Does the trade Bring Steph into the Mix?

by Tommy Dee on November 21st, 2008 at 9:09 am

Right before I heard about the apparently impending announcement, I was thumbing through the Post on the train, as I do everyday on my to work.

I was getting ready to get after Berman, via a post, on his D’Antoni piece. Now, I’m not one to get after beat writers, but two statements struck a nerve.

“…He’s (D’Antoni) made two significant blunders, mishandling the Stephon Marbury saga, which could hurt his reputation around the league with players…”

Players around the league don’t care enough about Stephon Marbury, so to suggest that D’Antoni is being looked down by players across the league and may not want to play for him, is simply ridiculous.

Also, to suggest that Marbury was the team’s best defender two years ago is even worse.

“…Walsh blames the Knicks’ defensive woes partly due to Jared Jeffries‘ absence. Jeffries could return in two weeks. But D’Antoni’s exile of Marbury has hurt their defense, too. Marbury was the team’s best defender in his last full season – 2006-07 – and would be a defensive upgrade over Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson…”

The team has been bad, so being the best at anything is misleading, but Marbury is a horrid defender against any shooting guard that can use a screen even two years ago when he “rededicated” his defensive game.  He gets under every screen and allows clear looks, which end up at the bottom of the basket. Who cares about 2 years ago, he wasn’t great then either.

So with what has transpired the question becomes does moving Crawford allow Steph a place in the lineup?

My guess is no. The team is done with him, and this will open up more minutes for Nate, while moving Q to the two. We mentioned in an previous post over the summer that we’d like to see Q spend some time on the post bullying two guards. They do need some semblance of a post game.

So don’t expect Steph to be in uniform, he’ll be gone soon too. I think this is the start of the dominoes.
  • Jake B.

    You absolutely cannot put Stephon back in the rotation. Donnie and D’Antoni have made their message clear and going back on that now would be a big mistake both for the growth of the team on the floor and in the locker room. No one in the NBA really cares about Stephon at all. Who was he looked out or stood up for during his career?

    For those who remember Q both at DePaul and with the Clips, his low-post game was huge and ever since he got to New York I’ve been wondering why he doesn’t go back to his old game. Now I know his back probably had a lot to do with it but if there is ever a time to tap into that old Q, now is it. How demoralizing is it to be a SG defending Q getting beat up on the post and also having 3′s drained in your face. It also would make the transition of Nate coming off the bench that much more of a game changer. Jamal and Nate were too similar too much.

    I think I can speak for most people when I say Jamal endeared himself to New York in the way that he was always kind, honest and meant well. So with that, we put up with him going 12-35 on most nights. I think he’ll do well in Golden State and I wish him all the best. The NBA needs more people like him.

    That being said, this team has a long way to go defensively but this is a step in the right direction. Until this team learns how to rotate properly and be accountable on defense, things won’t get any better but I like this trade a lot.

    Well done Donnie.

  • Chris Alvino

    Truthfully, for the good of the team, they would put Marbury back into the lineup. Marbury has the ability to start at the 2. Without Crawford, who else will? Nate? Then who comes off the bench?

    If Crawford is involved, the Knicks need to replace him in the starting lineup.

  • Chris Alvino

    If Mobley is coming here, then forget about Marbury.

    If Donnie Walsh is trading away Crawford and Zach, then he might as well just buyout Steph. If you are overhauling the roster, then do it right.