Steph’s New Tatoo

[...] you haven’t seen it, check out Stephon Marbury’s new tattoo.  Not sure what he was thinking on that one.  Didn’t Steve & Barry’s go into [...]

I’ve always been a big Steph Marbury fan, so it pains me to say that the move has to be to buy him out and release him. If you think about it, the Knicks have two routes to imrpovement. The first is free agency. The Knicks have no shot of getting under the cap for two years, but a shot in the third year of doing so and the assumption is that they are going to do what they have to do to do that. The second route is the draft. The Knicks will have their pick in the upcoming draft and then the pick they owe Phoenix loses its lottery protection for 2010, so the team will probably lose it. Therefore, in this upcming year, the Knicks should do whatever it takes to finish with a bad record. That is tough for fans to take, but this HAS to happen. Then, in 2009-2010, the should start to improve with the hopes of attracting one of the big free agents in the class of 2010. Steph has one year left on his deal. We can’t even think about re-signing him because that will screw up the cap space, so with him we must only focus on this year. If he plays, he may win us some extra games, but that will only hurt the draft positioning, which must be the goal this year. (I’d much rather have a top 3 pick then get the 8th seed and get swept in the first round and give our pick to Phoenix) Therefore, there is nothing to gain from having Marbury on the team. I don’t see him mentoring Duhon and Collins so it is really useless. Peace Steph. Thanks for nothing.

From CNBC’s Sports Biz with Darren Rovell: “Sure, Steve & Barry’s has contracts with Stephon Marbury to make the “Starbury” shoes, but once that contract is over Marbury can do as he pleases. Marbury’s company, the Starbury Corporation, owns all the marks associated with the Starbury franchise. Sarah Jessica Parker is registered for her Steve & Barry’s line “Bitten” through her management company CAA and the company also doesn’t own Venus Williams’ line “Eleven.”"
I was joking with my girlfriend last night that S&B’s took a sudden turn for the worse due to Starbury’s last season. To be honest, I feel bad for this guy. He seems lost. Obviously, no one wants to lose the way this team has lost, and I think he’s been frustrated trying to figure out why he can’t win anywhere he goes, despite obvious skills. I think with the right coaching early in his career, Steph could have been something special. But sadly, at this point, he’s damaged goods and it would be a miracle for him to be able to have the kind of season everyone thought he’d be able to when he came into the league (or even when he came to the Knicks). Obviously, the ridiculous contract certainly softens the blow of unfulfilled potential, but it’s still tough to walk away as the antihero after dreams of bringing back greatness to the hometown.