Marbury: "I'll Play My Way"

Marbury: "I'll Play My Way"

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's probably the last thing Larry Brown wants to hear from Stephon Marbury, but last night the point guard said his efforts to change his game have not produced positive results and he is planning to go back to being Starbury -- the shoot-first, attack-the rim, 20-point-a-game scorer who has been a missing person this year.

Marbury said before last night's 116-109 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats that he tried to adjust to Brown's style of play this year, but it has not resulted in victories, and no one is happy. So he said he intends to go back to playing the way he always played, presumably next year, to a style that made him a multimillionaire superstar in the NBA -- a declaration that is sure to further frustrate Brown's attempts to remake Marbury into his kind of player.

"I went into this year trying to do something, to put myself in a situation where we can win, Okay?" he said, "to help the team win games. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. So, what do I do now, as far as the way I play? I go back to playing like Stephon Marbury, aka Starbury. I haven't been Starbury this year. I've been some other dude this year."

And that other dude in Marbury's No. 3 jersey is struggling so much that this could end up being Marbury's worst season.

He went into last night's Battle of the Basement against the Bobcats averaging 17.0 points and 6.6 assists per game, both well below his career averages of 20.6 and 8.3. The 6.6 assists would qualify as his lowest averages in that category over his career.

Last year he averaged 21.7 points and 8.1 assists. In nine previous seasons, Marbury has never averaged fewer than 7.6 assists per game, and hasn't had fewer than 8.1 since the 2000-01, season, when he averaged 7.6 with the Nets.

This turbulent season he has often looked confused, and at times he has lacked his usual aggressiveness going to the hole. Part of that has been due to a shoulder injury he suffered Jan. 15, a sprain that caused him to miss 11 games.

"All I know is, you've seen me play and you've seen how I've been playing (this year)," he said. "When you watch the games, that's not Stephon Marbury."

Marbury, who still has $57 million owed to him through the 2009 season, acknowledged that his play this year has been so uncharacteristic that if he were a free agent this summer, he never would get the kind of maximum-dollar contract he signed back in 2003.

"I'm going with the spirit of what they've asked me to do," Marbury said. "That's all I can do. I'm not the coach. I'm the player. But I know that if this was my contract year, and I went to any organization, based on how I played this year, and asked for the max, tell me what they would tell me. They'd say, 'That ain't happening.'"

If Marbury, who had 18 points and seven assists last night, makes good on his declaration, it could add to any friction that has existed off and on all season between him and Brown. At times Brown has lauded Marbury for his play, including lately. He said recently that he thinks Marbury has played at times as well as he can, even though Marbury has obviously had much better seasons.

Brown has fumed at Marbury's play at various times, and Marbury has bristled at Brown's repeated public criticisms of him. But if Brown feels Marbury is not playing according to his philosophy next year, it could make this season look like a picnic.

The Knicks officially became the worst team in the league with last night's loss, falling to 17-44 while the Bobcats improved to 18-45, making them percentage points better, despite having a payroll less than three times smaller than the Knicks' ($123.5 million).

The loss snapped the Knicks' two-game winning streak, but they almost made a remarkable comeback. Down by 15 with 5:37 to play, they cut the deficit to two when Marbury stole a pass from Raymond Felton and fed Steve Francis for a breakaway dunk that made it 109-107 with 1:13 left.

But South Orange native Brevin Knight hit a jumper to make it 111-107 with 52 seconds to play, and after Marbury missed a jumper, Jumaine Jones hit a pair of free throws to get Charlotte's lead comfortably to six, 113-107, with 38.8 seconds to play.

Charlotte was playing without Sean May and Emeka Okafor, both out with injuries. But Jones had 28 points and Knight, the former Seton Hall Prer star, had seven points and handed out 15 assists. The Knicks were led by Jalen Rose with 23 points.
</div>
http://www.nj.com/knicks/ledger/index.ssf?...4480.xml&coll=1
Marbury just isn't the same player when he isn't constantly attacking the basket and breaking down the defense. Brown has him shooting jumpers all the time and, although he's an above average shooter, he's much more effective getting the and1 layup, or the assist off of penetration.

 

Brown has to realize, now more than ever, that he's on a sinking ship forcing his old style of play. As a coach, he has to comprimise something if the Knicks are going to start winning. Its terrible a terrible thing to see a team whose entire payroll is less than your back court's (culmulatively) and who are also missing their best player beats you. It's really hard to see us play like this, especially when we have so much talent and scoring potential.

 

Atleast it'll be more interesting to watch this team play.

 

I agree with Marbury. Larry Brown is an amazing coach and all, but this "do the right thing" and "playing the right way" is getting old. Brown could shove that up his ass for all I care. Unless Brown plans on staying with the Knicks for at LEAST a good 5 years there is no way you're going to change your leading player style of play after he's been playing his way for 10+ years. It's just not going to happen. In addition it's not like the way Marbury was playing prior to Brown was not effective. Again, I agree with Marbury in a sense he needs to play the way he's been playing or sit down with Coach Brown and talk about ways they can utilize his skills because the way Marbury is playing it not Marbury. My personal opition is that Marbury is as TALENTED as Iverson is. Marbury got a quick first step, he is explosice, VERY DURABLE and is built like a tank, not to mention he got good body control, but the way he's been playing this year, I don't even consider him a top 10 PG. Now I'm not saying it's all Brown fault that Marbury is stinking it up this year but something has to be done at one point because no way Marbury is going to change after 10 years and Brown needs to get it through his add that Marbury is never going to be that pass first PG.

 

i agree with you all. larry brown has got to know when to stop. its obvious this team isnt going to adapt to his style of play, but he keeps forcing it. theres only about 20 games left of the season, and i dont think the knicks have progressed at all. larry has just got to drop his whole system and work out game plans that fit with the players. he is just too tough minded to change..........for once im actually taking sides with marbury!

 

I hate larry brown......having said that, his track record speaks for itself. Plus, Iverson was a shoot first, second, now, later......pretty much always player, yet he has nothing but good things to say about coach brown. I think "starbury" is just not a winner.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Drake Remoray:</div><div class="quote_post">Brown has to realize, now more than ever, that he's on a sinking ship forcing his old style of play. As a coach, he has to comprimise something if the Knicks are going to start winning.</div>

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phiLA:</div><div class="quote_post">i agree with you all. larry brown has got to know when to stop. its obvious this team isnt going to adapt to his style of play, but he keeps forcing it. theres only about 20 games left of the season, and i dont think the knicks have progressed at all. larry has just got to drop his whole system and work out game plans that fit with the players. he is just too tough minded to change..........for once im actually taking sides with marbury!</div>

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree with Marbury. Larry Brown is an amazing coach and all, but this "do the right thing" and "playing the right way" is getting old. Brown could shove that up his ass for all I care. Unless Brown plans on staying with the Knicks for at LEAST a good 5 years there is no way you're going to change your leading player style of play after he's been playing his way for 10+ years. It's just not going to happen. In addition it's not like the way Marbury was playing prior to Brown was not effective. Again, I agree with Marbury in a sense he needs to play the way he's been playing or sit down with Coach Brown and talk about ways they can utilize his skills because the way Marbury is playing it not Marbury. My personal opition is that Marbury is as TALENTED as Iverson is. Marbury got a quick first step, he is explosice, VERY DURABLE and is built like a tank, not to mention he got good body control, but the way he's been playing this year, I don't even consider him a top 10 PG. Now I'm not saying it's all Brown fault that Marbury is stinking it up this year but something has to be done at one point because no way Marbury is going to change after 10 years and Brown needs to get it through his add that Marbury is never going to be that pass first PG.</div>

I packed up all your posts together since their all basically the same thing... Obviously you all arent in the know so I'll enlighten you: The Knicks were sinking long before Larry Brown came. The Knicks were sinking when the players were playing their way. The whole point of bringing Larry Brown over was to get them to change their way of playing and implement his system. A task which I said was impossible over the summer. That's why he's here. If we wanted a coach to accomodate the players and let them play they wanted we would have let Herb Williams coach the team.

What compromise do you guys want Larry Brown to make? Are you saying he should drop his system which has proven to be successful time and time and time again just so he could let our team of losers play the same brand of basketball that has failed them time after time again? Is that what you're all suggesting? I hope not. Why is it that all the other point guards Larry Brown has dealt with has learned to his play way except Marbury? The fact of the matter is Starbury has played his way his entire career and it hasnt resulted in not one playoff series win! Not one! So why would anyone even consider that the Knicks need to go back to playing his way is beyond me. Steve Nash plays the way Larry Brown likes his point guards to play and he's been extremely successful. If Marbury cant or wont play the way Larry Brown's winning system dictates then he should be traded. Period.


Anyway I think Isiah Thomas should be fired.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Tribute to H2O:</div><div class="quote_post">I packed up all your posts together since their all basically the same thing... Obviously you all arent in the know so I'll enlighten you: The Knicks were sinking long before Larry Brown came. The Knicks were sinking when the players were playing their way. The whole point of bringing Larry Brown over was to get them to change their way of playing and implement his system. A task which I said was impossible over the summer. That's why he's here. If we wanted a coach to accomodate the players and let them play they wanted we would have let Herb Williams coach the team.

What compromise do you guys want Larry Brown to make? Are you saying he should drop his system which has proven to be successful time and time and time again just so he could let our team of losers play the same brand of basketball that has failed them time after time again? Is that what you're all suggesting? I hope not. Why is it that all the other point guards Larry Brown has dealt with has learned to his play way except Marbury? The fact of the matter is Starbury has played his way his entire career and it hasnt resulted in not one playoff series win! Not one! So why would anyone even consider that the Knicks need to go back to playing his way is beyond me. Steve Nash plays the way Larry Brown likes his point guards to play and he's been extremely successful. If Marbury cant or wont play the way Larry Brown's winning system dictates then he should be traded. Period.
</div>

I think we all realize the Knicks were struggling before this season(I didn't know this was privy information ), however they weren't suppose to do worse than last year. At 33-49 last year with less talent, you would think this year, there would some improvement not the opposite. I think that Larry Brown as a coach should make changes to work with what he's got. You can't try and play a style of game when you don't have players that complement that way. Imagine if the Suns tried to play a slow it down half court style of play and reiled in the fast breaking. Of course they would be less successful.

Am I saying he should drop his system? No, I think he should comprimise with the players. Play to their strengths. If you know your team is not a good defensive one with why bench the players that do (or ate least try to) play hard defense (Ariza, or even Lee). If your rookies are playing well for you, why would you not play them, just because they make mistakes? How can they learn from their mistakes if you don't play them? If rookie X is not your type of player, play him and give him confidence to make him your type of player.

Maybe you're right, maybe the Knicks are a team of losers. But this year, Brown's successful time proven methods can take some of the blame for that. If the Knicks' want to improve, either Brown has to change or the team has to change IMO.

 

I have a hard time sympathizing with either side to tell you the truth.

You got to give credit to Brown for thinking he can make this team play the way he wants to, but eventually he'll have to realize the futility of it. Instead of giving Isiah a list of player he wanted, the first demand should have been to disassemble the whole team.

Stephon, on the other hand, has changed his playing style for half a season now? If he thinks that he's better off playing the old way, then that first half seems rather pointless. It just demonstrates that Marbury still hasn't realized what was wrong with his game in the first place.

 

I read comments about Marbury commenting on Felton after the Bobcats game, saying how he plays with so much confident because Bickerstaff has gives him freedom. He went on talking about how Bickerstaff does a great job of instilling that in his players and how his players play good because of the freedom they're given. Of course he was obviously implying that he could be much more effective if he was given freedom like Felton in Charlotte. I can imagine that...if he's given that freedom, Marbury can be unstoppable and do what he did in 03-04.

 

^^Word Shape.

I don't get how players can be so disrespectful to coaches that have had so much success, even coaches that haven't.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">What compromise do you guys want Larry Brown to make? Are you saying he should drop his system which has proven to be successful time and time and time again just so he could let our team of losers play the same brand of basketball that has failed them time after time again?</div>

No what, I'm saying is that MARBURY, not the team but just Marbury alone should be the player he accustomed to playing. Marbury is a natural scorer and Brown needs to realize that. Marbury is never going to be that pass first PG. An example is when Brown first coached AI he realized that AI is never going to be a pass first PG and he will just be that scorer, Brown needs to realize that with Marbury therefore he can accomodate Marbury in his system. Marbury needs to go out there and do what he does best and that's scoring. He hasn't been doing it much his year but come on he's been in the league 10 years and it's evident that he is scorer so why not let him play his role? A similar theory could be said about the other players on this team, but I won't get to that, but if anything Marbury the #1 star player has to know his identity and the way it looks it seems as if he doesn't know.

 

Marbury has had over 10 different coaches in his NBA career, he's frustrated now, you guys should understand that.


and I like this attitude, this team needs an attitude and demeaner, everyone on this team looks depressed or not interested in playing basketball.

I'm glad Marbury is getting hard and loud, he still cares, even though the Knicks are done this season.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">No what, I'm saying is that MARBURY, not the team but just Marbury alone should be the player he accustomed to playing. Marbury is a natural scorer and Brown needs to realize that. Marbury is never going to be that pass first PG. An example is when Brown first coached AI he realized that AI is never going to be a pass first PG and he will just be that scorer, Brown needs to realize that with Marbury therefore he can accomodate Marbury in his system. Marbury needs to go out there and do what he does best and that's scoring. He hasn't been doing it much his year but come on he's been in the league 10 years and it's evident that he is scorer so why not let him play his role? A similar theory could be said about the other players on this team, but I won't get to that, but if anything Marbury the #1 star player has to know his identity and the way it looks it seems as if he doesn't know.</div>

Well the problem is Larry Brown's system is based upon having a point guard that gets other players involved. That is why Brown is so hard on his point guards. When he first got to Philly he moved Iverson to shooting guard and had Eric Snow run the offense. Marbury cannot be allowed to look for his own shot for Brown's system to work especially when we have guys like Jalen Rose, Jamal Crawford, Maurice Taylor, Eddy Curry and Steve Francis who all need shots as well. So if Marbury is too selfish to get other players involved he should be traded as soon as possible.


Anyway I think Isiah Thomas should be fired.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Playing for 10 different coaches isn't a valid excuse for Marbury's failures.

Flip Saunders was more successful without Marbury.
Scott Skiles was more successful without Marbury.
Byron Scott was more successful without Marbury.
Lenny Wilkens was more successful without Marbury.
Larry Brown was more successful without Marbury.
Mike D'Antoni was more successful without Marbury.

Believe me it's not the coaches, it's players like Marbury who feel they are better than they actually are. He refuses to listen to his coaches. Look at the list above, these aren't lame duck coaches, all are winning coaches who run a 'team' oriented system.

If he wants to go on about "I want to play my way," then Knicks fans will be looking at more losing seasons. Basketball is not the 1-on-1 game Marbury thinks it is.

Good luck in trading him, too. I can't think of a single team who would trade for Marbury, and you have to wonder if a team was willing to do it, would the Knicks really want what that team was offering?</div>


Playing over 10 different coaches isn't easy at all, you have to learn over 10 systems. Mastering a system can take months to a year. Marbury has to go threw this phase, and was still sucessful.

Marbury has averaged 20 and 8 consistantly his whole career, Marbury isn't a "lame player either"



STARBURY IS BACK BABY, CONEY ISLAND STAND UP, 17 AND 7 ALREADY AGAINST AN ELITE WESTERN TEAM.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting j0se:</div><div class="quote_post">Playing over 10 different coaches isn't easy at all, you have to learn over 10 systems. Mastering a system can take months to a year. Marbury has to go threw this phase, and was still sucessful.

Marbury has averaged 20 and 8 consistantly his whole career, Marbury isn't a "lame player either"



STARBURY IS BACK BABY, CONEY ISLAND STAND UP, 17 AND 7 ALREADY AGAINST AN ELITE WESTERN TEAM.</div>


he's played with some of the best coaches...and failed
he's played on LOTS of teams that were successful...just after he left
he's a bum


17 and 7 means starbury is back? it deserves capital letters?

umm...17 and 7 is what he's averaged all year...so where is this starbury you speak of?