nytimes: Isiah Thomas, Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Larry Brown and Eddy Curry could not reverse the franchise's fortunes, so now it is Francis — also known as Stevie Franchise — who assumes the title of the next great hope.
The Francis-Marbury backcourt will make its debut Friday night at Madison Square Garden against a Nets team that has perhaps the league's best guard tandem: Jason Kidd and Vince Carter.
Francis did not practice Thursday because Trevor Ariza, dealt to Orlando with Penny Hardaway for Francis a day earlier, had not completed his physical examination. But Brown, the Knicks' coach, said Francis would start Friday, giving the team its 33rd different starting lineup of the season.
The roster itself remained static Thursday. Thomas, the team president, had perfunctory conversations with other team executives, but did not make another trade before the 3 p.m. deadline.
So the final 29 games belong to Marbury, Francis and especially Brown, still seeking the formula to improve on a 15-38 record — or "rock bottom," as Brown called it Thursday.
The next phase of inevitable change will have to wait until the off-season, when the Knicks will have two first-round draft picks and a lot of spare guards to offer in trades.
"We feel pretty good about the direction we're headed," Thomas said minutes after the trading deadline had passed. "We're not happy with the record. However, our future is bright."
Not even Knicks officials seem sure that the Marbury-Francis pairing will work, but the team figures it can trade one of them if the experiment fails. For now, the team is promoting the intrigue of a versatile backcourt in which both players can run the offense, drive the lane and score from just about anywhere.
Marbury has gone from defensive to defiant about predictions that he and Francis will clash, saying, "I'm almost positive everyone probably thinks it's going to be a problem."
He added: "When we get it going and we figure it out, we're going to be tough to stop. That's a fact."
