转自hoopchina Steve Francis, shown here in 2000, chose to return to the Rockets over offers from the Heat, Clippers and Mavericks. Steve Francis拒绝了热火、快艇和小牛的邀请回到休士顿，他第一次来到这里是2000年。 Steve Francis had a good reason for delaying an interview. 他完全有充分的理由叫记者们再等一会。 "Can you hold on a minute, man?" Francis asked politely. "I need to get in this hot tub. My whole body is killing me." “请再等等，”Francis客气的说，“我要洗个热水澡，难受死了。” Since signing a one-year, $2.4 million contract (with a player option for a second season) last month to return to Houston, the 30-year-old Francis has tortured his body at Tulane University with one clear, concise goal in mind: to reclaim his status as one of the league's premier point guards. 上个月他回到休士顿，和火箭签下一年240万的年薪（第二年球员选项），从那以後，30岁 的Francis就一直在杜兰大学进行艰苦的训练，他的目的很清楚，很明确他要重温往日联盟 最佳控卫的梦想。 "I was never 100 percent last season," said Francis, who suffered from knee and ankle injuries and played only 44 games with the Knicks. "There was no significant damage, but there was a lot of wear and tear." “上赛季我打得并非百分之百的好，”他说。受困於膝伤和踝伤，他只打了44场比赛。“ 受伤并不严重，但很折磨人。” Francis rises at 8 a.m., five mornings a week, for 2? hours of rehab on his left leg. At 10:30, he moves into conditioning drills, and at 2 p.m., he finally starts his basketball workout. "It's a grind," Francis said. On weekends he flies back to Houston, where he visits with his wife and daughter in the house that he built shortly after signing his first NBA contract. Francis早上8点开始训练，每周5天，上午进行2.5小时左腿恢复性训练，10:30开始体能训 练，下午2点开始篮球训练。“很艰苦，”他说。周末回休士顿和妻女团聚。签下第一份 NBA合同後，他就在休士顿买下了现在的豪宅。 For Francis, a return to Houston can't be considered a homecoming, because to him, he never really left after playing there from 1999 to 2004. He spends offseasons in Texas and returns for visits during regular-season breaks. When it came time to rehab his injured knee last season, Francis returned to Houston and worked with another player trying to come back from injury: Rockets center Yao Ming. 对他来说，重回休士顿并不意味着回家。2004年离开火箭后，家并没有搬走。每到球季结 束或球季中的假日，他都会回Texas。上赛季他在休士顿恢复膝伤，和火箭中锋姚明在一 起，他也在养伤。 Yao's presence played a significant role in Francis' decision to return to Texas. Even after his divorce from the Rockets, Francis remained in contact with Yao, his teammate for two seasons. Before he rejoined Houston, Francis spoke at length with Yao as well as Tracy McGrady. Francis的回归姚明特别重要。在他被火箭送走後，姚明和他保持了2个赛季的密切关系。 重回火箭之前，他和姚明、T-mac进行了深切的沟通。 "I wanted to know where they stood," said Francis, who earned the nickname "Stevie Franchise" during his first stint in Houston. "Yao and I talk all the time, but I wanted to talk to both of them about joining what they had started." “我想知道他们的想法，”他说。当年在火箭的时候，他的外号是“Stevie Franchise” 。“姚明和我一直有交流，但现在我想告诉他们，他们开创的局面我要加入进来。” Suffice it to say, the Rockets' All-Stars were on board. "Both guys wanted Steve," general manager Daryl Morey said. "I try to keep them updated on every major move, and the reaction from them was, 'We didn't think we had a chance at Steve.' But once they did, they both wanted to get him here." 完全可以这样说，现在火箭队的全明星都已经上路了。“他们俩都想Steve回来，”Morey 说。“签约的每一步我都及时告诉他们，但他们的反应是：‘Francis可能不会回来。’但 一旦知道Francis真的会回来，他们都伸出了欢迎的双手。” Francis, a three-time All-Star, has seen his career slowly decline since his stormy departure from the Rockets in June 2004, when he was dealt to Orlando for McGrady after a season spent clashing with coach Jeff Van Gundy. Though Francis initially welcomed the trade, the relief he felt quickly turned to anger when the Magic shipped Cuttino Mobley, Francis's best friend and backcourt mate in Houston, to Sacramento in January 2005. When word of the trade came down, a distraught Francis wept openly in the visiting locker room in Boston. Francis曾3次入选全明星，但自从2004年闹得不可开交而被交易之後，状态就开始慢慢下 滑。在火箭他和小范矛盾不合，结果被送到奥兰多换T-mac。一开始Francis也欢迎这笔交 易，但没等多久，高兴就变成了愤怒，因为2005年魔术把他的好友Mobley送去了国王， Mobley在休士顿是後卫线上 Francis的搭档。当交易的消息传来时， Francis简直发疯了 ，他在更衣室里面队众多记者前面大哭。 The following season, Francis began to rebel. In a game against Seattle, he refused Magic coach Brian Hill's request to re-enter the game with time winding down and Orlando trailing by 16 points. His defiance earned him a three-game suspension, and although he would later apologize, the damage had already been done. Seventeen games later, Francis was traded to the Knicks. 接下来的球季， Francis开始和球队交恶。在打超音速时，他甚至拒绝教练Brian Hill的 要求上场比赛，仅管当时比赛时间已非常紧迫，结果魔术输了16分。这一闹让他吃了3场禁 赛，虽然後来道歉，但这对他的伤害已不可避免。17场比赛後，他被送到了尼克。 Things didn't improve in the bright lights of Manhattan, where Francis paired with Stephon Marbury to form a backcourt tandem of players with similar games. Despite being billed as coach Larry Brown's hand-selected pick, Francis finished the 2005-06 season averaging only 10.8 points in 24 games with the Knicks and quickly found himself entrenched in Brown's doghouse. Then came the injury-plagued '06-07 season, in which Francis averaged a career-low 11.3 points. 在曼哈顿明媚的阳光下，事情并没有好转。他和Marbury搭档一前一後组成後卫线，这是他 习惯的打法。仅管被名教练Larry Brown亲手挑中的人物，但05－06球季Francis在尼克只 拿下平均10.8分的成绩，打了24场球，很快他发现自己并不适合布朗的战术。06－07球季 的受伤使他创下11.3分的生涯新低。 "You know, besides the injuries, I think the timing was bad in New York," Francis said. "There was no bickering between myself and players and coaches. I was just never totally comfortable in the offense. Stephon and I, we probably tried to defer to each other too much. We never played our games." “你知道，除了受伤，我去的时机似乎也不好。”Francis说。“我和队友，教练之间并 没有矛盾，但不知道为什麽进攻总是很别扭。Stephon和我，也许我们互相都太让了。让 来让去结果谁也没有打出气势来。” Francis chooses his words carefully when discussing his Knicks tenure, likely because he prefers to look at his time away as a sabbatical in the career of a lifelong Rocket. When the Knicks dealt him to Portland for Zach Randolph on draft night, Francis immediately began thinking of a possible return to Houston. 谈起尼克的日子，Francis的口气明显小心起来，好像他更愿意把自己的职业生涯看作 休士顿，而在外的漂流只是休息日，休息而已。选秀之夜尼克把他交易到拓荒者，交换 Randolph，Francis马上就想到回到休士顿。 "I never wanted to play in Portland," Francis said. "I never even thought about it. Portland has a young nucleus and a lot of talent, but I wanted to be in a veteran situation." “从来就不想去波特兰打球，”Francis说。“想都没想过。波特兰有一个年轻的核心和不 少很有才华的球员，但我想到一支成熟的球队打球。” When the Trail Blazers bought out the remainder of Francis' contract for $30 million, the suitors began to line up: Miami (which offered more money), the Clippers (who offered Mobley --"he must have called me 1,000 times," Francis said) and Dallas (which offered the best chance at a championship). But Francis' heart was in Houston. 当拓荒者将买断3000万的剩余合约後，追求他的球队立刻排成了长队。迈阿密提供了更丰 厚的薪金，快艇有Mobley（他至少给我打了1000通电话，Francis说），而达拉斯有最好的 夺总冠军机会，但Francis的心在休士顿。 "Sure, there were other options," Francis said. "It was a tough decision. But this is where I want to be." “当然，还有其他的选择，”Francis说。“做这个决定很难，但休士顿是我想去的地方。” "Players have a short window to make their money," Morey said. "And after we signed Luis Scola, we didn't have much. Steve turned down a lot more money to play with us." “其实，球员赚钱的时间并不长，”Morey说。“签下Scola後，我们薪资空间所剩无几。 但Steve放弃了大合约来和我们打球。” The Rockets are hoping Francis will play 70-80 games next season and blend seamlessly into new coach Rick Adelman's pass-and-cut offense. "The goal is to get all our guys playing together by the playoffs," Morey said. "We are really making a one-year bet on Steve. But we hope he can play in all 82. 火箭希望Francis下球季能打70－80场，能百分百地融入Adelman的传切进攻体系。“我们 的目标是，到季後赛我们能打成一个整体，”Morey说。“我们要在Steve身上赌一年，我 们希望他能打82场。” "We felt there was still a bit of a gap between us and the top teams. Steve gets us closer." “本来我们觉得和顶级球队有差距，但Steve的到来把差距缩小了。” Though he will have to learn to adjust to life as Houston's third-tier star, Francis is eager for a chance to become the missing link in the team's championship quest. "I can contribute at any position," he said. "Once training camp comes around, I'll be ready to go out there and ball." 虽然Francis需要调整心态，学习做火箭三头马车中的老三，但他期盼着能在火箭追逐总冠 军的征途上，补上曾经失去的那一块拼图。“我什麽位置都可以做出贡献，”他说。“就 等训练营开始了，我会全力以赴的，打的痛快淋漓。” --

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