Jackie MacMullan on Riley Calling Pitino About Mashburn; Steve Francis; Vancouver Trading...

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Inside the NBA - Tuesday May 18, 1999 04:00 PMGet 



      Inside the NBA 
           
      Posted: Tuesday May 18, 1999 04:00 PM

      Big Shot   
      Dikembe Mutombo's offense can't be ignored 
      By Jackie MacMullan
      <snips> 
      
           
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      Lottery Bound?:  
      Francis Aims to Be Top Pick 
      Steve Francis no longer worries about answering his phone, though it still 
      rings incessantly. Every NBA lottery team called, several times. Two teams 
      that aren't in the lottery -- Houston and Atlanta -- also rang. Then there 
      were the agents, both the major players and the new hustlers, promising 
      the star point guard from Maryland that they could secure him the No. 1 
      pick -- and more. "I've passed up money, cars, women, you name it," says 
      Francis. "It's crazy." 
      Not anymore. Francis has picked lawyer Jeff Fried, of Washington, D.C., to 
      represent him. Fried is a newcomer to the NBA but has had former 
      heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe as a client. Fried's advice for all the NBA 
      teams hoping to score a workout with Francis, a 6'3" guard whose killer 
      crossover dribble has triggered the inevitable comparisons to Allen 
      Iverson: Unless you are picking in the top three, you're out of luck. "If 
      everyone wanted to come to a gym and watch me go at it, that would be fine 
      with me," said Francis. "But this is a business thing now." 
      The consensus among NBA scouts and general managers is that Francis will 
      be among the top five picks of the 1999 draft, along with Duke forwards 
      Elton Brand and Corey Maggette, UCLA point guard Baron Davis and Rhode 
      Island forward Lamar Odom, all underclassmen. 
      Coaches and scouts are stunned by Francis's explosive quickness and his 
      creativity in the open court. "When it's not a five-on-five situation," 
      says Maryland coach Gary Williams, "he's very, very difficult to defend." 
      His transition game receives unanimous raves, but pro scouts want to know 
      if he can make the players around him better. Can he hit the perimeter 
      jumper consistently? Still, most say they are not overly concerned about 
      these questions, primarily because of Francis's outstanding athleticism. 
      Sources say Francis would love to land in either Chicago or L.A. (even 
      with the Clippers), and he hopes to avoid suiting up for a Canadian club. 
      Yet what he wants most of all is for his name to be the first called on 
      
      Around The Rim  

      Count Golden State among the teams that will make a run at free agent 
      Mitch Richmond . Washington has said that it wants to re-sign its shooting 
      guard, but sources say there have been no contract talks since the season 
      ended....

      Sources say Vancouver will be open to offers for its first-round draft 
      pick, in hopes of acquiring some veterans to add to its young nucleus of 
      Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Mike Bibby and Bryant (Big Country) Reeves ....Word 
      out of Miami is that forward Jamal Mashburn may be on the trading block. 
      You can be sure that Heat coach Pat Riley hasn't lost the number of Boston 
      coach Rick Pitino , who coached Mashburn at Kentucky and has tried to 
      acquire him before.... 

      Scouts predict that at the predraft camp in Chicago in June, Duke's Elton 
      Brand will measure closer to 6'6" than to the 6'8" that the Blue Devils 
      listed in their media guide....UCLA's Baron Davis's downside, according to 
      league general managers, is that he's too much of a one-on-one player. But 
      as one Western Conference executive noted, "The thing we love about him is 
      he's got some of that Gary Payton nastiness that you just can't teach."