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bobs3304
Posts: 24827
Alba Posts: 3
Joined: 7/5/2005
Member: #948
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listen here's the hard reality:
Marbury has always (and will always) be under the impression that he's primetime. He KNOWS he's always the best player on the team, and that if you just gave him just a little help, he can do the rest.
But the problem is that, who's to say Kwame is gonna be THAT much better than Nazr or Kurt Thomas. The only way we can win with Marbury, is by landing a primetime big man. Now, I'm completely ignoring the roster hangup we have with Crawford needing minutes and there not being enough to go around.
Marbury is a fan-favorite, the chosen one. He's 20 and 8, he's shake and bake, he's money. Well, at least in the first 3 quarters...
Point is, Marbury is all those things and more, except a franchise player. He's a SG stuck in a PG's body. The offense becomes stagnant with a shoot-first PG, and only Isiah was able to juggle his scoring ability while making his teammates better. It's more than just assists, it's how you get your teammates involved. Isiah believed in those guys, and they believed in him. He could take over, he could play D, he could do everything, but above all, he was in union with what Chuck Daly and the rest of the guys believed in. They were a TEAM.
With us, it seems like we cling onto Marbury. He says, "I got this." And therefore we rely on him for most of the offense. Does he set up teammates - yes. Does he drive and create fouls - yes. Does he shoot a high % - yes. Does he play hard - yes.
That looks good on paper, but players don't win playoff games, teams do. Michael Jordan couldn't do **** until Doug Collins convinced him to trust his teammates, and when Scottie Pippen came along.
I'm not expecting a Scottie Pippen to come along, let alone a Horace Grant. But Jordan was in his young-20's when he started believing in the players around him. Marbury, unfortunately, has never really had a knack for making his teammates BETTER and trusting them. If anything, he has a history of separating himself from them and feeding the ball to guys when he sees fit - not going out of his way to propel the game of everyone else. I'm not sure if you'd call in selfishness, maybe just the fact that he's not great, just really good. It's the difference b/w Nash and Marbury. Some of you are so held up on statistics, and you forget to realize that wins and losses are what really matter. And even more than that, Nash interacts with his teammates, he cares. He wants them to do better than him, he believes in them. They feed off of his positive attitude. He always looks for them before himself. Marbury's famous quote is "Shoot when in doubt. That's how I look at it."
Forget about cap space, and the glut at guard. Forget about all that. When I watch Marbury, I look at a guy that can never be better than his best. I see a guy that, without the 20 and 8, he's nothing more than a role player. I see a guy that can never lead, a guy that seems more comfortable walking the ball up and using the pick and roll time after time, instead of looking for a better way. I see a guy that denies he can never win, and then personally ask Isiah to "get Shaq."
I see a guy that wants to win, but would never do everything it takes to. I see a guy that doesn't realize it takes a journey to get to the promised land. Problem is - Marbury has been on 1 journey too many...
Will we lose even more by dealing Marbury - most likely an emphatic yes. Why? B/c we need to get used to relying on the team concept rather than one player. Crawford would be a excellent replacement, if not for his size and handle, then b/c his teammates actually feed off of him. Call it what you want, but Marbury's skills are what precede him, not his leadership, not clutchness, not his heart.
And what happens if we don't trade him? - we might win. We might win alot. In fact, we might make the playoffs, and maybe, just maybe, make it to the 2nd Round. But what then? We'll lose. Why? B/c, if anything, we'd be built in the same exact way as Washington was this past season. After that - Marbury will be 30, soon to be 31, and just about past his prime. The beatig he takes night in - night out will take a toll on his knees. Sweetney will be expiring, and might look for an extension. Timmy will be gone. All of a sudden, you're missing a starting-caliber SF and possibly a young, able PF. You're star player, the same player that Minnesota, NJ, and Pheonix all relied on, will be another year older, and not all that much closer to a championship. Meanwhile, the cap will be down to around 100 Million, (b/c of this year's MLE), and we're still no better than Chicago or Milwaukee, both of whom will be at or around the cap.
Trading Marbury gives us the chance to get younger, stay competitive, but all with the knowledge that rebuilding means RE-BUILDING, not re-hashing...
Let's do this the right way.
DLee is the best thing to happen to NY in Isiah's 4 year tenure.
And that alone, though a positive on the radar, is sad as hell.
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7/9/2005 5:16 PM