing for Canadian team. When Alonzo Mourning got traded to raptors he was crying lol they had to buy him out.

I don’t blame Alonzo. He was pretty much at end of his career on tanking team. Didn’t make sense for either side
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#14 » by Dupp » Wed May 15, 2019 12:58 pm

He didn’t even look disappointed really. Still frame picture means nothing. He was just nervous in the videos from what I saw.


Also not sold on guys being disappointed to not go to New York. These guys aren’t dumb, they know the owner and know they’ve been one of the worst run sports teams world wide over a long period of time.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#15 » by kenwood3333 » Wed May 15, 2019 1:02 pm

Kobe did the same and forced his way to the Lakers back in 96.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#16 » by pontius » Wed May 15, 2019 1:05 pm

Of course not. He'll get destroyed for it. If I'm the Pelicans GM I'm picking him even if he states he doesn't want to play for the team.
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#17 » by RoyceDa59 » Wed May 15, 2019 1:06 pm

If I was Zion I’d be pumped to go to a great city like New Orleans and play for a team that already has a top 10 player on the roster. If they play this correctly New Orleans could put together a very competitive team (assuming Zion is as good as we all expect in the NBA).


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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#18 » by ZemGOAT » Wed May 15, 2019 1:09 pm

He shouldn't but probably will
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#19 » by ShazamDaShiznt » Wed May 15, 2019 1:11 pm

Dupp wrote:He didn’t even look disappointed really. Still frame picture means nothing. He was just nervous in the videos from what I saw.


Also not sold on guys being disappointed to not go to New York. These guys aren’t dumb, they know the owner and know they’ve been one of the worst run sports teams world wide over a long period of time.


Pelicans are equally bad + it's a small market city. At least knicks have a hardcore fanbase, when you are successful they cheer you like crazy. Pelicans? They need NBA to let them host All Star Game weekend over and over again because local people don't really care about the pelicans, it's a saints city :lol:
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Re: Zion Williamson (or any of the picks) Pulling a Steve Francis. 

Post#20 » by Effigy » Wed May 15, 2019 1:31 pm

He definitely shouldn't, but even if he did, I'd draft him anyway. He has to be there for 5 years.

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