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BlueSeats
Posts: 27272
Alba Posts: 41
Joined: 11/6/2005
Member: #1024
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I wrote this on another board, my apologies to those who've seen it before:
Good post bballer, I enjoyed the passion behind it.
I see two main points within it.
1. LB threw the team under a bus.
2. Steph gets unfairly singled out.
What exactly constitutes throwing the team under a bus? We were 17-39 since Steph declared himself the best last season and then lost Sweets, JYD and Kurt. Curry replaced Sweets, but no one replaced Kurt who was our best shooter, best defender, best leader, only two-way player, and the guy most within and outside the organization referred to as our "glue". So from and awful defensive squad with woeful shooting and non-existent leadership was removed the one guy who represented the best the team had to offer in each area and you have what we are now: unglued.
And what has Larry done that validates sucky effort? can someone remind me of his worst insults? I remember "I don't have a head out there" that was broadly directed at Steph, Jamal and Nate, and a very truthful statement that these guys don't know how to close games, as evidenced by all our poor endings of last year.
Then he called Ariza "delusional" when Ariza told the press he didn't know why he wasn't getting to start. Larry said if after all he was told by himself and the coaching staff he still didn't get why he was being taken out then UCLA must not be a great school.
Harsh? A little. Enough for the team to quit? Please...
The other thing that's said to be sooo egregious is too many lineup changes. Well consider how many were caused by injuries to Curry, James, Steph, and Q; and then trying to acclimate new guys like Barnes and Woods, Jalen and Francis; and then giving the rookies their chances...it adds up. And it's not like every change was monumental. Often it amounted to nothing more than Malik starting at SF vs Lee. Largely Marbury, Q and Curry were guaranteed starts when healthy
If swapping out one position a night is going to kill the team, it's not a strong team to begin with. The challenge was for each guy to come ready to play each and every game. Well booo hooo, sorry for the entitlement princes who don't get 40 mins regardless of effort, and sorry for the guys who don't get their millions for little more than waiving a towel from the bench, sorry everyone gets to contribute.
Then from Larry what else have we gotten? A fair amount of criticism, but also praise. How many times did he call Marbury phenomenal during our 6 game win streak? Many. Now you keep praising the consistency of Steph's effort, but even the most casual viewer must have seen a totally different level of commitment from Steph during that win streak. It was some of the best playmaking and intangaibles of his career, and something not seen before or since.
And I'm told it was provoked by an ultimatum to get with the program or be traded. THAT was the source of Steph's effort. That's not a good enough reason to try, that's not gonna take us where we need to go. But we see where things could go when the effort and commitment is there. Pity it only lasted 7 games.
Now it's true, steph got taken out of that mode by the injury, but upon his return does he ask to go back to that lineup to resume it's success? NO!!! he uses it as an opportunity to undermine the coach by suggesting they run NO set plays!!! He proceeds to break plays, and we give up a 71 point 1st half after getting scorched by I think Arenas, and Marbury stays in the locker room to nurse his shoulder for the second half. That was his momentous return to the team ball that won 6 straight.
The only time we saw another uptick in effort was after Dolan came in to tell the team a mutiny will not succeed and they have to keep trying. We win two straight but Marbury has to take the air out of it saying he's sick of being some other dude and is biding his time to be Starbury again.
The dude undermines the coach every time something gets going. The same guy who shortly after Brown was hired said: "I'm not going to change my game, I'm still going to play the way I've always played"
And these are the words from one of Steph's former teammates before the season began "Steph is going to say all the right things about playing for Coach Brown, because Steph will tell you anything you want to hear if it benefits Steph," a former Marbury teammate told me yesterday. "But if anyone thinks that marriage is going to work, well, they've never played with Steph, or coached him."
So Larry knew Steph was gonna be a tough nut to crack to get him to change his game willingly. Now I don't recall when Brown first insulted Steph, but I do know it was just 8 games into the season that Steph was claiming playing browns way was too tough for him ("hardest 10 assists I ever got in my life") and saying he'd only do it if it results in wins. Do you think if he doesn't want to do it, and only will if it results in wins, that he's going to play for wins? No, and that's what we saw, poor effort and foot dragging aside from the brief period after the ultimatum.
It looks to me like marbury has been the one throwing the season under the bus to to prove Brown wrong, and THAT is what gives him his special status. Ask yourself if Steph continued to play at the level of the win streak if his future here, and Browns, and Isiah's, would be at the same level of jeopardy that they are today? Of course they wouldn't, and that's why we find ourselves where we are.
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4/3/2006 9:33 AM