Starbury: Change You Can Believe In (Not)

Okay, this is some Stephon Marbury news you can believe in. According to the New York Post, Steph himself has confirmed that the Celtics want to sign him. His later, slightly cryptic “I know I’ll be able to sign with two teams” is thought to refer to Miami. If true, this revelation puts quite a different spin on this kind of typical Steph rant:↵↵⇥“The question to be asked to the Knicks is: Are they fearful for me playing for another Eastern Conference team? My thing is, they shouldn’t be fearful. They’re trying to get under the cap for 2010. They shouldn’t be worried about me. You had guys saying I was a distraction, I’m a cancer. If I’m all those things, wouldn’t you want me to go to another team?”↵↵The answer is yes, maybe. As much as Marbury’s become a running joke to us fans and amateur scribes, it’s not like the guy lost an arm, or experienced an implosion that couldn’t be explained away by a dysfunctional setting. No, dude’s not perfect, as a person or a player.

But muscular PGs with his ability to score, and even dish a little, are a hot commodity these days. Apparently, Steph’s not just begging to Celtics to save his soul—there might be an outright bidding war over him. And to think, last week yours truly had him running off to Europe in exile, tainting an entire continent in the process.↵
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↵The truth probably lies somewhere in between the optimism of Ainge (sorry, still a chump) and Riley (egomaniac convinced of his own absolute power) and the jokey derision that’s become our knee-jerk reaction to everything Marbury says or does. However, at least we can still count on the inactive Knick to bust out quotes for days:↵↵⇥“Mr. Dolan says it’s up to Donnie Walsh,” Marbury said. “Walsh told us he’s got to run it through Mr. Dolan. It’s kids games. Like Barack Obama said, let’s put away those childish acts.” ↵↵Whenever you’re in negotiation with a party that has all the leverage, be sure to compare them to the least popular administration in American history. I can only guess that Marbury didn’t exactly get his own reference, and Walsh called Mike D’Antoni to share a good laugh—and order up paper Cheney and Condi masks. And hey, isn’t Dolan the W. of the NBA? That’s the real question: Will Marbury be required to shut up as part of his path back to civilization? I sure hope not.↵