Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by bettalaylow:

I'm loath to turn steph into a sympathetic figure, but I'm starting to wonder if Isiah isn't throwing Steph under the bus to save his own ass. You know, set him up a little bit, focus the fans attention on him rather than Isiah, give the sharks a little something to chew on, then cut him loose (trade or waive him) and look like the hero in the process.
I wouldn't put it past Isiah. remember when he first arrived he spoke of riding the subways and 'getting in touch' with the fans, etc. He seemed to know our thoughts and he'd regurgitate them back to us in many ways. Knowing we hated Layden's squad he said there was a disease on the team he needed to rid of us, he was brutal toward Chaney, and when after Shandon came up short for us as Houston's replacement in the playoffs and the fans were bitter and vile towards him, that's when Isiah chose to buy him out.

So routinely Isiah takes the pulse of the fans and serves them a head on the platter when he thinks that will win support, and with the masses clearly tired of Marbury, and with his own job on the line, he might be throwing the luggage overboard to keep his ship afloat.

I wanted Steph off the team and I still do but not at the expense of allowing Isiah to retain his position. Isiah again is showing his true colors the guy has absolutely no loyalty and only cares about saving his own career.

Even though I cann't stand the guy what Isiah is doing to Steph is wrong. He's getting penalized for the same things that almost everyone on the Knicks roster does. To make matters worse Isiah just flat out lies on the players first with the "Francis came to me about coming off the bench" now with the "Oh Steph was under the weather" clearly people this man has absolutely no intergrity or professionalism and does not belong as a NBA COACH OR ANY FRONT OFFICE JOBS PERIOD

...you spin me right round baby right round...like a record baby right round round round...

[Edited by - djsunyc on 11-26-2006 1:17 PM]

Does anybody know who this group is and what song this is???/

Dead or Alive is the name of the band.

Posted by TMS:

BlueSeats, i think what makes your theory off base is the fact that both Isiah & Marbury have gone on record several times this year saying they want Marbury to be more aggressive & to look for his shot... also why would Marbury want to embarass himself in front of the NY fans by playing like garbage unless he was trying to send some kind of message to Isiah & the rest of the team? it serves him no good to play the way he's been playing this year... he's not even being productive on the floor in the minutes he's playing... last night i watched the entire game on DVR & focused solely on Marbury during the time he was on the floor... he played hard for about 2 minutes to start off the game, then when it became clear that the entire offense was going to be run through Curry in the low post, he stopped trying altogether & just dribbled upcourt, dished off to Crawford or Francis, & jogged over to the other end of the floor & stood there... no back cuts, no running around to get open... nothing... that went on for much of the time he was on the floor... how can anyone blame Isiah for benching this guy when he's not even trying?

Yeah, i don't know if the theory holds water or not either, it's the lack of communication between the two that seems so puzzling. the other night Richardson took no shots and he had Isiah on the sidelines apologizing to him and telling him he's gonna fix things. Here with Steph I feel like we're right back to last year with brown with steph saying something along the lines of "I don't need to talk to him, he needs to come talk to me if he wants something different."

It's just amazing to me that Marbury has wanted isiah coaching since he got here, and they supposedly talk nearly everyday, yet marbury's role is little understood to him? Just this summer Marbury was talking with bravado about how Isiah would utilize him:

"By me being a captain of the team and point guard, it puts things in perspective on what [Thomas is] trying to do," Marbury said.

However, I also recall as late as the start of training camp marbury and isiah had not spoken yet as to what the offense would look like. so really marbury wanted Isiah to coach simply cause he assumed he'd get preferential treatment from his pal, not because he thought the plan would suit his needs for "freedom" (which i guess implies a green light to dodge practices and ignore the system on both ends.)

So it's amazing to me that this collision of expectations is taking place before our eyes in real time and wasn't addressed behind closed doors well in advance. I posited another theory in another thread that perhaps Isiah was "protecting' Steph from the surly fans, but that doesn't jive with the apparent growing animosity between them.

It's all very interesting, in a train wreck sort of way...

[Edited by - blueseats on 11-27-2006 11:45 AM]

Posted by TMS:

Posted by BlueSeats:
It's all very interesting, in a train wreck sort of way...

yeah, i know what u mean... u just can't take your eyes away.

I know I can't. This stuff is great.