I'm not a marbury fan, but crawford is a disaster. Marbury's contract only has two more years and crawford's goes on for awhile. And Marbury, for the short run he is here for, is much more competent than crawford across the board. Marbury drives better, he shoots better from outside, and he plays better defense.

If your looking to a replacement for marbury, you should think for a second and consider a guy like mardy collins who is on a rookie contract and has real potential to increase his game. Crawford will be finishing his 7th season. He is who he is. A dumb player that shoots a very low fg%, and plays poor defense.

Do you guys seriously believe Crawford is better than marbury?

there is no player on the Knicks that is "better" than Marbury... the question is, how far will this team go w/Marbury being our best player & having him dominating the ball on offense? the team started to show some signs this year in the middle of the season after Marbury finally bought in to the team concept & starting playing a supporting role to Curry... then Jamal goes down & Marbury goes back to being Starbury because he thinks he needs to carry the team on his shoulders... the team goes downhill ever since (not that it was that far a drop since they weren't good to begin with regardless).

in my eyes, it makes more sense to have Jamal on the team if you're building around Curry, because they have great chemistry on & off the court... the other G spot should be manned by Mardy & whoever the Knicks decide to draft this season, or pick up via free agency... if Marbury can go back to playing second fiddle & focusing on playing great man on man D, then we might have something, but old habits die hard, as we all saw this season.

Honestly, I always hoped Crawford would be better, but I can't say that he is. However, I do think if someone invested the time and attention into him that Isiah has Marbury I think he'd have been better. Crawford is flakey, but I think he sees the floor better than Marbury, he doesn't fight with coaches or sabotage the team to make a point, he feeds the post, hits his free throws, is liked by all, and makes some big shots.

I wont list his downsides because we all know them, but I think Crawford can better replace Marbury's attributes when Marbury is out, than Marbury can replace the attributes of Crawford when Crawford is out.

The thing with Crawford is he's a rhythm player who's rarely allowed to get in a rhythm at PG because Marbury presence and neediness always looms. Crawford's worst attribute is poor shot selection and that facet of his game is much improved when he plays the point. I suspect that if Crawford were really groomed to play PG and given sufficient time at the spot he'd be a better PG for this team than Marbury, especially with Marbury gone.

But it's all suspicion, because we never see those conditions met.

Posted by Cash:

You can't put a team that plays Curry and Crawford heavily and ever expect a winning team.

Whereas Marbury's proven he's a winner... gotcha.

I never said marbury was a winner. But crawford is worse and so is curry.

I am a staunch Crawford backer... under LB he was a decent defender and I think he's much better suited at PG. He led the team in assists 20+ times last season and in points as well. I like the ball in his hands at the end of the games and his finest moments have come when he is forced to think pass first.

I see him as a late bloomer who needs the right situation... I could see him having a similar career to Chauncey Billups, where he had to be in the right situation to succeed.

He's a tall, long, uber-quick player that doesn't have the percentages or strength to be a starting SG... but everything about him screams starting PG.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

I am a staunch Crawford backer... under LB he was a decent defender and I think he's much better suited at PG. He led the team in assists 20+ times last season and in points as well. I like the ball in his hands at the end of the games and his finest moments have come when he is forced to think pass first.

I see him as a late bloomer who needs the right situation... I could see him having a similar career to Chauncey Billups, where he had to be in the right situation to succeed.

He's a tall, long, uber-quick player that doesn't have the percentages or strength to be a starting SG... but everything about him screams starting PG.

So what are you saying. Are you saying that Isiah Thomas can indoctrinate smart white boy's into his sales job too? Do you really believe in Jamal Crawford the 40% career shooter who turns it over a ton and is flat out stupid? Or do you just prefer him to marbury?

You guys are crazy if you think jamal crawford will ever be effective under isiah thomas. His best days were under larry brown who is gone. Larry had a chance with a dumb player like crawford, isiah will only make him worse. Jamal Crawford is a career loser, and will continue to be. Even marbury has won more games then him. Anway, I'm out until the draft. I'm just waiting for all this bu****** to flesh out next season so we can get a good lottery pick next season and start on the right path.

Steph is a better player than JC, but that's not a news flash. Steph despite all the bashing is one of the better players in this league when he's doing what he does best. Now whether that leads to wins or not is a very complicated matter. He's not a guard in the mold of Kidd or Nash, so you can't expect that he's gonna give you those things, however if he's on a team with a guy like KG or JO, he'd be more effective. Steph is a true combo guard. He's not a PGHe needs a team that has players who can PLAY and don't need constant help just to play at a half decent level. For most of his career he's been on bad teams or DEVELOPING teams. In other words the very kind of teams he won't be able to help very much.

You put Steph on a team with some guys that can actually play and i'm not talking a bunch of great players, but guys that know how to do their jobs and he'd be just fine. The Pistons are an extreme example of that kind of team. Their much better than what i'm talking about, but they are a good example of the best case scenario. Billups doesn't have to work NEARLY as hard, cuz the guys on the floor with him can actually handle their own game. He just needs to run things so that the plays are set up properly and in the event that the other options are closed off he can get aggressive. This year Steph finally started to have a team like this. With Curry, Q, Jamal and Lee there were guys who could handle their end of the bargain. Steph could lay back and just run things and let the other guys score unless he was needed. This is part of the reason that I think we will be more successful going forward. I think Balkman and Collins will join the party next year at a higher level than this year and this will start to look like a good team. Especially since those guys will help to make the DEFENSE better, which is the other equation.

Steph has almost NEVER been on a team that had a strong defensive presence and since he himself wasn't that much of a defender, you can see why he wouldn't win much. It's not really about Steph alone, but the circumstances DO MATTER. Some guys just get lucky and end up in situations where they're on good teams and what they do well gets magnified. ie Robert Horry or Derek Jeter. I think Steph has not had as many good situations like that. If he was a true PG and thought and played like one, with his level of talent he'd likely have been a success even on bad teams, but that's not who he is. AI is no different, it's just that he had a team built around him in Philly that made sense for his very strange game. A bunch of defenders and guys that didn't mind not shooting much was the perfect scenario for him. Outside of that team he has had so much success. Now he's older and on a team that is already good, so he can just add his scoring punch, but he doesn't have to CARRY the team like Steph has had to do. AI was no more successful trying to carry a bad team than Steph had been in the past. When we played at our best this year it was a team thing. When we got contributions from everyone this team was very good. That's the formula and I believe Steph will be just fine as this team get's better around him.

Steph at this point in his career is not better- he's struggled to stay healthy, he can't get into the lane like he used to, and when he does, he can't finish.

Crawford is streaky, and IF he can ever get it ingrained into his brain to be smart, then he will be better.

Steph hasn't been a good outside shooter for a while, he can't make entry passes, he has poor court vision.

And although Marbs started to play better as the season went on, he has a diva rap- crawford seems like a good team mate who's fun to play with- and that is what makes Nash such a great player.

Marbury is a party pooper.

And, if you're bringing up contracts, then lets talk not merely about length, but about potential value around the league.

I guarantee that Isiah could more easily move Crawford and get a decent player back than he could Marbury.