Remember Stephon Marbury? Yep, He’s Still Ballin’ In China

The Knicks have been rejuvenated in 2011 with Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony leading the way, and Madison Square Garden coming alive for the first time in what feels like a century. But while that happens over here, Stephon Marbury is still just doing his thing over there. And by “over there” we mean on the other side of the world, in China.

So how’s that going for him, you ask? Well, the Washington Post has your answer.

It’s not quite the Shangri-La I’d envisioned over the summer, but it still seems like Steph’s enjoying his freedom from the scrutiny that plagued his career in America. He’s even talking like Confucius a little bit! Unlike New Yorkers and Americans, he says, “The Chinese, unlike Americans - and particularly New Yorkers - “don’t fill their souls with negativity.”

Don’t worry, though. Steph hasn’t exactly become a communist. He thinks China is the future of basketball, and he’s using his time with the Foshan Dragon Lions as a business opportunity.

He’s like China’s LeBron. “I’m here to play basketball,” he says, “and I’m here to build my brand.” Also, in case you were curious, the answer is no, the Chinese fans can’t pronounce the r’s in Marbury’s name but they all love him, anyway:

“We all love Ma-bu-li. He plays great, and he looks so cool,” gushed Yuan Tianqiao, a 15-year-old fan who with some friends waited excitedly outside a makeshift locker room in the hope of getting an up-close glimpse of the heavily tattooed former NBA All-Star from Brooklyn.

Basically, I just wish there could an article about Stephon Marbury’s experience in China every single day. Seriously, if there’s somebody around to translate Timofey Mozgov’s Russian blogs, there’s gotta be someone who can start a blog on China’s LeBron. Right? Right.