Goodbye Stephon!

While we’re on the subject of basketball…

Stephon Marbury’s public quarrel with Larry Brown, coach of the Knicks, has spilled onto the spots pages of every New York newspaper.

Marbury was ill served by his decision to play only one year of college ball at Georgia Tech.  The man, an amazingly skilled athlete, has never learned how to play the game, how to relate to the media, or how to be a reasonably decent human being.  Imagine what kind of ballplayer Marbury would be if he had four years of coaching from somebody like Bruce Weber of Illinois.

Marbury would have been forced to learn to play defense.  He would have learned how to win games, instead of just learning how to inflate his own statistics.

Marbury has been dumped by the Phoenix Suns and the New Jersey Nets, because he simply does not know how to play the game.  He is a double problem in that he sulks when he doesn’t get his way.

My prediction skills are debatable.  Still, I’ll bet Brown wins this one.  Marbury will be dumped this summer.

Brown is turning around the Knicks.  I had expected a better performance this year, but, what the hell?  The Knicks refused for years to accept that a total rebuilding was in order when Patrick Ewing’s career ended.

The three great rookies, Channing Frey, Nate Robinson and David Lee will form the nucleus of a future great Knicks’ team.  Brown can teach Eddie Curry to be a great center. 

This team doesn’t really have a point guard, yet.  And it doesn’t need Stephon Marbury.

The NBA really needs to lose its fascination with drafting kids out of high school, or after one year of college ball.  The NBA game has been sliding downhill for years as a result of this nonsense.  It would be better for the players and for the NBA if the kids were forced, once again, to play four years of college ball.

Comments

[Peter]

Marbury plays what seems to be the street style of basketball that's gradually taking over the game. All individual showmanship, hardly any team play.