The Celtics beat the always scrappy Indiana Pacers tonight, but the real news was that Stephon Marbury played his first minutes with the Celtics after only an hour of practice. Not gonna lie- he looked really good. I had no idea what to expect, considering that Stephon doesn't have an agent looking after him and there is no one really knew what he was doing in the last year. For all we know, he's been throwing up a couple thousand jumpers a day. Either that, or he's been rolling X and slamming jello shots at the Spearmint Rhino for the last year. Thank goodness for the Celtics, it appears as though he has been more on the basketball side of that equation.
He looked good- with all the shenanigans surrounding Stephon during his career, it's easy to forget that he was probably the best player on the 2004 Olympic team. He was also a legendary ass on that team, as well, which bears mentioning. But- he's a very good player! All- star talent.
Unfortunately, he's got a track record for being a pain in the ass that stretches back to his freshman year in high school. In "The Last Shot," Stephon was signing autographs on his first day of freshman year. For all intents and purposes, he's been a professional basketball player since the seventh or eighth grade, being recruited by high schools in New York, and he acts like it. Combine that with the fact that he has had a revolving door of bad coaches throughout his career and you get a guy that doesn't have the ability to work together with his teammates and coaches effectively. He's been the center of attention since he was 12 years old, maybe earlier! But, at the same time, Lebron had similar hype as a youngster, and unprecedented amount of hype as a high schooler, and he's a professional. So, clearly Stephon's main problem is mostly the dusting of crazy he's got going on- that craziness serves as PCP fueling his negative qualities.
Will Marbury help this team out? If this was NBA Live instead of the NBA, it would be a fantastic front office move. It worked out really well tonight. Stephon was the key player in the key run that won the game. Unfortunately, anyone who has ever had to work with a relentless asshole can testify to the fact that it is a draining experience not conducive to an effective work environment. It almost never works. For a little while you can delude yourself into thinking it won't be that bad, but it's always bad. Always.
Now, maybe Marbury's got a bad rap, I can buy into that a bit considering his coaching situation has always been suspect. Maybe he will have a new lease on life having spent a year being made fun of and ostracized, and he'll be playing 15-20 minutes off the bench. I just don't see any indication that it will be the case. If I was in charge, I would keep him quarantined from his teammates except when on the court. He would sit on the sidelines in a soundproof box made out of two-way mirrors.
Regardless, this season is much more interesting with Marbury in the mix, so there's always that silver lining.Source URL: http://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2009/02/celtics-win-marbury-looks-great-time.html
Visit ledger heath for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection
No comments:
Post a Comment