Stephon Marbury

Stephon Marbury is the best point guard in the NBA.

Bitch, please.

Stephon Marbury isn't the best point guard in the state of New York. Isiah Thomas could step on the court TONIGHT and be a better point guard. Larry Brown, replaced hips and all, could show Marbury a thing or two about being a point guard. Penny Hardaway can still manage a team better than Marbury. I'd pick whoever's starting at St. John's this year over Marbury. I'll even go so far as to say that if they took the train over to Brooklyn, they could find a better point guard in the middle of some streetball game.

He isn't the best point guard even amongst shooting guards and small forwards. Who does this guy think he is? And why does this man have fans? Now let's be fair: I don't know anything about this guy outside of what he does on the court. He might be a nice guy. When it comes to his game, though...this guy is overrated.

If he's so good, why have I never seen this man on a winning team? He's not like Mitch Richmond. Mitch was a great shooting guard who never had a serviceable team built around him, let alone a winning team. Marbury, on the other hand? He didn't make GA Tech any better when he was there. When he got to Minnesota, he was practically giftwrapped a future championship when he teamed with Kevin Garnett. He was traded to New Jersey where he would eventually team with Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin, yet the team languished in the East's cellar...until Marbury was traded. Then, that same team went to the NBA Finals with new point guard Jason Kidd. His new team, the Phoenix Suns, had Shawn Marion and Penny Hardaway and would draft Amare Stoudamire. This team would languish in the West's cellar and struggle to make the playoffs before Hardaway and Marbury were traded to the Knicks. That Suns team wouldn't do anything at all until the next year...when new point guard Steve Nash signed there. Then that exact same team would win 62 games and go to the Western Conference Finals.

Does that sound like a winner to you? Sure, he's talented, but he's never made anyone else better. In fact, I have a personal belief that his ball-hogging has ruined the latter part of the career of Penny Hardaway. His style of play has never benefitted anyone other than himself, and he's the point guard! It's his JOB to make others better! Some people might say, "but he's a scorer!" or "he's never had good players around him; he doesn't have anyone to pass to!"
That's a load of crap. I present exhibit A: Allen Iverson. Drafted the same year and at two inches shorter, this man dominated the league in scoring and carried a team of no-names to the NBA Finals in 2001. He was/is also a shoot first point guard who didn't make anyone better, but he was always a dominant scorer. So he was moved to shooting guard and somehow began to make guys like Aaron McKie and Eric Snow better from that position, by drawing defenses and finding the open man. Last year, he was moved back to point guard and had his best season, as he had good players around him and while they struggled, they got better as the season went on. This year, he's putting up insane points and assists numbers in this early season, and helping Chris Webber resurrect his career (he's looked better here than he has in about two or three years) and helping Al2 (Andre Igoudala) blossom into a star in his own right.

Allen Iverson had NO good players around him, and willed his team to the Finals. Why can't Marbury do that? You know why? Because he's not as good as advertised. He's not a dominant scorer (he's a good scorer, though) and he doesn't always find the open man. He doesn't draw defenses because you know that he's not that great of a shooter so you can play off of him and when he drives to the basket, he's going to force something stupid, rather than find the open man (like a real point guard). He's the ultimate me-first player in the NBA and represents almost everything that I find wrong with today's game. Yes, he's got deadly handle with the ball, but what NY point guard doesn't? Yeah, he's quick, but so is Nate Robinson. There's nothing exceptional about his game, especially now, since he doesn't dunk anymore.

So if you have a guy who doesn't make his teammates better, doesn't put up an overwhelming amount of points, doesn't will his team to victory, doesn't pass, doesn't even do anything spectacular to give the fans a reason to watch...what's the point in even playing him? And why has no one ever called him out on claiming to be the best PG in the NBA? Especially when Jason Kidd and Steve Nash still draw breath. Two men who took his old teams (in their entirety) deep into the playoffs. And he has the nerve to suggest that HE'S the best? The best at what? Has he ever played on a winning team?

Surprisingly, yes. Once in 2003-04. Phoenix won 53 games. And Minnesota was 25-25 in the lockout season. He only played 18 of those games before he was shipped to New Jersey, though. Terrell Brandon would take over at PG the next season and they'd start their streak of consecutive playoff appearances. I completely forgot about that one.

Is it all worth it, New York? Personally, I would have kept Charlie Ward.