The Mystery Flavor of the Starbury

So the NBA season continues to take its twists and turns, and we are barely through seven days of it. But one of the most compelling stories thus far has to be the Stephon Marbury situation in New York.

What went from being a coach and management decision has turned into a national spectacle. Even the NBA players’ association has made it clear that they will stop on the dime to aid Stephon Marbury.

But there is one question, a basic question that anyone levels kindergarten through established journalist must ask, when they encounter a situation like this…

Why?

Why is Stephon Marbury in this situation? Why are people rushing to cover him? Why are people rushing to help him? Why are fans chanting his name after three seasons of booing him? Why haven’t the Knicks played him? Why haven’t the Knicks released him? Why are the New York Knicks doing what they are doing?

The “whys” can all somehow be answered in roughly a page and a half of explanation…

Stephon Marbury places second in the universe, only behind me, in his ability to piss off everyone. The problem is, also much like me, he has a pretty unique skill set which makes him valuable.

There is however a third factor, that most certainly separates me and Mr. Marbury...money. Because of his skill, he gets roughly $20 million annually.

General Managers have to make the decision. Do you keep the guy around who is going to make you want to do the “Cadbury Surprise ” after a few seasons? Or do you get rid of him and have the money you promised to him count double against you, making him the reason for your demise?

Marbury has been in the NBA for more than a decade, and with Marbury it has always been “choice a” or “choice b.” Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh are the first two people ever who have elected to take the mystery box.

Stephon Marbury is not playing, at all. But he’s also not leaving. He’s just sitting there. He is literally making hundreds of thousands of dollars every day, and sitting there. And the Knicks are more or less refusing to address it.

D’Antoni is not going to play him, despite a pretty compelling argument that Marbury is the most talented member on the team; because Marbury is a team cancer. But Walsh isn’t going to release him because then the Knicks’ chances of signing a great player in the near future go flying out the window.

This is a tough sit that very much makes the Knicks look like the enemy, even though Stephon Marbury (with the exception of his clothing line) has pretty much presented himself as disingenuous.

As a Knicks’ fan, the situation is even more baffling. You have heard all the locker room stories. First, his frequent head butting with Larry Brown, then his vow to play basketball in Italy, then his disappearing act, then his blackmail threats to Isiah Thomas, then the unanimous team vote to suspend Marbury, which of course fell on deaf ears.

But how important is that? Because when Marbury is determined to play, he is bar none the most talented member of this New York Knicks team. And until his tenure in New York, he was a perennial all-star.

The variable in this situation is actually the piece that reveals the most important answer, and essentially the answer to all the “whys.” You see, there actually is a “choice d” (after “a,” “b” and of course “the mystery box”). Choice d would have been the following: Trade him.

But no one wants him. No one wants Stephon Marbury for all of the aforementioned reasons. And the blame for that rests entirely on the shoulders of Marbury.

So from now on when someone talks you about the Knicks and asks “why,” you need to respond with another basic question that anyone levels kindergarten through established journalist must ask, when they encounter a situation like this…

What?

What else can they do?