I was wrong, Marbury is clearly a motivator

it keeps getting better:

excerpt from Starbury Wars: Brown Strikes Back

Brown was critical of Marbury's defense in Monday's 108-96 loss to the Nuggets and suggested he was going to start handing out minutes to "whoever tries" to defend. With 20 games left in this miserable season, starting with Wednesday night's against Atlanta, it's at least a possibility that Brown could bench Marbury and start Steve Francis at point guard.

"We watched the film and it's amazing how bad we defended," Brown said, "and a lot of it started on the perimeter. We've got to get better doing that and that will determine playing time."

Brown praised the defensive effort of Quentin Richardson and Jamal Crawford, saying, "Jamal, to me, is becoming our best perimeter defender. When did we think that would happen?" He has been generally positive about Francis' effort. That leaves Marbury, who left early Tuesday and did not speak to reporters after practice.

Asked if he thought Marbury was .focusing on his offense and ignoring the coach's pleas to make defense the priority, Brown said, "There's no doubt in my mind he is."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spknix0315,0,1223640.story?coll=ny-knicks-print

I really believe Marbs last Starbury stunt is to get traded if he could...Notice he said next season he is going back to being Starbury..

The Knicks are expected to shop Marbury aggressively this summer.

best news i've heard all year.

Posted by McK1:

Brown Launches a Full-Court Rant

By HOWARD BECK
Published: March 15, 2006

GREENBURGH, N.Y., March 14 — Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury have vastly different ideas about what ails the Knicks. Logically, one of them is wrong. Brown is pretty sure it is not him.

The debate could go on for months or years, but Brown all but declared it over on Tuesday, delivering a striking and harsh rebuke to Marbury's recent remarks. It was Brown's strongest response and his angriest, and perhaps his most honest appraisal since he became the Knicks' coach last summer.

"Look, I've been coaching how many years?" said Brown, whose Hall-of-Fame career spans three decades. "I never left a team in worse shape than I got it. Not one. Now think about that. Think about me and think about the guy who's talking," he said, referring to Marbury. "I never left a team in worse shape. Never asked anything of my players any different than I'm doing right now. Think about that. Think about that.

"So the bottom line is, I want us to rebound, defend, share the ball, play hard. That's all. If you can't do that, if that's not important enough to you, it's not on me. It's not on me. And you owe it to your teammates to do that every single night if you care about the right things. We're 17-45, all right? So we've got to figure out a way to get better."

Brown's rant came in response to Marbury's recent plea for more freedom on offense. Citing the Knicks' poor record, Marbury asserted that playing Brown's way has not worked. He declared he would return to his own style next season and go back to being Starbury, the nickname he coined for himself.

On Monday, Brown generally deflected the issue but said, "I'm hopeful that he'll step up and be Starbury." That magnanimity was gone by Tuesday, when Brown was peppered with questions about Marbury for a second straight day.

His impromptu speech left little doubt that if the relationship cannot be mended, Brown does not intend to be the one to go. The Knicks are expected to shop Marbury aggressively this summer.

The Knicks cut short their practice and let veterans leave early, and Marbury was gone when reporters entered the gym.

Brown said he was not concerned about the effect of a team captain openly questioning his coaching.

"Look, I'll take my credibility," Brown said. "I ain't worried about my credibility. We're 17-45. You want to say because we don't have freedom, that's why we're losing, that's fine. You can say that all you want. But the reality is, we foul more than any team in the league. Since the fifth week of the season, we're the second-worst field-goal percentage defensive team in the world. We turn the ball over more than any team in the league. We're close to the fewest blocked shots of any team in the league.

"Now, if you want freedom? Now how are you going to have freedom with those stats? You think about that. That means, 'I ain't thinking about all those things that really were relevant. I ain't thinking about any of those things.' So, if we would get blocked shots and steals and stops, then we could talk about other things."

Although it was Marbury's complaints that set him off, Brown has been making similar statements all season, and they have been directed teamwide. He has practically begged his players for more defense, to no avail.

On Tuesday, Brown said he would start basing playing time on who is showing the most defensive conscience. Those who do not at least "try to defend," in Brown's words, will sit. It seems unlikely that he would bench Marbury, the Knicks' best player, but Brown clearly is displeased by Marbury's line of thinking.

Asked if Marbury was raising the wrong issue by talking about offensive freedom, Brown said, "There's no doubt in my mind he is." Brown also noted that he could not keep Marbury and Steve Francis on the court together in Monday's loss to Denver because "we didn't guard anybody last night with that backcourt."

Finally, Brown took issue with the notion that Marbury could be given the same offensive license that Brown gave Allen Iverson in Philadelphia. The 76ers made the N.B.A. finals in 2001.

"Philly got stops, got blocks, got steals, one of the best defensive teams in the league, every night," Brown said.

Although Brown and Iverson feuded throughout their time together, Brown said their relationship also bore no comparison to his relationship with Marbury. The problems with Iverson stemmed mostly from his tardiness and his practice habits, not from his play.

"I didn't have things on the court" with Iverson, Brown said. "On the court, he tried to win every game."

Brown said that he and Iverson never did resolve their differences, but they managed to coexist, collaborate and win a lot of games.

"But he came out every game trying to win as hard as he possibly could," Brown said of Iverson, the most valuable player of the regular season in 2001. "Played hurt, broken down, competed every single night, and we had a team around him that accepted what he could do. And they all knew that every single night he was trying to win the game."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/sports/basketball/15knicks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Larry can say all he wants, because that's the only thing he is being doing since he came here: to talk a lot of trash instead of coaching. Yes, we have to play defense, blabla, that's true but HE has failed in trying to teach that to his players and what is worse, the way we play offensively is terrible considering the players we have. All this credibility thing is pathetic but it does not matter because after the next game he will say "I have to coach them better" and now he is modest person again.
If he thinks he is a great coach he should addapt himself to the players he has, and not the other way, and he should be embarrased for the way we are playing.
Marbury should have kept his mouth closed, but he was right, when we won 6 games he played well and scored a lot. It is simple, we need Marbury to score in order to win games and Larry is a complete idiot for trying to prove the opposite.
Can you imagine what would be Phoenix record if Larry were the coach?

To me Larry is a good coach, but NOT for this team, and certainly it is easier to change a coach than change an entire roster.

Posted by joec32033:

Larry can say all he wants, because that's the only thing he is being doing since he came here: to talk a lot of trash instead of coaching. Yes, we have to play defense, blabla, that's true but HE has failed in trying to teach that to his players and what is worse, the way we play offensively is terrible considering the players we have. All this credibility thing is pathetic but it does not matter because after the next game he will say "I have to coach them better" and now he is modest person again.
If he thinks he is a great coach he should addapt himself to the players he has, and not the other way, and he should be embarrased for the way we are playing.
Marbury should have kept his mouth closed, but he was right, when we won 6 games he played well and scored a lot. It is simple, we need Marbury to score in order to win games and Larry is a complete idiot for trying to prove the opposite.
Can you imagine what would be Phoenix record if Larry were the coach?

To me Larry is a good coach, but NOT for this team, and certainly it is easier to change a coach than change an entire roster.

The thing is can anyone win with this roster? All Larry is saying is he wants the knicks o do the intngibles...when your leader is saying "I can't so that"(paraphrasing but that is what he is saying) to basic fundamentals of team basketball, how can you possibly have a winning team?

Yes, Larry has been all year saying the we don't play defense, we don't block shots, we don't play with effort, and you know what? he is totally right, the problem is that HE is responsable for this and he is fooling absolutely everybody trying to excuse himself by blaming everybody.
The proof of this is that recent topic saying that the Bobcats had a better roster than ours. If you think this roster is a 15-44 team, then ok, we simply have different opinions, but if you don't, then Larry is the main responsable for this mess.

BTW, I did not mean I would like out team to play like the Suns, I just asked what would the Suns doing with Larry as their head coach. I just asked that because Larry only knows one way to coach, and that is not what great coachs should do. We certainly have to play much better defense, but we CAN'T base our game in that. We simply can't, just like the Suns can't do it.
If he can't get the best of the players he has, then he has failed, that is just my point of view.

Lenny begged them to play tougher D. They slacked he's gone.
Herb begged them to play tougher D. They slacked and hired LB
LB is begging them to play tougher D. They arent. We are getting new players.

Lenny and Herb did better than Larry has so far.

Keep blaming Larry guys. Its all his fault. How about watching the games. How about watching Curry and these guys just watch as the ball is in the air instead of looking to body someone. Watch the open 3's the opposition gets, the dunks on offensive rebounds, the fouls because our guys arent hustling on D, the turnovers because we are lazt with the ball.

The Knicks are not good. I agree.

Holfresh, whoever.. who's the winner? Wheres the star that isnt free to play at the star level they are used to??? Seems to me like none of these guys have won crap. Seems to me that THEIR way doesnt work in this league.

That's not the point... The point is LB's job is to get the most possible from his team and this season he has gotten the least possible.

If LB was putting this squad in a position to win and they were simply blowing it that would be one thing. (Lenny Wilkens did this for the most part.) I can't see that he has put the knicks in a position to win with his lineup antics and by playing a style contrary to their abilities.

If he were developing the youth that might be another thing, but as should be evident to all, he has no interest in young players.

Adding on top of that his savaging player after player in the press (Not just Stephon) is just wrong, and of course it demoralizes a team after a while.

oohah

oohah...Lenny and Herb had guys whe actually played defense. There is a difference.

Yes they did, but the Knicks were no great defensive team overall the past 2 seasons. They were short, and their offensive ability was poor to average. I'd have to say this team has more total talent even though it is poorly matched.

In addition, LB knew what he had when he took the job. It is not fair for him to act like the capabilities of these players are a surprise to him.

oohah

I've not seen Larry question capabilities...only effort.

The questioning of effort by anyone on the Knicks including LB is a fairly recent phenomenon that developed over the latest losing stretch.

Before that he just publicly questioned their intelligence.

oohah