Posted by TMS:

i find it hilarious that after all the crap Marbury's put this franchise through over the years that there are fans out there who give him the benefit of the doubt over a well respected basketball figure like Donnie Walsh.

& please can we stop w/the fantasies about trading Marbury? Al Trautwig just said Donnie Walsh had tried to trade him w/no success... don't u guys think they explored those avenues before discussing buyout options?

Nobody may be trading for him right now, but at the trading deadline, when contending teams are usually separated from lottery bound ones, some teams may be calling Walsh to make a deal. So the question for Walsh is, do you buyout now or wait for a possible trade later?

I say send him home and explore a trade in feburary

Posted by Knicksfan:

Posted by TMS:

i find it hilarious that after all the crap Marbury's put this franchise through over the years that there are fans out there who give him the benefit of the doubt over a well respected basketball figure like Donnie Walsh.

& please can we stop w/the fantasies about trading Marbury? Al Trautwig just said Donnie Walsh had tried to trade him w/no success... don't u guys think they explored those avenues before discussing buyout options?

Nobody may be trading for him right now, but at the trading deadline, when contending teams are usually separated from lottery bound ones, some teams may be calling Walsh to make a deal. So the question for Walsh is, do you buyout now or wait for a possible trade later?

I say send him home and explore a trade in feburary

You are not going to get anything for Marbury due to his contract unless you want to get a lot of bad contracts. The only way you trade him is for a superstar type player. I don't think that is coming anytime soon or before february.

Posted by TMS:

i find it hilarious that after all the crap Marbury's put this franchise through over the years that there are fans out there who give him the benefit of the doubt over a well respected basketball figure like Donnie Walsh.

& please can we stop w/the fantasies about trading Marbury? Al Trautwig just said Donnie Walsh had tried to trade him w/no success... don't u guys think they explored those avenues before discussing buyout options?

The issue isn't how fans should view Donnie Walsh, nor should it be a biased opinion on how Stephon Marbury has affected this franchise. It should be viewed by how this individual case was/is curently being handled. Its classless, IMO.

First of all, before this was ever a monetary dispute; and the idea of trades or buyouts were presented... there was obvious deception here on the part of the Knicks brass. Two views here, the first: I play sports and I truly recognize that it is a coaches decision when I play or not! However, there is a flipside don't tell me that I can compete for playing time.. rave about my conditioning and play on the field; then on opening night say that "we are not gonna play you because the team is going in a different direction; and you being an allstar caliber player, garbage time minutes would disrespect your legacy as a sports professional so we will keep you in street clothes! How crazy is that? Then you tell me that because there were changes made with personel, I have to get dressed and ready for work. The coach that controls the playing time opts for yet another DNP, and tries to use me as a scapegoat and portray me as the villian. That is the Starbury Marbury drama in a nutshell! A complete mess, I am in total agreement with Jamal Crawford who believes that the Knicks dropped the ball in handling the situation earlier on "one way or another"

There are many fans who believe that Marbury should be loyal and negotiate a buyout for considerably less than his contract. I'd ask.. how many employees would have a hard time just accepting a severence package just because the company wanted to go in a different direction? Assuming, you didn't do anything wrong per se' or the company was not being spun off, yet they asked you to take far less than what you were initially contracted for the year, would most do it?

I know that I probably wouldn't, unless I just knew the writing was on the wall and I'd be fired because of my wrong doing! But in that case, they wouldn't try to pay me to leave... they would force me to leave with out pay! So based on that scenario, If that makes me a fan who gives Marbury the benefit of the doubt then YES I'll cosign that!


Lastly as far as the trade barbs, and hopes of moving Steph. I always like the idea of getting something back for a valued piece. Some might disagree, but Steph is a basketball talent.. he is an enigma, because of his on court ability.. the problem is he is no leader, and he is a complete dummy as well! Anybody can be traded in the NBA.. we said at one point Zach was gonna be untradeable. It happened right? But I see, your point.. they likely have exhausted all options on the trade front. Which leads to settling on a buyout agreement. 1 million less, for Steph's freedom.. haha

[Edited by - JayNYC on 11-29-2008 8:52 PM]

Posted by TMS:

just so u know, i fully support Steph in wanting every penny that's owed him... he's got a contract & he's entitled to what it says on his contract that the Knicks agreed to pay him... that said, if he's gonna ask for every penny that's owed him on his contract, he better be willing to do whatever that's asked of him when it's asked of him... he's got absolutely no say in the matter if that's the line he wants to take... so if the head coach told u that u were out of the plans to begin the season but then approached u to play later in the season, it's your responsibility to honor that contract you signed & to play when called upon, regardless of the circumstances... otherwise, agree to a lesser buyout & go to a team where u can get the minutes u'r after... u can't have ur cake & eat it too... that's exactly what Marbury seems to want here if u ask me... OK, fine, his pride got hurt cuz the team moved on w/o him... big deal... he's making $21 million bucks, that should take care of any hurt feelings on his end if u ask me.

now i do think MDA could have handled this situation better in not publicizing what happened over the past couple days to the press... he's too smart not to have known it would cause yet another unnecessary distraction, whether Marbs really refused to play or not... that still doesn't excuse Marbs for being cute here in saying he never actually refused to play but giving every implied indication to his head coach that he really didn't want to play when he was asked... that's entirely his fault & Marbury knows damn well what he's doing here, just like when he went home & left the team after he & Isiah had that final falling out in Phoenix because according to him, he had permission to go home... come on, let's not be naive here, we know damn well that's what Marbury is pulling here.

Very well said, so we agree on some accounts in this disaster! We can see through the smoke and mirrors, and all know that this is your typical cat and mouse situation. Both sides are using the media as its outlet, and are trying to discredit the other while portraying themselves as in a positive light. Bottom line, both D'Antoni and Steph know what they are doing... and somewhere in the middle lies the truth. One thing that is for certain, is that at this point its gotta end!