Steve Francis is entering a new stage of his career and is sounding like a player who is looking for maturity within himself.

"I don't want to be that," he said after yesterday's practice. "I want to be the Steve Francis of new. Every year you mature in the NBA as a player and a person. I just want to do something that I've never done. The stuff that I did was points and dunks. But that didn't equal victories. It didn't equal playoffs. I've done everything but win games, and that's what I'm out to do."

When asked about being traded to the Knicks and playing out the final two months of the season, he said, "It was the worst thing that I've ever experienced as a basketball player in my career."