Don't Confuse Me With Marbury Out This Bitch

About the lack of posting around here, trying to find time to write a well thought-out post these days is like trying to find time to study exactly what it is that's wrong with the New York Knicks.

Speaking of....

So Isiah Lord and the Knicks fined Stephon Marbury today for missing last night's shootaround and game against the Phoenix Suns, which they went on to lose by the way - how surprising. There was speculation that Steph left the team and headed back to NYC because he heard that Zeke was benching him and limiting his minutes. Others say he went AWOL (or, he went Steph. Whichever way you want to put it) because the Knicks are discussing a long overdue buyout or trade to ship the PG (SG?) out of the Big Apple.

(Me personally, I think he left because he didn't want the embarrassment of facing yet another team that got better almost as soon as they parted with him, but I digress.)

Who knows? But, all I know is that whatever team Marbury is considered the leader of, will forever underachieve. Or just not be any kind of good. Those are the only options. The worst part is that he's due $42 million over the next two years, when his contract expires in the summer of 2009. (Helllloooooo Italy!)

Don't get me wrong, I used to be a huge Starbury fan. He was even one of my favorite players up until the 2004 playoffs, when I realized that it was not his teammates or his coaches or the weather; it was him. He's just not a winner. And he's definitely not a winning point guard.

He squandered his one true chance to be part of a building block to a winning team, in Minnesota, and he ruined that to be the overpaid man in New Jersey. Stephon was never able to do anything with the talent in Jersey (you know, the same group that Jason Kidd, who was traded straight up for Marbury, took to the NBA Finals two straight years) and was shipped to Phoenix for the aforementioned Kidd.

After one playoff season in the desert (2003) and a horrible start to the '03-04 season, he got his ultimate wish: to be traded to the Knicks. It seemed like a great idea at the time; kid from Coney Island, Brooklyn comes back home to play point guard for one of the most storied franchises in history, and he was brought back by one of the greatest point guards in history (Thomas) to play for one of the greatest pgs ever (then coach Lenny Wilkins).

Sure, everyone overlooked his monstrous contract (especially Thomas, who seems to do that pretty often) and the fact that he never made his teammates better, and they all enjoyed the lovefest. The Knicks were relevant again, and winning.

Now, it's 2007 and the Knicks have their most talented team on paper in 13 years. Problem is, they don't have the on-court/off-court leader to maximize that talent. If they are discussing a buyout for Marbury, their first thought should go to building cap space to make a run at Kobe Bryant in a year, Chris Paul or Deron Williams (both of which would catapult New York into elite status) when their rookie deals are through, or LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the big 2010.

As long as Stephon Marbury is not on that team, I'll definitely be rooting for them.