<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I saw that Sporting News story that ranked the NBA's most over-paid players. As most of you know, Stephon Marbury ranked No. 2. It's good off-season chatter fodder. Something to write and get people to discuss. It also needs to be analyzed. I don't entirely disagree that Stephon's salary no longer rates with his performance level. But you have to also point out that this contract was given to him earlier in his career, when he was posting Big O-like numbers. His statistical comparables to Allen Iverson made Bryan Colangelo - who I consider an intelligent manager - agree to push Stephon over the $20 million-per-year plateau in Oct. 2003, when the Phoenix Suns signed Marbury to a four-year extension. (Note: at the time there were still two years left on the contract Marbury signed with the Nets in 1999, so the deal extends through the 2008-09 season). It's on Isiah Thomas, however, for agreeing to take on that hefty contract. Back then, Isiah said New York was a point guard town. Now he says the Knicks should be a power team. The focus might have changed, but the contract remained and now it's even more of an albatross. But back to Marbury...Iverson's numbers are still up there, with 26.3 points and 7.2 assists per game last season and a $20.1 million paycheck this season. Jason Kidd, the other highly-paid NBA point guard at $19 million, goes 13 points, 9.2 assists and 8.2 rebounds. By comparison, the arguably best PG in the NBA, two-time MVP Steve Nash makes just $11.3 million. His career did take a little longer to erupt, however. Same goes for Tony Parker, a championship PG, who makes $10.5 million. Let's leave them out of it, however, because they are different kind of players. Iverson and Marbury compare best. As does Baron Davis, who makes $16.4 million and averaged 20.1 points and 8.1 assists last season. Steph's numbers declined dramatically since he became a Knick. Two seasons ago, it was Larry Brown's coaching that made Marbury's point averages dip under 20 (16.3) and last season it was Isiah Thomas' decision to focus the offense on the post and Eddy Curry which caused Marbury to again average just 16.4 points per game. Marbury's assists also dropped from 6.4 a game two seasons ago to 5.4 a game last season. He's at the point now where his career numbers (20 points and 8 assists) are dipping below the Big O line. Going into this season, Marbury is averaging 19.9 points and 7.9 assists.</div> Source: The Knix Fix
