2008 Woodie Awards
Cono's Corner: Pierce, Marbury and Francis on the block?
Steve Conoscenti
Issue date: 2/15/06 Section: Sports
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Teams like the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics have next Thursday underlined and circled on their calendars. At 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 23 the all trades in the NBA come to an end. If you can't get who you want by then, you have to wait until the offseason. Or in the case of the three teams mentioned, if you can't get rid of who you want, you're stuck until the offseason.
The Knicks made a lot of offseason noise by adding guys like Eddy Curry and landing one of the greatest coaches in the game, Larry Brown. But one question stuck out in everyone's mind: would Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury work out? Both swore up and down that there were no problems. Both said the right things in the media. Yet, when you look at the Knicks' record (the worst record in the NBA), you wouldn't think there is any sort of bond between coach and star point guard.
For six games this season, Stephon Marbury played like an All-Star. He was averaging over 20 points per game and dishing out over 10 assists per game. Too bad before those six games he was a lame duck and has been playing injured (or not at all) since those six games. Now instead of sulking on the bench with a towel over his head, he gets to feel the pain and agony Knick fans such as myself feel night in and night out.
Right now all the rumors in New York are circling around Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway and some of the youngsters. Meanwhile, Stephon has been dodging the media, and it seems to have gone under the radar. In fact, the only time he's been in the media was when Stephen A. Smith reported on his radio show last week that Steph's teammates were fed up with his nonsense. This leads many people to believe that these trade rumors are nothing more than a smokescreen while Isiah works on getting Stephon a ticket out of New York. The Stephon Marbury experiment has failed and Knicks fans are hoping Isiah soon realizes everyone else already knows.
I don't know if there is a golden rule when it comes to trading, but if there isn't, I'm making one up right now: don't tell a player you're trading him unless it's definite that you're trading him. The Orlando Magic broke my golden rule and now they're paying the price. Steve Francis looks miserable and to say he's "playing" like he doesn't care is an overstatement. Then again, how could you blame him? First he was told that his team is getting rid of him then he had to return to that same team.
The Knicks made a lot of offseason noise by adding guys like Eddy Curry and landing one of the greatest coaches in the game, Larry Brown. But one question stuck out in everyone's mind: would Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury work out? Both swore up and down that there were no problems. Both said the right things in the media. Yet, when you look at the Knicks' record (the worst record in the NBA), you wouldn't think there is any sort of bond between coach and star point guard.
For six games this season, Stephon Marbury played like an All-Star. He was averaging over 20 points per game and dishing out over 10 assists per game. Too bad before those six games he was a lame duck and has been playing injured (or not at all) since those six games. Now instead of sulking on the bench with a towel over his head, he gets to feel the pain and agony Knick fans such as myself feel night in and night out.
Right now all the rumors in New York are circling around Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway and some of the youngsters. Meanwhile, Stephon has been dodging the media, and it seems to have gone under the radar. In fact, the only time he's been in the media was when Stephen A. Smith reported on his radio show last week that Steph's teammates were fed up with his nonsense. This leads many people to believe that these trade rumors are nothing more than a smokescreen while Isiah works on getting Stephon a ticket out of New York. The Stephon Marbury experiment has failed and Knicks fans are hoping Isiah soon realizes everyone else already knows.
I don't know if there is a golden rule when it comes to trading, but if there isn't, I'm making one up right now: don't tell a player you're trading him unless it's definite that you're trading him. The Orlando Magic broke my golden rule and now they're paying the price. Steve Francis looks miserable and to say he's "playing" like he doesn't care is an overstatement. Then again, how could you blame him? First he was told that his team is getting rid of him then he had to return to that same team.