The Mess in New York

Where Marbury spent his day off on Tuesday?

While the Knicks were in Phoenix taking on the Suns, Stephon Marbury spent the day in Brooklyn, mourning the death of his mentor, Robert Williams aka Mr. Lou.

Williams coached every great player to come through the Surfside Gardens in Coney Island, including Stephon and his brothers (Don, Eric, Norman, Zach), Sebastian Telfair, Quincy Douby, Chris Taft and Jamel Thomas.

“My dad passed away at 3 o’clock, and Stephon was here by dinnertime,” said Robert Williams Jr., 40, Mr. Williams’s son.

Earl Smith, one of Mr. Williams’s former players who is now a personal assistant to Spike Lee, said Mr. Marbury was in the Williams apartment “crying like a baby.”

"People don't know," Sebastian Telfair said. "But that's why Stephon left, to go to Mr. Lou. I wish I had the flexibility and the leverage to do the same, to be there for him and his family at this time."

“Madison Square Garden, that's the Garden for the professionals," Telfair said. "Our Garden is the Garden for street-ball players." Mr. Lou coached Telfair as well as Telfair's older brother and younger brother in the 36 years he held court there.

When asked how many hours he spent at Coney Island's Garden, Telfair grew puzzled by the small increment of time.

"Hours? Hours ... there's a decade's worth of hours there," he said. "He was there for all of it. He taught us everything, everything. I wouldn't be here, none of us could have done it without him."

Perhaps this is what Steph meant when he said that he had permission to leave.

(Via NY Times, Star Tribune)


Steph not exactly welcomed back with open arms

According to Yahoo Sports, while Steph was away from the Knicks, Isiah Thomas took a vote to see how the other players would react when Steph rejoined the team. It was unanimous, every Knick voted against allowing Steph to play upon his return.

Isiah apparently didn’t care too much about what the Knick players thought, as Steph came off the bench to play 34 minutes in the loss to the Clippers. Isiah also showed Steph the proper way to play defense:

“I’ve played with people I don’t like. I’ve won with people I don’t like,” Thomas said.

“We’re a professional basketball team. My job is to try and win the basketball game. “However I feel about a person, that doesn’t matter. We’re tying to win. Whatever happened in the past is in the past.”

Throughout his entire basketball career Steph has always alienated himself from each and every teammate he’s played with. He’s not the type of guy you will see being embraced by teammates when he does something well, because most people that play with Steph don’t like him. He’s never running to pick someone up, slapping a teammate five, or even smiling for that matter. It’s leadership at its finest.


Is Isiah Thomas on his way out?

The always reliable Peter Vescey is reporting that Isiah Thomas’s tenure in New York is very close to coming to an end.

"Even with James Dolan still in charge, I was fairly convinced Thomas' termination was going to happen Wednesday night following the Knicks' loss to the Clippers in LA - their fifth in seven games -or yesterday.

I continue to believe it could occur before tonight's game with the Kings in Sacramento (a halfway suitable replacement must be unearthed), and I'm not the only one.

The same source who tipped me off the Knicks had decided to buy out Larry Brown called to say Thomas had informed him Dolan was coming out west (a team official branded it inaccurate) to see him and sensed he was in severe job jeopardy.

Then again, that just might be wishful thinking. A couple Knick players and at least one staff member get the distinct impression Thomas wants to be fired and is going to extremes (I offer for evidence the bizarrely stained, even for Isiah, Stephon Marbury misadventure) to give Dolan no other choice."

Is anyone surprised? Please happen already. LET THE JB ERA BEGIN!!!