Text size:

Knicks teammates want Marbury gone

Ken Berger

September 30, 2008

GREENBURGH, N.Y.

I gestured toward the table Stephon Marbury had just vacated and asked Jamal Crawford if all the misplaced attention is a problem.

"That part of it doesn't bother me at all," Crawford said. "I just feel like, I guess right now that's the story - if he's gonna be here or if he's not, or does he come off the bench if he is here and all that stuff. That's all fine and well, but we just need to focus more on winning games."

Focus on the Knicks and not on the symbol of a failed era. Focus on the future and not the past.

"We should be more focused on restoring order to the Knicks," Crawford said.

Ken Berger Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

That can't happen, and won't happen, as long as No. 3 -- "Coney Island's Finest," as the tattoo on his left biceps says -- remains the center of the universe. "It's bigger than just one person, this organization," Crawford said.

This was after Marbury had finished his predictable, pointless rant at media day, hopefully the last time he will be in charge of a basketball court in New York. It was after he'd gotten up from his seat in the middle of the practice floor and wrapped his arms around me in an uncomfortable, asphyxiating embrace.

"I'm praying for you, man," he said.

Don't be alarmed. Don't be concerned that Marbury still had a seat on the charter as the Knicks flew to Saratoga Springs yesterday to begin Mike D'Antoni's first training camp. Maybe they decided to fly because nobody could stomach being on a bus with Marbury for three hours.

The Knicks open the season 30 days from yesterday, and everybody in a Knicks uniform realizes they must do it without him. Except Marbury.

"I want to play basketball and I believe I'm gonna play basketball," he said. "If it's here or if it's someplace else, doesn't matter."

Asked if he expects to be a Knick when the regular season opens Oct. 29, Marbury said: "If that's what happens, that's what's gonna happen. If I get waived, I get waived. If I'm playing, great. If not, great."

Later, Marbury said: "I want to win a championship here in New York. Period."

He rambled. He said a lot of things, stopping just short of the comment he made in the summer of 2007 when he announced that the reason for his newfound contentment was "happy juice." Whatever it is, his teammates are tired of drinking it.

Although Marbury wouldn't address what D'Antoni has told him about his role, his teammates have made their feelings known. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, D'Antoni polled the whole team on the Marbury issue. The response was overwhelming: They don't want him.

It was July 2007 when Marbury opened up about the clarity he'd found -- about finally learning not to obsess about outside opinions of him.

"I woke up and now I can smell the coffee," he said then.

The coffee was awfully stale yesterday, because Marbury trotted out the same tired speech. "I have a clear view of my life and a clear view of basketball," he said. "... This day right here is just like the day I got drafted. That was the best day of my life and that's exactly how I feel right now. I love being in this seat right here. This is what I live for."

When I pointed out that we've heard this before, Marbury went on a lengthy screed about a column I'd written explaining why he should be gone - like a toxic asset on Wall Street.

"It doesn't matter what you say," Marbury said. "It doesn't matter that you call me toxic and that you call me all of these different things. Because that's what you've got to live with. It's not me, it's you ... But it's OK, because I'm just going to pray for you, because that's all I can do for you is pray for you. I can't do nothing else. I don't want you to be feeling like that -- you going home with that inside you. You've got to lay down and chill with your family. I don't want you to feel that no more.

"Remember, I got kids, too. And there's kids that read the newspaper and they go back and they say things like that to my children. So it's really personal, but then again, it's really not personal, because that's who you are. So I've got to teach my kids not to be like you."

Then he hugged me and told me I'll be in his prayers.

His teammates are praying for something else.