Steve Francis begins Chinese basketball career by playing with ice pack on his ankle

The man they called Stevie Franchise, the supposed savior of the Houston Rockets and former cover star of my favorite basketball video game from the year 2002, “NBA Live 2002″, seems to have fallen on some hard times since his best friend Cuttino Mobley was tragically traded away from his lonesome grasp during the 2004-2005 NBA season. The years that followed for the 33-year-old Francis were filled with basketball failure as he bounced around from the Magic to the Knicks and then back to the Rockets, where his declining basketball ability made it necessary for them to deal him to the Memphis Grizzlies for next to nothing. His NBA career was essentially over.

Luckily, like Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury before him, eastern countries have much lower standards for their professional basketball players and since Francis’s name still surprisingly holds some star power, it wasn’t hard for him to find a job overseas. Unfortunately for our reputation as American basketball players who understand the proper time and place to wear ice packs on our ankles, he spent all of the 17 seconds his team let him play in his Chinese basketball league debut with an ice pack strapped conspicuously to his leg. What? He might get thirsty later.

Even just hours before the game, Coach Min indicated to reporters that Francis would not play tonight, as both the player and organization wanted to allow more time for him to improve his conditioning and adapt to the 13 hour time Beijing-New York time difference. But, as game became more and more out of reach in the fourth quarter, large numbers of fans started chanting obscenities towards Min in an effort to get him to change his mind.

With Francis icing his ankle on the bench clearly not expecting to be subbed in, Min inserted him into the game anyways. Completely unprepared to enter the game, Francis didn’t even have time to tie his shoes as he quickly shed his warm-up suit and tucked in his jersey before entering the court. With his shoelaces loose and the ice pack around his ankle, Fu Laoda – loosely translated into English as Big Boss Francis – received a loud standing ovation and the obligatory “Fu Laoda, jiayou!” chant from the home crowd as he ran back on defense after the free throw.

Asked why he decided to against his original plan after the game, Min smiled wryly and answered, “You didn’t see all the fans yelling and swearing at me?”

Surprise! Francis plays 17 seconds in Beijing debut [NIUBBALL]