| Not Playing Only Hurt Marbury Authored by Jarrod Rudolph - November 29, 2008 - 7:55 pm
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It remains to be seen whether it's career-ending, but he certainly didn't do himself any favors.
Two refusals to play got him suspended without pay for now, and the New York Knicks look like they'll finally bring this saga to a long overdue end, freeing Marbury to sign with whoever wants him. We'll soon find out whether this latest incident plagues him in the long run.
There isn't a question of how talented Marbury is. Skills-wise, he's arguably the Knicks' best player. The hurdle that has tripped him up over his 12-year-career is his willingness to put his team before himself and he got tripped up again in his most recent opportunity to prove otherwise.
By not playing against the Pistons, Marbury missed a great opportunity to show his teammates, coaching staff, fans and critics that he has grown and learned from his experiences in New York. Instead, he allowed the frustration from the mismanagement of his situation to become more important than the needs of his teammates.
Marbury maintains that he never said "no" to Mike D'Antoni's call to action. I'll take the man at his word; he's never been known as a liar. But Marbury also never said "yes", and in my opinion, that's just as bad.
Certainly, the task of playing for a team that hasn’t followed through on the promise of a chance for a fresh start, while repeatedly making it clear that you're not apart of the team's future must be hard to do. Marbury is prideful. Being called on because of desperation, not ability, has to be tough to swallow. But there are times when you have to do things you don’t want to do in order to get where you want to be, and Wednesday night was one of those times.
The situation before the game against the Pistons shouldn't have been about D'Antoni. It shouldn't have been about Donnie Walsh, Hal Biagas, a buyout or the inactive status he's held the previous 13 games. For a player with a reputation, fair or unfair, of being a me-first guy, Wednesday night should have been about the guys on the floor that needed him. He should have put them first, for appearances sake if nothing else.
In fact, playing would have been the best revenge if he truly wanted to stick it to the Knicks.
If he had played and had a good game he would have simultaneously helped his image and put D'Antoni on the hook for some honest answers. We wouldn't be talking about the impact of a Marbury mistake, but rather asking the Knicks coach to give a real explanation for his benching of the 31-year-old former all-star. When D'Antoni arrived from Phoenix, he addressed his past with Marbury by saying he would get a clean slate, but clearly, he had no intention of playing him a single minute.
We would be talking about how the team looks much better with Marbury, not Chris Duhon, running the show.
We would be talking about how Marbury has matured and become the team-first guy that is capable of helping a team take a step forward.
Suiting up would have been more impressive than his multiple 40-point games or flashy assists. It would have earned the respect of his teammates and attracted the attention of other teams that may have considered signing him once the Knicks let him go.
What's done is done, but now Marbury has a different set of problems on his hands.
His preparation for the season and careful steps through the first 13 games helped him earn back some of the fans he has lost over the last three years, but this past week's actions have stamped the label of disgruntled malcontent right back on his face. They may as well outline the "Starbury" tattoo by his left eye.
Once again, he's involved in some type of negativity that is being broadcast to anyone who will listen, an audience which includes the general managers of the league's 29 other teams.
It's unrealistic to think that Marbury's split from the Knicks would've started a bidding war for his services. Not every team has a need for him. Realistically, he was probably being considered by as many as five teams, but this latest chapter of his disastrous return home probably cut into his list of suitors.
In their eyes, he isn't a team-first guy, not a championship caliber player and ultimately not worth the risk of disrupting any existing team's harmony.
Marbury will have to find a way to convince owners that he is not the selfish prima donna they may believe he is. A GM may love the idea of adding him to the mix, but can he sell his owner on that idea?
It would've no doubt have been easier had this past week never happened. |
