End of an Odyssey

Well it's finally over. After numerous on-court outbursts, media-chanelled arguments, fines, suspensions, banishings and fatalities, the New York Knicks have reached a buyout agreement with Stephon Marbury, ending one of the most bitter relationships in sports. Although all us hoop heads have been kept thoroughly entertained these past few seasons by the ongoing beef between Starbury and his wayward employers, the whole saga was getting kind of stale. What began as arguments with coaching staff over philosophical differences escalated to public fallouts with teammates, an eventual dismissal from the lineup and painful buyout negotiations. Things always appeared to have hit rock bottom, only to have things grow more sour. It was amusing but at the same time depressing; here was Coney Island's savoir, a guy who used to be one of the best PGs in the League, returning to his hometown only to run his career into a brick wall and waste away his talent in designer threads on New York's bench. His own stubborn insistence on being bought out at 100% made it difficult for the Knicks to part with him, keeping a maligned, but insanely talented player off the court.

Whether he got paid in full or not, Marbury has agreed to part ways with the Knicks just days before the March 1st deadline that will allow him to sign with another team for the postseason. The talk around the league from sources close to both parties is that his signing with the Boston Celtics is imminent, which will re-unite the Showbiz and KG duo that seemed destined to rule the West in the late 90's. You know how the rest went. Apparently, Minny wasn't big enough for the two young stars and Marbury demanded a move closer to home. He arrived in New Jersey where he established himself as an All-League talent but began a steady descent into mediocrity and beyond, his teams always underachieved, his abilities as a leader were doubted. His slide culminated in the New York disaster, which may have crippled his career beyond repair. Who knows if he's even the same player that put up mediocre numbers on a shitty team a few years ago.

You all know how Garnett's story goes too; spent years trying to drag the Wolves out of the first round, becoming one of the league's most endearing and revered players (no to mention one of its best), before finally being dealt to a competitive team and gripping the Larry O as soon as it was within reach. His apparently imminent reunion with Marbury would bring full circle a duo that has gone in perfectly contrasting directions since splitting up, and bring Stephon into an environment unlike any he's experienced. Here he'll be asked to do for the team and not for self; play 5-man basketball, put his body on the line and get stats out of mind, concepts which hopefully are not beyond his grasp after numerous dysfunctions and dismissals have marred his career.

...and so Stephon finds himself back under Garnett's shadow, desperately seeking to contribute to a title defense. Hopefully by now he understands the point that he's had to learn harder than Kobe, T-Mac and Vince: being the man comes with a price. Marbury paid with laboring through the prime of his career in the Lottery, and more recently in a basketball-less abyss. Hopefully he's taken a page from KG's book, better yet read the whole thing a few times and adopted his philosophy because if Starbury's anywhere near the player he used to be he could mean the World to th Celtics...then again if he's the person he used to be he could seriously fuck things up.