I remember when the Knicks first got Marbury. His first game as a Knick was against the Rockets: New York, NY (Sports Network) - Steve Francis scored a game-high 27 points as the <b>Houston Rockets routed the New York Knicks, 111-79</b>, and gave head coach Jeff Van Gundy a win in his return to Madison Square Garden. <P> Van Gundy was back on the floor at Madison Square Garden for the first time since resigning as head coach of the Knicks in December of 2001. <P> Francis added eight rebounds and six assists, while Jim Jackson poured in 21 points for Houston, which had six players score in double figures on the way to snapping a two-game losing streak against the Knicks. Yao Ming and Maurice Taylor each scored 15 points, Cuttino Mobley contributed 14 and Kelvin Cato netted 10. <P> Keith Van Horn and Moochie Norris each scored 17 points for the Knicks, who have dropped four straight games. Van Horn grabbed 11 rebounds, while Allan Houston was held to eight points. <P> <b>Stephon Marbury, the Brooklyn-born point guard playing in his first game for the Knicks since coming over Monday in a trade with Phoenix, struggled on the night with just six points on 3-of-12 shooting.</b> <P> He did dish out 10 assists, but also turned the ball over four times. Anfernee Hardaway, who came over with Marbury in the trade, finished with five points.
I'd make the deal in a heartbeat. I've always thought Marbury was one of the best PG's in the game. When everyone was all gaw gaw over Stoudamire, I wanted Marbury. He's 28 years old & in the prime of his career. Go get him CD. With 3 potential 20+ ppg players & Howard's 17+ ppg, who could stop us?
21-61. Sure didn't scare me away from T-Mac. Not to mention the fact that the Raptors went deeper into the playoffs without McGrady than they did with him. Still don't want him? As far as Minnesota, you conveniently left out the years prior to Marbury's arrival. They were God awful, and he led them to the playoffs the next two years. They stayed about consistently the same and gradually improved as Garnett emerged. New Jersey? How did he make them worse? He came in in the middle of 98-99, they already sucked, two years removed from 26-56. Of course they improved with Jason Kidd - he's a better player! Not to mention the fact that Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles finally got healthy! Then you got Phoenix - again, Jason Kidd is simply a better player than him. And he did still take them to the playoffs. As far as New York, I don't see how this helps your argument. They're just as bad with him as they were without him post-Ewing. Now that I've put forth a rebuttal to the argument that he makes his teams worse, someone will reply that he doesn't make his teams better. I agree - he's not a franchise player. But as a #3 guy, I think he'd be fine. I didn't realize he was owed 19million dollars, so I'll back off on Marbury, but he's not as bad as the rep that has been built.
I think Marbury is another case where if people keep drilling something into your head long enough, you start to believe it. that's the case here because Marbury is a terrific player. and all those numbers you posted up about how the team got worse or whatever can't be completely blamed on him. minnesota he messed up, and he'd admit that but in new jersey he never got on the floor with van horn, kittles, or kenyon martin more than 50 games in his time there and you can look that up. he was all by himself on those teams, he had NO ONE to pass the ball to. phoenix was strange because they really shouldn't have traded him but when they got off to a bad start he was healthy and since they were over the cap they decided to get rid of him and coach johnson. and even later phoenix admitted he did everything they asked of him and more but they had to cut salary. remember the year before during amare's rookie campaign they made the playoffs and even though they lost in the first round they played the spurs tough and looked to have a bright future but they cut the cord short and i believe if steph were still there, they would have very similar success because when him, amare, and marion were on the floor it was almost identical to the same combo with nash. high flying and fast. but like it was said, once a couple of people in the media or whatever say a guy is a cancer, has a big ego, isn't a team player, it catches on and everyone just follows right along. they said the same thing about jordan too (i'm not comparing starbury to mj) but they said the exact same thing about him too but after he won a championship he became the good guy. winning fixes everything and i believe one day steph will be surrounded with an actually good team and he'll start winning and everything will change.
considering that Tmac had ONE bad season on a rally bad team, I think there is abig difference between the two in that respect
Forget Marbury..... He is not worth the money he is getting. He isn't what we are looking for. That's all I have to say about that
Willis: The point I was trying to make was that I hate the argument that a player is worthless just because his former teams weren't that good. There's a right situation for everyone to excel in. I didn't realize he made more money than McGrady, but if he made less than $12 million I wouldn't mind having him on my team.
Your argument is flawed. T-Mac has had one losing season. The fact that Toronto won more games on one of the years he was in Orlando, has nothing to do with him. T-Mac was a baby, he was average and he was a bench player. Marbury went to winning teams and they started losing, he left bad teams and they went to Conference Finals (Phoenix, New Jersey). Marbury is a very good player, but he's not a player you would call adaptable. You can't envision him accepting being the third option on the Rockets. Oh and one more little problem called finances. He makes almost as much money as T-Mac and Yao combined. I think that's a little too much for the third best player on any team
McGrady DID manage to take a team of near-nothings to the playoffs every year he was in Orlando before that year though. Marbury has had much better teammates and he's only been to the playoffs twice. I lived in NY for the last 5 years before coming back to Houston this year, and I've watched more Knicks basketball than I care to admit. Fact of the matter is, Marbury always gets great stats. He tempts you with them. If you ever watch him play though, you'll realize that he's the biggest ballhog in the league, and just as big a bonehead as far as making the right decisions on court in the final few minutes of the game.
The Spurs and Pistons prove that you don't need to break the cap to be contenders. Instead of adding a max contract with immediate results, we should grow role players who know their roles and are more ready to bond with the team captains. Steph's drama would break up the team in 2 years.
