Soft Shoe: Breaking in a New Image.
New York Times. 11-5-06.

By Selena Roberts

The scene was set for Stephon Marbury to be a supersaver of soles in his $15 sneakers. Inside the Manhattan Mall, Marbury was expected to slip on his signature shoes at Steve & Barry’s, walk a block to Madison Square Garden with fans as an escort, then put his foot down on the Knicks’ first home game of the season last night.

But this new Man of the People didn’t get to mingle with the everyman on the street because of a scheduling snafu. “Last-minute cancellation,” said the store manager at Steve & Barry’s.

Another chance to follow the Knicks’ leader — if only down 33rd Street and across Seventh Avenue — was lost. Another chance to detail his intriguing charm offensive was not.

Marbury has been sunny side up for months. No doubt he feels liberated from his role as a character in Larry Brown’s version of a dark and glum Dickens tale last year, but there is more to it.

In essence, Marbury has been his shoe: accessible, conscientious and humble. Who is this man? As the moral compass of the shoe industry — though he surely receives a generous cut from sales — Marbury has been matching his sneaker’s symbolism. Insular for years, grouchy for a decade, Marbury is now part of a basketball outreach program that would make Chuck Taylor proud.

But will the rubber and glue hold up? Will Starbury One’s sole withstand the wear and tear of a season? Can Marbury remain true to his shoe?

He lapsed into the old Marbury with eight minutes left in a 109-95 loss last night. The Knicks entered the Garden as Team Nice to play the Indiana Pacers, who have been placed on the N.R.A. mailing list after Stephen Jackson’s recent high jinks with firearms.

• For three quarters, Marbury resisted his inner sourpuss. For three quarters, he remained upbeat even when it was awkwardly apparent that he could not function with Steve Francis next to him on the floor.

Then, after his fifth of six turnovers in the game, Marbury lost his poise as he planted his cost-cutter sneaker into a basketball and kicked it to the sideline. Afterward, Marbury took rare ownership of his horrible night.

“I was frustrated with myself,” Marbury said after scoring just 4 points on a 1-for-9 shooting effort. “I wasn’t making the plays I normally do.”

So he punted as a catharsis. It landed in Coach Isiah Thomas’s arms.

Seemed appropriate. Marbury’s support system is Thomas, his companion in this Cuddle Campaign to distract everyone from the deep flaws in the Knicks.

Whatever Thomas and Marbury do, it’s together, forever intertwined by their rip cords. One has to save the other if either is to find career validation this season, if either is to survive another New York second. So they’ve softened expectations by softening their images.

Thomas is not only out to prove a positive vibe beats Brown’s downer vision, he is out to defy the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which in September found that there was evidence of a hostile work environment at the Garden as described in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the former Garden executive Anucha Browne Sanders.

What hostility? Thomas spent the summer on a healing tour as he visited players to soothe their Brown-induced wounds. He spent training camp pushing optimism as he nudged Eddy Curry to exert his “manliness,” a curious word choice considering that, by now, Thomas must know a woman can be relentless when pushed or allegedly harassed in the workplace. He has spent this season demanding very little from shortened practices that do not apparently include defensive strategy.

Thomas had every reason to rage as he witnessed his team’s home-opening debacle, and he may have in the locker room, but he remained publicly calm. As the players exited the court, as the boos from fans pelted the Knicks, Thomas shook each man’s hand and patted him on the back against what he viewed as a rude win by the celebratory Pacers.

“We’ll be pretty unforgiving when we’re on top,” Thomas said.

He remained on his feel-good kick, as the lead Who of Seuss’s Whoville, intent on holding hands and singing praises no matter what the meanies say about his team.

•Before the Knicks committed the first of 17 turnovers, before they allowed the Pacers to hit 11 of their first 11 shots in the third quarter, he wore a bashful smile as he tried to play down expectations while building himself up.

He talked about how courageous he was to become the first Knicks general manager to mention the word rebuild and how the Knicks may well end the first month of the season below .500.

The Knicks are well on their way amid Thomas’s Knicks Lite approach.

Just who are Thomas and Marbury trying to kill with kindness? Who are they trying to fool with their rosy outlook on low expectations? A sucker for sentiment and celebrity, the owner James L. Dolan.

After nearly three years and more than $300 million spent by Thomas, after Marbury arrived as the key piece for $17 million a year, will Dolan buy more nights like last night?

Will Dolan be distracted by the blinding smile of Thomas, by the renovated character of Marbury, by the soft landing of expectations? In the end, even Dolan will see a charm offensive is only as successful as a defensive effort.