The Marbury Mess

Happy New Year everyone. I apologize for not posting with more frequency. One of my New Years Resolutions is to post 3-4 times a week. Holiday season is hectic as we all know. I wrote an article a few weeks ago about waiving Marbury. I still stand by my original opinion of Marbury doing the right thing. This is the Knicks' problem. They created this. If any of you were in this position, most of us would act the same. It is pretty tough to be guaranteed $21 million dollars this year and forgive your boss by accepting $5 million dollars and walking away. Situations like these feed into why some people do not like professional sports. I can sympathize with that. If it were about the game, Marbury would want to be playing. We have to remind ourselves again and again that this is a business. Just like any other market, each party is trying to do the best for his or her respective party. With all this said, this brings us to our most recent Marbury drama.

Marbury has been rumored to be interested in signing with the Celtics. It would be good for every party only if the right things came into play. If Marbury were paid his entire salary by the Knicks for this year and the Celtics just had to dish out the minimum for Marbury, the Knicks would cut ties with the player that has been haunting their surprising season, the Celtics would have the backup pg to Rondo, and Marbury would be in a better situation overall. I would say that New York fans would hate him for going to Boston, but at this point, Marbury going anywhere would make Knicks fans happy. The risk for Boston would be how Marbury can come back and perform. There is no telling how Marbury will play after all the time off. Another consideration would be the reuniting of KG and Marbury. KG claims that he is ok with Marbury coming to Boston. We all know that the relationship between KG and Marbury from their days in Minny was questionable, and reuniting both of them could be potentially harmful to team chemistry. If there were tension between KG and Marbury, locker room relationships may be damaged. A KG/Marbury division in the locker room would be something the Celtics should stay far away from.

For this move to work, Marbury would have to be willing to take a back seat to the Big 3. Marbury should realize this is not Georgia Tech, not the mid 90's T-wolves, not the mid-90's KG, and most importantly, not his team. Marbury will have to put his ego away and take his spot behind a 22 year old Rajon Rondo. It will be a tough transition, but if the numbers work out right, there might be some potential in this move. If I'm Danny Ainge, I don't do this deal. There are to many question marks in this move, and he needs to tread these waters carefully. A Marbury signing could be a very bad PR move. Unless there was a lot to gain from the Celtics, they should keep the group they have. The potential for damage to the Celtics can come from more ways than just the salary cap.

Izzy