what's the distraction? The only "distraction" is Berman and the rest of the media who keep bringing it up. MDA and Walsh have effectively shut Marbury up. The team is gelling. And playing like a unit.

From the team's perspective, why should they let Marbury have his way one more time?

Watch the games if you haven't noticed what the absence of Curry and Marbury and the infusion of MDA and staff has had on the team.

Posted by Rookie:

I see no reason to pay a man 22M to sit on the bench in a suit and be a constant distraction hoping at some point he will "give in" and accept a few million less. He clearly won't.

can someone please show me where ANYONE in the Knicks organization has 'said' that they would buy him out. I can't think of a single quote from anyone in the organization where they have even used the word 'buyout' in the same sentence as Marbury. Please someone show me where Walsh has discussed buying out Marbury.

It is uncomfortable to see Stephon Marbury now with this club, possibly on his last Knick road trip,. Even during warmup drills, you can see his shot is not falling like it was in preseason. Three weeks riding the bench looks to have put him out of rhythm and maybe not in the same kind of shape he reported in. Hopefully, Donnie Walsh will do the right thing this week when he gets back to talking with Hal Biagas of the Players' Association. Once shootaround ended, Marbury darted for the bus while his teammates lingered to shoot some more or just hang. Marbury is on his own island and it is time to free him. It's been no way to treat the hometown kid that hasn't done one thing wrong since reporting to training camp in the best shape of his career. I hear other players around the league have taken notice.

Posted by Cosmic:

From Berman:

It is uncomfortable to see Stephon Marbury now with this club, possibly on his last Knick road trip,. Even during warmup drills, you can see his shot is not falling like it was in preseason. Three weeks riding the bench looks to have put him out of rhythm and maybe not in the same kind of shape he reported in. Hopefully, Donnie Walsh will do the right thing this week when he gets back to talking with Hal Biagas of the Players' Association. Once shootaround ended, Marbury darted for the bus while his teammates lingered to shoot some more or just hang. Marbury is on his own island and it is time to free him. It's been no way to treat the hometown kid that hasn't done one thing wrong since reporting to training camp in the best shape of his career. I hear other players around the league have taken notice.

Not a distraction, fellas? For a multitude of reason I have laid out I firmly believe this is a very bad distraction. Do we also want other players realizing that Walsh too is an asswipe? Or maybe that no matter who is Pres of the Knicks asswipe Dolan is behind a lot of the moves? Saga's like this are a potential turnoff to other players.

This should have been ended over the summer, it has to be ended right now, before Thanksgiving no doubt about it - that should be enough time for Walsh to try to find a way to trade for 22M worth of absolute trash signed through 2013 or later to satisfy the "don't waste a contract" line of thinking - or to figure out that the best he will do with a buyout is to get Marbury to sign off on taking his contract - the vet minimum which he will get from another club - allowing him to collect his 21.9M in total.


But, no, let's pretend there is no distraction and this is somehow the right way to handle this situation because big bad Marbury ruined the team it was all his fault so let's punish him this is GREAT!


BAH!

Wake up fellas wake up...this is a terrible situation and will worsen until it is concluded!

How this has been allowed to progress this far is beyond any reasonable comprehension - short of people wanting to get revenge on Marbury - for well what exactly? Isiah being an idiot? Yeah, that makes sense to cause all these problems over that. BRILLIANT!


/rant.

GET THIS OVER WITH!!!!

/rant, again.

Because Berman reports it you take it as fact? Hey, all of the other players around the league have noticed that Marbury is on the inactive list. Big fukcing deal. They have also noticed that Antoine Walker is not playing and that Tim Thomas didn't play while in Chicago.

Big fukcin deal.

It's only a distraction cause it bothers you.

Posted by martin:

Cos, if you can't tell the difference between a writer like Berman and the others, there is a problem. Berman, Isola, Adamek, Hahn, Dougherty, Beck. All with clearly different levels of reporting and sensationalizing.

Posted by Cosmic:

Posted by martin:

Cos, if you can't tell the difference between a writer like Berman and the others, there is a problem. Berman, Isola, Adamek, Hahn, Dougherty, Beck. All with clearly different levels of reporting and sensationalizing.

I can but I think they all have their problems. Hahn? You mean the guy that guaranteed three trades this summer that never got close to taking shape? Come'on, he's no more credible than anyone else. Isola? You mean the guy that Dolan exiled? Yeah, I'm sure he's unbiased after that. All these guys have agendas and their writing shows it. All of them get tidbits of info and try to fill in the blanks. All have their own personal opinions and try to turn them into a factual piece of writing. It's not just Berman.

Come'on now... we all know Berman is Marbury's mouthpiece but that doesn't mean he's writing fiction. We know the Knicks and Marbury are at odds and clearly now, only since the NBAPA got involved, trying to come to terms and go their separate ways.

Posted by nysportsfan11:

When the Knicks benched Steph, players shrugged, chalked it up to Steph being Steph, Stupid and Stubborn as usual and kept it moving.

Most players around the league couldn't care less about Marbury. They might "get along" with him in passing and accept him as "part of the brotherhood" and a fellow union member but let's not act like he's Derek Fisher or Chauncey Billups or AI or someone these guys actually respect.

What Berman didn't write was that the kids of '10 played with Steph in Athens and COULD NOT STAND him.

Most players around the league view Steph as a damn lunatic who blew a great opportunity in NY.

Furthermore, D'Antoni has a great rep around the league and your earning potential is limitless.

What might keep certain players away is the MEDIA, not Donnie and Mike. Guys don't want to be scapegoated. But they also know that if they win here, they're ****ing legends for life.

When the Knicks traded Ewing, players around the league took notice. When Dolan pitched a bitch fit about Spree and Camby not giving a **** about his media training courses and then acted like that was more important than winning, players took notice. When the medical staff ****ed up Al and McDyess' situations, players took notice.

THAT's the type of **** players took notice of around the league that painted the Knicks in a bad light.

The flipside?:

When Steph left KG for no reason other than being a year too late and having to adhere to a new CBA that wouldn't get him "KG money", players took notice. When Steph wrote "All Alone" on his kicks, players took notice. When Steph's family intimidated half the Nets and Knicks organizations, players took notice. When Steph exiled coaches in 4 different cities, got players traded and gave the silent treatment to former friends in the locker room for weeks at a time, only to one day flip again as if nothing ever happened, players took notice. When Bassy came into the league and distanced himself from his own cousin, players took notice. When Steph became a YouTube classic, players took notice. When former teammates went elsewhere and had a story to tell about their days with Steph running the organization and turning one of the greatest little men to ever play the game into a bitch with no backbone, players took notice.

Players talk, sure. But they gossip about EVERYTHING. And the majority of them think Steph is just on something and wasted Hall-of-Fame talent.