November 13, 2007
Marbury Skips Out, Future TBD
More trouble for the Knicks: Captain Stephon Marbury was missing from the morning shootaround in Phoenix, where the Knicks are set to play the Suns tonight. Marbury's apparent absence comes after coach Isiah Thomas may have told him he wouldn't be starting tonight and a Daily News article suggesting that the Knicks were thinking about a Starbury-less team in the future.
Coming off a bad loss in Miami where Marbury threw the ball away in the closing minutes, Thomas told the entire squad that it was on notice. And Marbury was either going to be benched for the start or would have his minutes reduced. Was he channeling Garry Templeton, who once said, "If I ain't startin', I ain't departin'!"? The Post reports that Marbury that he "feels he's best playing 40 minutes a night and would struggle in a non-starting role."
It's unclear where the Brooklyn native, currently in his fourth year with the Knicks, is. Newsday simply calls him AWOL, but he could have flown home to New York. Thomas told reporters, "We hope he's at the game. If not, make no mistake about it, we do want him as a member of this basketball team."
The Daily News' Frank Isola suggests Marbury could be the "fall guy" for the Anucha Browne Sanders incident, given that Marbury allegedly called her a bitch and admitted to luring an intern into a truck for sex. Marbury has also had some odd public moments, from trying to defend Michael Vick's dogfighting charges to a bizarre interview with Bruce Beck.
Update: The Post received two text messages from Marbury, who did in fact fly to New York. Marbury wrote, "I have one thing to say, and that's I got permission to leave. I would never leave my team on my own. What I’m telling you is that I got permission to leave from Isiah. He said I could go home. God bless. Peace be with you."
Photograph of Stephon Marbury after a team practice by Adam Pantozzi/tozzer.net
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The guy's a street thug who is a bit taller and faster than the next guy. Big deal.
Bench him and start looking for somebody that can think about his team rather than himself. Like there's not a lot of talent out there in the ghetto that would love to make his money and buy an Escalade.
File this under "Best Thing to Happen to the Knicks in Years"
Is this little punk really the captain of the team? Jeez. Do you remember when being the captain meant more than just having the most recognizable name or the biggest salary?
Hopefully this is a sign of the Dolans getting some of the Karma they deserve.
I remember when people laughed at the Nets for trading Marbury for Kidd. Hilarious.
1. Allan Houston
2. Larry Brown
3. Starbury
All getting paid millions by the Knicks to sit at their vacation homes. Thanks Isiah.
Maybe he's going to go play in Italy like he said he wanted to.
Of course, you have to trade Marbury away to get better. See the Nets and Suns. He just can't leave on his own.
So Stephon is a no-show tonight...and Knicks buy out the remaining two years on his contract (at say 75% of the $42m). Stephon will hold a press conference to announce he is done with sports and is heading into some new venture (relating to entertainment or fashion).
Come February he will decide that he misses playing ball. Some desparate team picks him up for the playoff run. He plays well enough to get picked up next year.
At the end of the day he will play less and make the same money. Maybe he isn't so stupid.
If the Knicks buy him out, who plays PG?
Yeah, well, I'm grumbling over the fact that his super-cheap but decent-quality Starbury line of athletic shoes sold at Steve & Barry's don't come in wide widths. And it's not like I'm some exceedingly rare freak of nature for wearing wide shoes. By some estimates at least 25% of the population has wide feet.
Even though he will probably never be All Star material, I think Nate Robinson would do a decent job handling point for this disaster of a team for the remainder of the season. At least he plays to win.
Hey McCaffredy you forgot one on your list. Anucha Browne Sanders.
Nate hasn't been looking so hot so far this season but his attitude far excedes Marbury's. He'll do as a stopgap until they (hopefully) find a suitable replacement for Stephon.
This does completely ruin the NY Times' joke that "The Knicks have more shoot-first guards than Blackwater."
remember his "all alone" antics in New Jersey? remember the "I'm Starbury the best point guard in the NBA!"? this dude is the king of delusional. I wonder what Mama Marbury taught him while growing up. If he were white he'd be run out of town by now. It's sad that cause he's black people make excuses for him. black people are like "he's street, that's how it is" and white people are like "he's black, that's how they are, we don't want to be perceived as racists so we aint saying shit about this kooky nutball"