ducks
11-19-2005, 09:59 AM
It's time for Marbury to be dealt
Saturday, November 19th, 2005
DENVER - You can just imagine Isiah Thomas' face yesterday when he went on-line in Maui and read accounts of what was going on here with his deeply troubled team.
Thomas' trademark smile, the one that was on display in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, must have turned into an angry scowl. Only nine games into the season, the Knicks' president has a first-rate fiasco on his hands, with Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury at each other's throats.
Thomas was in Hawaii to watch college teams play games and practice at the Maui Invitational and wasn't talking to the media. But it would be smart for him to start looking more closely at all the point guards in Maui. Because it's clear that he should be in the market for one.
Marbury needs to be traded. We all know the hurdles that have to be cleared to get that accomplished. The $70-plus million left on his contract. His reputation for improving teams - after he leaves. The negative effect he has on his teammates, and on his team's won-lost record. The list is endless.
But he's got to go. The Brown program, which continued last night with another loss against the Nuggets, isn't going to make any progress if Marbury continues to buck his coach's system. If anything, his continued presence will prevent the team from going forward.
Marbury has made it clear that if the Knicks keep losing - they're 2-7 now after going 2-4 on the West Coast trip - he won't be happy doing things Brown's way. So it's going to only get uglier because this team isn't going to find the win column many times. Not in this present state.
Someone asked Brown after the 95-86 defeat if he knows more about his team.
"I know a lot," he said.
Such as? Brown looked down and didn't answer, but he didn't have to. He knows he's got a point guard who doesn't want to play point guard. Not his way, anyway. Last night, Brown didn't think much of the way Marbury went about his business in the second half, when the Knicks self-destructed with turnovers. He sat Marbury the final 6:31. Was he thinking about tomorrow's game against Portland at the Garden?
"No," Brown said. "I thought about getting back in the game."
Because with Marbury in the game, trying to run the team, things were a mess. Marbury again looked totally lost.
The Brown-Marbury marriage, doomed from Day 1, is not going to change for the better. Not with Marbury poisoning the waters with selfish drivel, and not with Brown pouncing on his every public criticism. Nothing is more sacred to Garden CEO Jim Dolan than his minions "being on the same page." This has to be the No. 1 nightmare at Two Penn Plaza. It can change only when Marbury leaves.
Let's remember, Brown is 100% right here. Even when he gives up Marbury at every turn for being the me-first player he is. Yesterday's gem came when he revealed that from the start, Marbury asked to be used just like Allen Iverson. He never wanted to be the point guard.
Then, responding to Marbury's complaints about Brown not letting him be aggressive, Brown had this dandy: "If it is about one person, I think he should run track."
Perhaps Marbury should try it. Because he can't run the Knicks. In private, Thomas has to be in agreement with his coach. Thomas did Marbury the biggest favor of his life by hiring the one coach who could turn his mediocre career around, if any coach could. Look at the thanks Isiah got in return: A player who staged a mutiny in Los Angeles when he didn't run plays that Brown called from the bench.
Isiah has to know that moving Marbury is best for the health and well-being of the franchise. Sure, it would be a major blow to his ego. But he's also smart enough to realize that Brown is the key to returning the Knicks to the playoffs. Not Marbury.
Marbury might be the very last to know that. He told ESPN the other day in Los Angeles that Thomas never would move him because of his special relationship with the Knicks' president. But you got the sense listening to Thomas that he is beginning to shift away from Marbury. Anyone, he said, could be traded.
"I make no bones about it," he said. "I am loyal to winning. I'm not necessarily loyal to a player or a coach. My job is to be loyal to the win."
But his No. 1 job right now should be getting rid of Stephon Marbury.
Saturday, November 19th, 2005
DENVER - You can just imagine Isiah Thomas' face yesterday when he went on-line in Maui and read accounts of what was going on here with his deeply troubled team.
Thomas' trademark smile, the one that was on display in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, must have turned into an angry scowl. Only nine games into the season, the Knicks' president has a first-rate fiasco on his hands, with Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury at each other's throats.
Thomas was in Hawaii to watch college teams play games and practice at the Maui Invitational and wasn't talking to the media. But it would be smart for him to start looking more closely at all the point guards in Maui. Because it's clear that he should be in the market for one.
Marbury needs to be traded. We all know the hurdles that have to be cleared to get that accomplished. The $70-plus million left on his contract. His reputation for improving teams - after he leaves. The negative effect he has on his teammates, and on his team's won-lost record. The list is endless.
But he's got to go. The Brown program, which continued last night with another loss against the Nuggets, isn't going to make any progress if Marbury continues to buck his coach's system. If anything, his continued presence will prevent the team from going forward.
Marbury has made it clear that if the Knicks keep losing - they're 2-7 now after going 2-4 on the West Coast trip - he won't be happy doing things Brown's way. So it's going to only get uglier because this team isn't going to find the win column many times. Not in this present state.
Someone asked Brown after the 95-86 defeat if he knows more about his team.
"I know a lot," he said.
Such as? Brown looked down and didn't answer, but he didn't have to. He knows he's got a point guard who doesn't want to play point guard. Not his way, anyway. Last night, Brown didn't think much of the way Marbury went about his business in the second half, when the Knicks self-destructed with turnovers. He sat Marbury the final 6:31. Was he thinking about tomorrow's game against Portland at the Garden?
"No," Brown said. "I thought about getting back in the game."
Because with Marbury in the game, trying to run the team, things were a mess. Marbury again looked totally lost.
The Brown-Marbury marriage, doomed from Day 1, is not going to change for the better. Not with Marbury poisoning the waters with selfish drivel, and not with Brown pouncing on his every public criticism. Nothing is more sacred to Garden CEO Jim Dolan than his minions "being on the same page." This has to be the No. 1 nightmare at Two Penn Plaza. It can change only when Marbury leaves.
Let's remember, Brown is 100% right here. Even when he gives up Marbury at every turn for being the me-first player he is. Yesterday's gem came when he revealed that from the start, Marbury asked to be used just like Allen Iverson. He never wanted to be the point guard.
Then, responding to Marbury's complaints about Brown not letting him be aggressive, Brown had this dandy: "If it is about one person, I think he should run track."
Perhaps Marbury should try it. Because he can't run the Knicks. In private, Thomas has to be in agreement with his coach. Thomas did Marbury the biggest favor of his life by hiring the one coach who could turn his mediocre career around, if any coach could. Look at the thanks Isiah got in return: A player who staged a mutiny in Los Angeles when he didn't run plays that Brown called from the bench.
Isiah has to know that moving Marbury is best for the health and well-being of the franchise. Sure, it would be a major blow to his ego. But he's also smart enough to realize that Brown is the key to returning the Knicks to the playoffs. Not Marbury.
Marbury might be the very last to know that. He told ESPN the other day in Los Angeles that Thomas never would move him because of his special relationship with the Knicks' president. But you got the sense listening to Thomas that he is beginning to shift away from Marbury. Anyone, he said, could be traded.
"I make no bones about it," he said. "I am loyal to winning. I'm not necessarily loyal to a player or a coach. My job is to be loyal to the win."
But his No. 1 job right now should be getting rid of Stephon Marbury.