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BlueSeats
Posts: 27272
Alba Posts: 41
Joined: 11/6/2005
Member: #1024
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Thanks for covering for me guys, those cover the brunt of it, but I'll add a few more tidbits below.
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There is no denying Marbury's talent, but there is room to question his priorities and his commitment to winning. Marbury told SI in January 1998 that he was thinking of bolting Minnesota when his contract was up because of the weather and because he missed his New York friends. This news stunned the Timberwolves' front office, which later discovered that Marbury had made those comments just days after a local night spot refused to serve him alcohol because he was underage. "They give me my own table in New York!" Marbury reportedly fumed between expletives.
At his press conference last Friday, Marbury insisted that reuniting with friends and family was his main objective in forcing the trade. Minnesota says Marbury believed he was missing out on endorsements because he was playing in a small-market city, and that he couldn't accept being paid less than teammate Kevin Garnett because Marbury views himself as the better player. Garnett signed a seven-year, $126 million extension before the new collective bargaining agreement went into effect; under the new deal, the most Marbury could make in Minnesota was $70.9 million for six years, which New Jersey gladly gave him last Friday.
The departure of Marbury left his ex-teammates shell-shocked. They had no trouble overlooking his mood swings because of his exceptional skills. "Steph changed like the wind, from one day to the next," McHale says. "Even on the court, there was the good Steph and the bad Steph. The bad Steph thought only about his game. The good Steph moved the ball, got others involved, took big shots. We got him up to being that guy around 80 percent of the time near the end, which was up from 25 percent when we first got him."
The Timberwolves are left to ponder what happened to their promising foundation of Garnett, Marbury and Tom Gugliotta, who took a lot less money to sign with Phoenix in January. Saunders says Gugliotta had told Minnesota he would re-sign with the Timberwolves -- if they agreed to trade Marbury.
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Kurt Thomas was still months away from joining the Phoenix Suns when he stood side-by-side with Amare Stoudemire as they waited for Stephon Marbury to shoot free throws during a game last season.
The former Knick does some of his best work on the blocks, chatting up opposing players the way a first baseman talks to base runners. He's made Shaquille O'Neal double over with laughter; he's brought smiles to the faces of the NBA's grouchiest referees.
And on this night, Thomas cracked up Stoudemire by telling the Suns forward something he'd been pondering for weeks: "I can't stand playing with Stephon Marbury."
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Of course, all NBA players want to win - an overwhelming drive to succeed is one difference between good athletes and those who are among the best in the world. But Marbury has never understood that he can't get by on talent alone, that there are concessions and sacrifices superstars have to make to lift their teams. That became apparent the moment Marbury stepped into the Knicks' locker room: Hours after greeting his new team and before playing his first game, Marbury was shocking his teammates by blasting music from his cubicle. It wasn't the crude rap lyrics that stunned the players; it was the idea that music - a definite no-no during the Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy years unless a player was wearing headphones - was filling the space.
It didn't help that Marbury already had one strike against him with many of his new teammates: They weren't happy about remarks he made about Charlie Ward years earlier.
Marbury had told reporters in 1998 that the Knicks would never win a championship with Ward as their point guard, and his prediction proved to be accurate. But Ward was a key contributor when the Knicks reached the '99 Finals, and he was a popular figure in the locker room, respected for his toughness and leadership. That fact that Ward was shipped to Phoenix as part of the deal that brought Marbury to the Garden only inflamed tensions.
Still, Marbury was the key player in Isiah Thomas' first major transaction at the Garden, and the Knicks' president wasted no time in handing the keys to the franchise to his new point guard. Whenever Marbury was unhappy, he went straight upstairs to complain to Thomas. It was an arrangement that created division in the locker room. Many of Marbury's teammates felt he hadn't earned the right to be treated like Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal or Kobe Bryant.
Some of Marbury's teammates also were outraged by what they saw as the guard's double standard. At a team meeting last season, as rumors swirled that Wilkens was on the verge of being fired, the coach spoke to his team, telling them to concentrate on playing basketball and not worry about outside distractions.
When Wilkens was finished speaking, Marbury repeated most of the coach's message to the team, using profanity to puncuate his words and get his point across. When he was finished, the Knicks took the floor for practice with one exception: Marbury remained in the locker room for a massage.
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Isiah Thomas stood in the middle of the Knicks' locker room like a boxing referee, directing Stephon Marbury and Kurt Thomas to return to their respective corners.
"I'm not trading you and I'm not trading you," Thomas, the Knicks president, supposedly shouted at his two feuding players following a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers three weeks ago. "So what do you want me to do?"
According to one eyewitness, Kurt Thomas came up with a short-term solution: "Just move out of the way so I can kick his butt."
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There is some intrigue, however. It involves Kurt Thomas, who could be dealt, and Stephon Marbury.
It was already apparent that Thomas and Marbury were less than the best of friends. The Daily News reported that Isiah Thomas stepped in between the two following the Knicks' victory over the Cavaliers Jan. 28. Now Kurt Thomas is intimating that perhaps Isiah talks to Marbury about personnel matters.
After yesterday's practice, Marbury said that he doesn't pay attention to trade rumors. As for himself, Kurt Thomas said, "I come to do my job and go home. I don't worry about that other (stuff)."
But, when asked if he would be bothered if the Knicks (21-33) geared themselves for the future, Thomas said not at all. "Anything positive would be better than what's going on right now," he said.
{huh, negativity before LB?}
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PHOENIX - Kurt Thomas misses his old point guard from New York. No, not that one.
"I enjoyed playing with Charlie Ward," Thomas said yesterday morning when asked if he were surprised that Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury have had their difficulties.
Thomas is loving his new life in the desert here with the Suns. And he made it clear it is not just the gorgeous weather that has made him so content.
Thomas is the latest ex-Knick to reveal just how thrilled he is to be playing with a point guard other than Marbury. Without ever uttering Marbury's name, Thomas managed to take some not-so-veiled shots at his old point guard.
When told that Tim Thomas recently had said how excited he was to be playing in Chicago with point guards who pass, the Suns' forward smiled.
"Oh definitely, total agreement," Thomas said. "Total agreement. Totally. Totally."
Thomas now receives passes from the man Jason Kidd calls the best point guard in the game - MVP Steve Nash.
Thomas was asked to describe the difference between playing with Marbury and Nash.
"I can't even think of the words," Thomas said. "We'll see how the season goes. We'll see what happens in Phoenix and I'll keep my eye on New York. But I'm definitely happy here."
Thomas spent seven seasons with the Knicks and was part of the 1999 team that reached the Finals. However, his Knicks tenure ended with Thomas trying to make the most of a sour situation. The man known as "Crazy Eyes" never saw eye-to-eye with Marbury and the two were involved in an altercation in his final season in New York. He then was dealt on draft night to Phoenix for Quentin Richardson and the rights to Nate Robinson.
While Thomas tries to fill the void in the Suns' lineup left by Amare Stoudemire's knee injury, the power forward has noticed how Brown and Marbury have clashed.
"Not surprised," Thomas said.
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There is a story often repeated around the Meadowlands that dates back to a night in 2000-01. It's about Stephon Marbury and his teammates leaving the court after getting trampled (a common event in those days), when they were suddenly met by the point guard's mom, the redoubtable Mabel. And Mom, in a very loud voice, had some advice for her son: "Don't worry, Stephon, it's not your fault," she said. "It's all these other lousy players."
Upon which a veteran Nets teammate observed, "Now you know why he is how he is."
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"Marbury played very hard in the post game interview; a lot harder than he played on the court." -- John Andariese
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"Stephon is the worst teammate I've ever had," Tim Thomas told me an hour after the Suns had eliminated the Clippers, echoing the sentiments of Jayson Williams, Keith Van Horn, Kurt Thomas and several Suns and Knicks who wish to remain anonymous. "We grew up together, yet the whole time I was with the Knicks he never talked to me. Not once. Not until I was traded did he say anything. When I was leaving he came over and gave me an I-Pod he'd bought as a going-away present. He even installed hip hop music. They don't come any weirder!"
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10/13/2006 12:23 AM