Stevie Francis to the Knicks? Really?

The New York Knicks win! Break up the Knicks! Really, break up the Knicks ... please.

And that – apparently – is exactly what Isiah Thomas intends to do. Despite the fact that he is personally responsible for bringing every single player on the roster to New York during his tenure as president of this once-proud franchise, Thomas will continue to wheel and deal – if for no other reason than to create the illusion of having a master plan.

The latest name being tossed around as a soon-to-be-Knick is Orlando's Steve Francis (for Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway's expiring contract and either Trevor Ariza, David Lee or Nate Robinson). Francis is a fascinating player to target on two levels:

1. If you were going to make a list of players that are exactly the opposite of what Larry Brown desires (present Knicks excluded as Brown has already voiced his distaste for all of them on numerous occasions) then Steve Francis would undoubtedly be on the very short list.

2. If you were going to try and find a player in the NBA who is most like Stephon Marbury, it would be hard to come up with a better match than Steve Francis ... and we all know how much Larry Brown loves Marbury. Check out their career stats:

Player Marbury Francis	Min/G 38.7 39.3	FG% 43.5% 43.0%	3PT/G 1.2 1.1	FT% 79.1% 79.8%	AST 8.2 6.4	PPG 20.4 19.4

Both Marbury and Francis are undersized shooting guards trapped in point guard bodies. Both are athletically gifted. Both turn 29 later this month (they were born on back-to-back days in 1977). Neither makes their teammates better. Neither has tasted any post-season success. Both have worn out their welcomes on multiple teams. Neither demonstrates much interest on the defensive end of the floor.

It is this final similarity that is, perhaps, most troubling. Especially since Isiah Thomas either doesn't recognize it or simply chooses to ignore it. Thomas apparently envisions a pairing of Marbury & Francis bringing back memories of and (hopefully) duplicating the championship success of himself & Joe Dumars and Walt Frazier & Earl Monroe. Please tell us he's joking.

While Marbury and Francis could create some match-up problems for other teams, it would be one of the weakest defensive backcourts in recent memory. Walt Frazier was first-team all-defense seven times! Joe Dumars was first-team all-defense four times! Marbury and Francis have been in the league a combined 15 years and the next time either is even considered for the NBA all-defensive team will be the first.

Not only is Francis a bad fit with the current Knicks, he also comes with - you guessed it - another monstrous salary obligation -- $49.3 million over the next three seasons.

So we obviously object to trading Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza for Steve Francis, right. Wrong! Despite all the reasons that Francis will not make the Knicks a better team, we still say DO THE DEAL. Why? Partially because when you're as bad as the Knicks are right now, then change simply for the sake of change isn't necessarily a bad idea. But more so because we finally accept that the New York Knicks will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be under the salary cap ... meaning they will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be able to compete for impact free agents on the open market.

Dumping expiring contracts is the only way for the Knicks to improve the talent on their roster (even if that talent duplicates rather than complements what they already have). The Francis trade is 100% about stockpiling and 0% about chemistry ... yet it still makes sense. Remember, it was less than two seasons ago that Steve Francis was traded more-or-less straight-up for Tracy McGrady.

The best case scenario for the Knicks is to acquire Francis and hope that either he and/or Marbury plays well enough to – at some point – be able to trade one of them for a player that may actually help them win some games. Yes, Knicks fans, it's come to that -- advocating trades that don't make sense and won't translate into wins ... simply because they may lead to other trades in the future that do make sense and might translate into wins. Yikes!

Question: What do you think? Should the Knicks trade for Steve Francis? If not, who should they go after with Penny Hardaway's expiring contract? Please click below on "COMMENTS" and share your thoughts ...