<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ORLANDO, Fla. -- Steve Francis apologized to teammates, coaches and fans Tuesday as he rejoined the Orlando Magic following his two-game suspension for refusing to re-enter a blowout game late in the fourth quarter. Francis said all the right things in his return. He called his decision "not a smart or wise one," said he hoped to remain with the club after the Feb. 23 trading deadline and added that he would be willing to "sacrifice" his starting role to benefit the team. Francis was suspended indefinitely last Thursday, a day after he opposed coach Brian Hill's request to replace Hedo Turkoglu with 3:22 remaining and the Magic trailing 103-87 at Seattle. The star point guard missed two games -- losses at Portland and Sacramento -- then was reinstated Monday following a meeting with team officials. "For me not to do that was completely wrong," Francis said in confirming the reason for his suspension. "It was in the heat of the moment, and one of the decisions that I made was really, really not a smart or wise one at the time. I apologize to the fans, to my teammates, the coaches." Magic assistant general manager Otis Smith called the meeting with Francis productive and said he hoped to see changes in his attitude and play. "I don't look at Steve as being any trouble," Smith said. "We're just trying to get Steve Francis back. As I told him, I haven't really seen Steve Francis in three weeks. He's been on our team, but he hasn't played up to his caliber of basketball for whatever reason. We're just trying to get to the bottom of that and get him back to playing basketball the way he's capable of playing." "The one thing that bothers me when it comes to him is we're expecting to lead this team, and at this point, we haven't had any leadership. We're looking forward to that stepping up, too."</div> http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2295637
I'm getting fed up with this "trade me, just kidding" routine from the players around the league. David Stern said he was going to crack down on players making these demands. So far the only person who's been hit with a fine has been Ron Artest. These pre-madonna idiots are ruining the spirit of the game and the result has been lackluster effort on the courts. Just look at all the head coaches complaining about LACK OF EFFORT.
he better start playing good orelse i have a feeling he's gonna get replaced by Jameer for a long time
