Steph Never Connected
I remember when Isiah made the trade. I was in practice with my team (coaching a
JV team in the CHSAA while I was in graduate school) and I remember telling them all the stories associated with the Coney Island Kid that were still lodged in my brain.
I remembered him in high school as an absolute can’t miss. The kid whose power and speed should have redefined the point guard position in the way that Lawrence Taylor redefined the LB position.
I really remember the blank look on the faces of my kids in that practice who felt that I was being a bit hypocritical in my take on Marbury. Up until that point in his career Steph was the very definition of a “me” player that lost everywhere he went. He had a ego clash over money in Minnesota, which dissolved possibly the next Stockton to Malone combo. In a way I was very much hypocritical because I had taught nothing but the importance of team ball over those past 6 weeks to those kids. I wish Steph had someone teach him those lessons early on in his life instead of letting him do whatever he wanted. Who knows, maybe things would have been different. But hey, he’s got money, right?
What the hell was I so happy about? Then I remembered thinking, “I’m happy Steph’s going to turn this thing around,” before realizing Thomas brought back Penny Hardaway’s deal in the trade which is when I said, “Oh geez. Can he do it by himself?”
Turns out no, he never could yet I always found myself, up until last year, rooting really hard for the guy in the same why I rooted for Mark Jackson or Rod Strickland. The NY born guard should win here, he really should.
I remember Steph’s first college game on ESPN and his alley oop slam against Manhattan College in Atlanta.
I remember his battle against Allen Iverson‘s Georgetown team, the alley oops to KG in Minnesota, his banker against Duncan’s Spurs in the playoffs and the fact that he wore #33 in New Jersey.
Sadly, the only positive memory as a Knick is the layup against Utah. Fitting, kind of, that the moment was truly as empty as his entire career here.
I’ll remember him not getting it, as well as his ability to get under people’s skin. I’ll remember his maddening ability to play defense only when he wanted to. I’ll remember his smile and thinking, “this guy HAS to smile or he’d surely cry,” and I’ll remember his bruit honesty about the back of the SUV. But most of all, I’ll remember him never connecting to this fan base.
In all honesty I hope that he goes to Boston and wins, because if he doesn’t, if the Celts somehow fall victim to Lebron or Kobe,the fans will all point at Steph as the reason they lost. He’s a born loser. He would be the common denominator.
I hope not because I’d hate for the Celtics fans to see that getting mad at Steph just makes you even more mad inside. And that the anger that I, myself, felt for a hometown guy is so infuriating because you know he doesn’t care. He had no heart for all the fans who held him accountable. He never played hard for those Knick fans, and he’ll never play hard for the fans of Boston. He wasn’t Starks, Oakley or Ewing, or Walt, Bradley or Reed.
He wasn’t Bernard King or Mark Jackson or Houston, LJ, Spree or Camby and if you were a fan of them and had their posters on your wall, traded their cards or wore their jerseys then you know deep down inside you never connected with Steph.
And some fans have the nerve to wonder why D’Antoni or Walsh never wanted him around? Those are the very people who never held Steph accountable for being Steph.
Sure, he may go and win in Boston, but you just get the feeling it’ll never happen.
It just won’t…
