There's good reason. Marbury has been regarded as one of the dumbest, most arrogant and selfish players in the league. The Knicks are currently paying him, but won't let him anywhere near their facilities, and Steph gets to sit home and pick up checks for doing nothing (the American dream if you ask me).
I think it's safe to say, that Steph is loving life right nowWhat's interesting about this is that if the Celts were to sign Steph, it would reunite the mercurial guard with Kevin Garnett. The two of them played together in Minnesota when they first got in the league.
So with this signing looking more and more like a possibility, let's take a look at just how these vastly different players might end up as teammates once again.
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I still remember when Marbury first entered the league, way back in the 1996 draft.
That draft class was loaded. A.I. went first. Ray Allen went fifth. Steve Nash went 15th and some guy name Kobe went 13th by the Charlotte Hornets, refused to play for them and forced a trade to the Lakers. With the fourth pick, the Milwaukee Bucks chose a flashy guard, who played just one year at Georgia Tech. They promptly traded him the Minnesota Timberwolves for Allen.
The kid, dubbed by fans and the media as "Starbury" had it all. He had flash. Charisma. Marketability. Street cred. He was a cocky, Brooklyn point guard, with swagger for days and he was coming into the NBA at the exact time that the Hip Hop Culture was starting to take the league by storm. Hell, I even had his poster on my bedroom wall.
Best of all, he was going to the Timberwolves, joining a freak of an athlete and uber-competitor in Garnett - who Minnesota drafted fifth overall the year before. The two were going to be the new faces of basketball in Minnesota.
It was all laughs for KG and Steph in the beginning...The 1999 season was shortened due to an NBA lockout that disrupted the start of the season. When play resumed, Marbury made it well known that he wasn't happy. There are plenty of rumors out there as to why, but most agree that he was stung by the fact that he would always be second fiddle to KG, even though he felt he was the better player. He also missed the bright lights of New York, and was willing to break up a championship-caliber team to get his wishes.
He did. He was traded to the New Jersey Nets in a three-team deal. And from there, Marbury and KG's career took decisively different paths.
KG stayed loyal to the franchise that believed in him when they drafted him right out of high school. After the Marbury trade, the T-Wolves would make brief appearances to the playoffs, which all ended with first round defeats. In the 2003-04 season, the team added all-star caliber players in Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. That year, KG won the MVP award and Minnesota got to the Western Conference Finals, before losing to the Lakers (in large part because Cassell injured his back and was severely limited in that series). KG would never reach the playoffs again with the T-Wolves, but was traded to the Celtics before the start of the 2007-08 season. With Allen and Paul Pierce forming "the Big 3," KG got his first NBA Championship.
Garnett got his Championship while Marburycontinued to tarnish his legacy
Steph's career on the other hand, can best be described as a huge disappointment. He blossomed into an NBA all-star with the Nets, but never made the playoffs in his three seasons there. He was traded to the Suns for Jason Kidd in 2001. Although Marbury did help lead the Suns to the playoffs in 2003, the trade was largely looked at as a steal in favor of the Nets. Kidd dragged New Jersey out of the NBA basement and took them to back-to-back NBA Championship appearances in 2002 and 2003.
Although Marbury got the Suns to the playoffs, he couldn't lead them out of the first round. In 2004 he was traded to the Knicks. It was believed that going back home, to the place where he mastered his game, would be just what he would need to finally reach his full potential. Instead, the Knicks stayed terrible and Marbury's attitude was cancerous to the team. He had an ongoing feud with head coach Larry Brown in 2005-06 and the entire city of New York started to turn on him.
Isiah Thomas, who had been the Knicks (terrible) GM since the end of 2003, took over as head coach in 2006. Thomas is one of the greatest point guards of all-time and both he and Marbury believed that with Thomas as coach, it would be enough to finally revive Marbury's career.
It wasn't. They had a public feud just like with Brown. Things got so bad in New York, that there was a lawsuit levied against Thomas for sexual harassment by a Knicks employee (which the employee won in a settlement). Marbury was called to testify in that trial, leading to a bizarre and appalling, yet admittedly hilarious testimony. Lets just say that Marbury prefers the back of trucks to traditional beds any day....
During all of this, Marbury has gotten all of the things he's wished since demanding a trade from Minnesota. He has been grossly overpaid since leaving and has always been the No. 1 guy. He has also never gotten out of the first round of the playoffs.
This season the Knicks have essentially banished Marbury from the team, while still picking up his ridiculous contract. While Marbury is getting paid not to play, KG has been busy trying to defend his title.
The Boston Celtics had looked like a historic team for much of this season, going into their Dec. 25th game and championship rematch against the Lakers with an absurd 27-2 record, including a 15-game winning streak. Analysts and fans were debating whether they had a shot of reaching the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins.
Boston ended up losing to the Lakers in the Christmas game and have been free-falling ever since. Including the loss to the Lakers, they've dropped six of their last eight games, with two of those defeats coming against the Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats. Those teams aren't exactly setting the world on fire.
The problem with Boston is their depth. They have arguably the best starting lineup in the league but when your key bench guys are Leon Powe, Tony Allen and Eddie House... you're going to have some problems.
And there's one proven player out there, who will be relatively cheap. He'll provide scoring, experience and depth to a team that desperately needs all three.
Enter Starbury.
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It seems insane that the Celtics would actually consider this. Marbury has proven time and time again that he's not worth the hassle. He's a malcontent, a whiner and generally a few cards short of a full deck....
Bringing him on could spell disaster for the Celtics chances of a championship repeat.
But right now, everyone seems to be saying the right things. Steph says he would love to be reunited with KG and wants to play for the Celtics, a contender that will allow him to get the ring that it seemed he'd never get in his career. KG says he'd welcome his ex-teammate to Boston with open arms.
From a pure theater standpoint, I'd love to see this happen. Who knows what would've happened if Marbury never fled the T-Wolves and became the potent one-two punch with Garnett that we all expected? He may have two or three rings by now. He may be known as one of the best point guards of the last decade. He may have never gotten the legacy as one of the most disappointing players in the NBA.
Going to Beantown might be Starbury's final shot at redemption.
I know Ill be watching.
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