D'Antoni on Marbury: "My Vision of the Team is on a Different Track"
During John Thompson's TNT interview with Mike D'Antoni, the Knicks Coach uttered the understatement of the year when explaining why shoot first (and second and third, with the fourth option being dribbling until he can shoot) point guard Stephon Marbury has been exiled: "My vision of the team is on a different track...Steph is the type of player who you give the team--or a big part of the team--or nothing."Remember how on "Star Trek" there was a "universal translator" that could translate any language? If we put D'Antoni's comments into the "basketball universal translator" then we discover that he simply chose a tactful way of saying, "Look, I'm trying to put together a team that plays hard, plays together and whose number one goal is winning games. I have absolutely no use for an uncoachable player who has delusions of grandeur and is entirely consumed by self centered objectives when he is on the court. We might not be able to trade Marbury but I sure as hell don't have to let him and his bad attitude anywhere near the team."
Labels: Mike D'Antoni, New York Knicks, Stephon Marbury
posted by David Friedman @ 7:38 AM
5 Comments:
Marbury is a clown and had a chance to play on Saturday and didnt. I never liked him in high school, college, or the NBA. Garnett and him together were fun to watch. Hes a disgrace to the game and should be praying everyday that he gets to play in the NBA.
To be fair, asking him to play at this stage was a not-so-subtle way by D'Antoni of throwing him to the lions. Marbury could not say "oh, well, I'll play" after all that he's been told, and his refusal would be another nail in his coffin. D'Antoni knows that Marbury has alienated all players, sportswriters and fans in the league and nobody will take his side. Still, not exactly a classy move by D'Anthony, but Marbury spent years digging himself into the hole where he now resides.
TP:
Asking Marbury to play for one game just because the team was temporarily shorthanded as the trades were consummated may be a little tacky but D'Antoni took the job with the idea that Walsh would get rid of Marbury. Walsh has not been able to do so yet, so D'Antoni has done the next best thing.
Isiah Thomas received a lot of criticism for how he ran the Knicks but I maintain that if he had never signed Marbury--or even if he had gotten rid of him at some point--that the team would have been much better off and might have even performed well enough for him to keep his job. D'Antoni has replaced Marbury with journeyman Duhon and the Knicks have been playing well with the other players that Thomas acquired.
Marbury is the second highest paid player in the league and does not deserve anyone's sympathy.
Of course, D'Antoni coached Marbury once before. D'Antoni became a Phoenix assistant before the 2002-03 season, and became head coach on December 10th, 2003. Less than one month later -- Jan.6th, 2004 -- Marbury was traded to New York. The trade can be partly explained by Isiah wanting to make a big splash early in his tenure with the Knicks, but I wouldn't be surprised if back then, D'Antoni quickly decided that Marbury was not a cornerstone of a championship contender, and made his feelings clear to Bryan Colangelo.
It's hard to believe this guy is one of the highest-paid players in the NBA. With the current economic situation though, he looks like being part of a dying breed. Teams will still overpay now and again but at least max contracts won't be thrown around like candy any more, especially for immature and self-absorbed losers like Marbury, Randolph, and Francis.
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