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djsunyc
Posts: 44929
Alba Posts: 42
Joined: 1/16/2004
Member: #536
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more from lb and the players:
"As far as everything's been going on, he has pretty much just killed it," said Marbury. "He told me to play the way he wants me to play -- and if I don't think it's the right way just bear with it. And I didn't say yes and I didn't say no...But, basically, I can do that and be happy -- with some tweaks. I feel like I can do anything I want to do on the basketball court." "So what do I do now, as far as the way I play?" Marbury said in the interview. "I go back to playing like Stephon Marbury, aka 'Starbury.' I haven't been 'Starbury' this year. I've been some other dude this year ...When you watch the games, that's not Stephon Marbury."
"If this was my contract year and I went to any organization, based on how I played this year, and asked for the max, tell me what they would tell me," Marbury said in the interview. "They'd say, 'That ain't happening.' " "We're still trying to figure out what we're supposed to do on the basketball court," Marbury said. "It is unusual but it is what it is." "I think it's personal now. I don't think it's about basketball anymore. If it was about basketball, we'd be talking about basketball." "I'm no longer going to allow him to say things about me and I'm not going to say anything back. That's just not going to happen. I allowed him to drag me the first three, four months in the paper and I didn't say one word. I just sat back and took it. I'm not taking it no more. If something's going to be said, I'm going to defend myself. My mother taught me that. If somebody hits you, you hit them back." "If coach is comparing his career to my career, he's got like a 20-year edge on me. To me that sounds like a lot of insecurity is going on. ... He's speaking on things he's done, and I think people in New York want to know what he's going to do, you know, as far as us winning. What happened in the past is the past. I think New Yorkers can relate [to] what's going to happen now. We live more in the present."
"He always crosses the line. That's not nothing new. Certain coaches deal with certain things certain ways, and he handles his things through the media as opposed to sitting down and talking with people. And still, if you sit down and you talk with coach, it's liable to get back to everybody, so you're really not safe there either."
LB On Stephon Marbury: "I'm on him all the time at the end of the clock or in crucial situations, to be aggressive. I hear from him what he thinks he can do and what he'd like to do The coach also commented on the Iverson and Marbury comparisons: "(Allan Iverson) played the game trying to win, played as hard as he possibly could," Brown said. "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's trying to win the game. ... He competed every single minute of every game." "I don't know why you play a team sport and not be concerned about making your teammates better and helping your team win games. That's the only thing that really matters, and if you're the best player, surely you're going to have some effect on the game's outcome. And I've said this from Day 1, I've never given anybody in my career more free rein. In my career. And I went to the conference finals with Haywoode Workman as the point guard. Eric Snow was the fourth-string point guard in Seattle, and we went to the NBA Finals [with Snow in Philadelphia]. I've been around guys, and every good team, it's all about team, and that's what we're going to try and get. You want to come and join that? That's fine. That's the only message that needs to be sent. You want to be part of the team and make your teammates better, you want to care about the right things and playing the right way, this is a pretty good place to be. You don't have that on your agenda, then this is probably a bad place to be."
David Lee: "To me, Larry is a gift," according to Lee. "He is so picky about what he wants, in practice, even in shootaround. Every drill, and every rep of every drill, he expects perfection. As crazy as it was in college -- Billy D. coached a lot and I was the first in the gym and the last to leave -- this is entirely another level. It makes you REALLY focus. Larry is on you every second of every practice. And, with my open mind to get better, this is the greatest possible thing." "Overall, this year had been a great learning experience," says Lee. "As a team, we've had a few ups here and there and a lot of downs. What we are going through this year keeps on reminding me how much fun it is to win. You just feel so much better. It taught me the value of winning. I love the way the fans are tough on us here -- it makes you want to work even harder, you want to produce." "We have the talent to turn things around here next year," says Lee. "And we obviously have the coach to do it. I've only been around a little while so I don't know enough about the NBA yet to know exactly what wins and what doesn't. But I think, on paper, we've got what it takes to be a very good team. So now it's up to us to do everything in our power to realize that potential."
Nate Rob: Like coach says, 'If you do all the little things you will be surprised how big the outcome will be.' The outcome was a victory. We just went out there and fought. Regardless of what happens, we are going to go out there and fight." Robinson admitted that he's struggled to adapt to Brown's demanding ways: "Every time Coach talks to me he says listen to the message, not how it's said," Robinson said. "It's kinda hard to really listen to exactly what he says instead of taking it personally, trying to do everything right for him and it's not good enough. At the same time you can't look at it that way. You've got to look at it like he's trying to help you." Of his ****y demeanor, Robinson said: "That's who I am. That's been me my whole life. It's hard to ask me not to do it."
Maurice Taylor: "It's typical of what goes on here," the nine-year veteran said. "It's a slap in the face. Nobody ever knows who's going to play and who's not." Taylor said he was especially annoyed because he had been sacrificing by playing through injury when he felt the team needed him while Jerome James was hurt. "I played for a month with a sore knee," he said. "I wanted to be availablebecause Jerome was out. But then I took a hit (in Memphis) and couldn't play. To go through that, and then to hear it from Jonathan, that's a kick in the face, especially to a veteran guy." Taylor vowed he would be professional about the situation and continue to work hard, even though he doesn't see a future for himself with the Knicks. "The season is coming to a close," he said. "There isn't much, obviously, that I can do. I wish things had been handled in a better way, a more respectful way. But I'm going to be professional and do my job and do whatever they ask." Taylor, whose contract expires after next season, said he knows he has no future with the Knicks. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I don't," Taylor said. "I know it's a business."
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4/4/2006 4:08 PM
cause this may be suspect.