Knicks guard Steve Francis is the latest to report to ex-Spurs coach John Lucas at Houston's West Side Tennis Club, where he will begin this week trying to get his legs stronger, his shot on track and his spirit renewed.

It is his spirit that most needs mending now, every bit as much as his knees.

"You know I always can do that," Lucas said, punctuating the assertion with his raspy laugh.

"I think Stevie was actually beginning to play better," Lucas added. "A lot of this physical rehab should have been taken care of in the summer. Now we're paying the consequences, but we've got to get it taken care of."

Francis has been a bad fit in New York since the Magic traded him last February for talented young guard Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway's expiring contract, a deal that ranks somewhere near the top of the long list of horrid trades Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas has made.

That the Knicks would allow him to leave the team during a road trip to work out with Lucas, instead of with the team's trainers and coaches, speaks volumes. It could be a pre-cursor to buying Francis out of his contract, though the Knicks already bought out Jalen Rose's contract a little more than a month ago.

"That's the million dollar question," Lucas said. "Are they going to buy him out? They've got so much money and problems up there, you just have to wait and see. But, hey, if they bought out Larry Brown like that, they'll buy out anybody."