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A discussion of hoops, culture and philosophy — between two Philly brothas.
THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN, BITCHES.
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5 comments:
He didn’t get a fair shake? In what sense?
Now, we can only go on what we know, which isn’t much. But here is what we know:
1. Marbury has never won shit
2. Marbury is waaay overpaid
3. During the disastrous Isiah-as-GM era, Marbury was linked to a panorama of lewd and lascivious acts (“Truck party” anyone?)
4. D’Antoni is generally loved by every player he’s ever coached, except Marbury
5. Larry Brown improved every team he ever coached, except one: the Knicks (and the friction between he and Marbury is well-documented)
6. Not a single one of Marbury’s teammates is coming to his aid right now
Marbury claims that he’s a star athlete who was willing to deliver whatever his coach wanted from him. He complains that his coach disrespected him, lied to him, refused to play him. He further went on to call out his teammates, saying that they shot him in his own foxhole (or whatever his clumsy metaphor was).
Here’s what Marbury has never done: Taken a hard look in the mirror and seriously considered whether he might be the one who brought all this shit down on him. Seriously, at any point in your life when you’ve known a person who lashed out at everyone around him/her, was it ever NOT the fault of the complainer?
Now, it goes without saying that the Knicks organization did this to itself. The question is, What should they do now?
He won’t negotiate a buyout figure? He demands the full salary, really? He won’t take $10M so he can go and play somewhere else? Fine, then F it. Here’s what I do if I had my druthers: give him his full $20.4M — which he DOES have coming to him (a contract is a contract, after all) — but make him suffer as much as possible for it. Keep him on the roster and making him sit on the bench in street clothes every night. Hell, he may even throw a fit once or twice, which would allow me to suspend his ass and steal back some of that wasted money.
But it’s rare that one get his due druthers. The organization needs to do what’s best for the TEAM, which is to just let him go. He’s a cancer, and this team has a lot of good young players who are just learning how to come together and win. The front office made a huge mistake giving Marbury that contract (he was the same guy back in Phoenix, and only got worse once in NY), and now they have to sleep in the bed they made.
So swallow your pride, cut him a check, and send him away, away, AWAY.
I disagree. And, since when did you start having a problem with truck parties?
You are correct that Marbury seems to be one of the worst human beings to ever play in the NBA. He is universally loathed and ridiculed at once. And maybe the issue is not really whether or not he got a fair shake. I mean, getting paid $21 M to do anything is a fair shake in my book; especially to sit on a bench for 2 hours 3 nights a week. I guess my question is whether the Knicks organization has honest with Steph or the fans about its approach. Also, has there been any clear, consistent message that's been given to Marbury. You may argue that he deserves neither, but that's a different issue.
He played in preseason. By all accounts he was told he would have a chance to compete for playing time. He siad he was willing to play whatever role he was asked to since he's in a contract year, and he knows he's got to earn back D'Antoni's trust if he wants ot get any burn. Then? He was placed on the inactive list infinitum. Now, last week the coach asked him to suit up?!? This is where I really get lost on the logic. If you tell someone "eff you, you're not wanted here" that's a clear, consistent message. When you then turn around and ask them to do you a favor, I think you have then become a punk and a hypocrite. Again, I'm not arguing whether or not Steph is a prick. It's clear. I'm not even arguing whether or not he deserves to be treated poorly. Punitively, we may say 'yes'. My question is, how much responsibility do the Knicks have for this situation? And what has Steph done (in this particular situation) to deserve this treatment? Abusing him, wasting everybody's time and attention and hurting the team because of his past sins doens't seem like a reasonable approach business-wise or on any level.
A valid argument. But this is why I prefaced my argument by saying that we only know what we know, and have to speculate accordingly. And again, we know, historically, that D’Antoni has been both a good coach generally, and a coach loved by his players specifically. We also know, historically, that Steph has been a cancer who has left every team he’s ever touched worse off.
I’m not arguing that he should be punished for past sins. I’m arguing that based on history, we can only speculate that D’Antoni is probably in the right here, and Marbury in the wrong. We have no idea what happened between D’Antoni and Marbury during the last five months — but I’d have to guess that D’Antoni, particularly as a new coach with a crap team in THE biggest market in the world with one of the most vocal and caustic fan bases, made even-tempered judgments that he thought were best for the team. And anything Marbury says about the situation in defense of himself has to be taken with a healthy grain of salt.
(Plus, let’s face it: Steph is just flat-out crazy. Cuckoo for cocoa puffs. Seriously, what if YOU had to coach him? Can you even imagine?)
BTW, I changed my mind about cutting him a check and releasing him. Screw that. I like what Dolan and Walsh have done here: ordered him to stay away from the team, but kept him under contract.
At least now they have the flexibility to trade him, or let his contract expire at year’s end and open up that cap space. And if they want to be spiteful, they can take their phones off the hook, not even consider any trades, and just force him to sit out the year.
(But their best move, which is more than possible, would be to trade him to Dallas for Stackhouse — who has been on the block for weeks now, and who’s contract expires just before Summer 2010 — DeSagana Diop, who’s a solid center on the cheap, and a first-round draft pick. That would fill out their roster a bit, and give them the cap flexibility to pursue another valuable piece to compliment LeBron.)
-G
P.S. And dude, I haven’t had a truck party since 1992. Married, Yo.
So you're against truck parties now that you're married. I see.
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