It’s only been seven years since Steve Francis played his final NBA season, but it feels like decades. Francis, the 2000 NBA Rookie of the Year and three-time All-Star, has been largely forgotten since his second stint with the Rockets in 2007-08.
One of the league’s most exciting players from 1999 through 2005, he battled injuries and inconsistency in becoming an afterthought before heeding overseas to play one season with the Beijing Ducks in 2010. He was welcomed by the Astros on Tuesday night and given the opportunity to throw out the first pitch, but it wasn’t the best toss:
