Stephon Marbury's great opportunity awaits in Boston

ON BASKETBALL

It's not official yet, but anyone who closely follows the NBA knows it will happen.

One of the most league's most despised, selfish, wasted talents on the roster of the league's defending champion — on a team made up of his opposites: "team guys" who would never put themselves before their teammates.

And yet, I have a very good feeling about this. I think it will work (yes, I'm assuming it will happen) — both for the Celtics and Stephon Marbury.

That doesn't mean they'll win the NBA title together or even get past the conference finals, but losses on the court are as bad as things will get.

Marbury, to me, is not a bad person or even a naturally bad teammate. He's not irrevocably damaged. Rather, he is in need of direction. He needs to be a follower before he can become a respected leader.

At each of his NBA stops, he's been asked to run the team, be the starting point guard. Of course, as talented as he is, it made perfect sense. There was no way Mr. Big Time was coming off the bench or following the example of another player.

He was paid too much. His ego was too big.

And he played in a "players league." So as hard as the Don Caseys of the world might have tried to fine-tune Marbury into a winning point guard, he never had to listen, he never had to ride in the backseat.

That will all change in Boston. And that is the reason why this experiment has a great chance of not only landing the Celtics Banner 18, but rejuvenating Marbury's losses-infested career.

As a Celtic, he will ride the bench. It won't matter how well he plays — he's not getting budding starRajon Rondo's spot.

As a Celtic, he will be asked to follow one of the most voluble, intimidating leaders in the league, Kevin Garnett. This will not be like their ill-fated time spent together in Minnesota.

Then, they were both young and unproven. Neither player's career had taken off to the point of making him that much better, that much more proven and trustworthy than the other guy.

So Marbury, immature and full of himself, left Minneapolis as part of a bitter divorce. No one expected he'd ever reunite with K.G.

But now Garnett has all the power over his former teammate. He's the certain Hall-of-Famer. He's the man with the NBA title. He's got the ears of all his teammates.

He'll gain another set of ears as soon as Marbury's plane touches down. Screw up in Garnett's mind, and he'll be done before he can walk the Freedom Trail.

Experiments like this aren't new to New England sports. Not too long ago, the New England Patriots brought in controversial wide receiver Randy Moss. And even before that, they signed much-maligned running back Corey Dillon.

Under the killer eye of Bill Belichick, who doesn't blink when cutting players, Dillon never caused a problem and won a Super Bowl at the end of the 2004 season. Moss, meanwhile, has been nothing short of brilliant — and on his best behavior.

Doc Rivers might not be Belichick, but the makeup of an NBA team is more about the players than the coach. Even Belichick, with his iron fist, couldn't have handled the Knicks of a couple years ago.

The Celtics get it. Everyone, from Garnett to Ray Allen to Finals MVP Paul Pierce to youngsters Rondo and Kendrick Perkins, understands what the team is about and what its ultimate mission is.

There's no way a battered, bruised Stephon Marbury could mess that up even if he tried.

And he won't. Because even if a championship isn't important to him — and I doubt that — he knows that the only way to land a decent contract after the season is by being on his best behavior and doing what the Celtics ask of him.

So whether he plays 30 or 10 minutes a game (and I'm leaning toward the latter), don't expect to see the typical Marbury Pout while he sits on the bench once he moves one big city up the East Coast.

In fact, by learning from some of the game's best — both talent-wise and leadership-wise — he might change. He might become capable of running a winning basketball team next season, of being a winning starter for the first time.

To do something right, you have to see it and observe it first, right?

Marbury just turned 32. Maybe he'll be a late learner. ... Or maybe not.

But the marriage in Boston, even if brief, should be a peaceful one.

Wouldn't you like to be Stephon Marbury?

ON BASKETBALL
Question: If you could live the life of any athlete right now, whose would you choose?

Obviously, there's Tiger Woods. Dude makes yacht-loads of money, has a gorgeous wife and, oh yeah, is well on his way to becoming the best golfer of all time. But we're talking about today, and at this moment Woods can't even hit the Big Dog.

No, being Tiger right now isn't the ideal situation.

OK, how about LeBron James? Dude's one of the best two players in the NBA, is so loved by fans that the folks in Morose Minnesota gave him a standing ovation Wednesday, and he's quickly becoming a global icon. As an added bonus, you get to be boys with Stephen Curry.

Not bad, but LeBron continues to carry a heavy load for the Cavs. At this time of year, I'd prefer a little R & R.

Well, it is the baseball offseason, correct? Players don't have to report for two months. So being C.C. Sabathia would be tight, right?

Except that it wouldn't. C.C.'s going to be under such intense scrutiny next season, he's probably already hitting the treadmill two hours a day to try to trim that stout frame for the New York media hounds. Don't want them blaming your girth when you lose a game in April.

So forget about CC. Mo money, mo problems.

Except, however, when you're talking about Stephon Marbury. Yep, out of all the great players in the sports universe today — the Woodses, the Federers, the Kobes, the Peytons, the A-Rods and the Phelpses — none of them have a better life than Marbury.

Technically, Marbury is still a member of the New York Knicks. In fact, he was at their game Tuesday night against the Lakers. Only thing was, his bottom was plastered to a court-side seat at Staples Center alongside the likes of Jack Nicholson and the rest of Los Angeles' finest.

Marbury, sporting a hot-looking black leather coat, watched a tad of the game, did some texting and talking on his mobile device, and even conducted an interview with reporters during halftime. When he said, memorably, "I'm still earning my check by doing nothing. I'm staying in shape. My mindset is to enjoy my life."

In truth, Marbury is doing nothing. For all intents and purposes, he's unemployed — only his unemployed compensation for this NBA season is $21 million. And while I'm happy that he's staying in shape and enjoying life, he must be corrected on this: he is not earning that rather hefty paycheck. Not in any way.

But please don't blame Marbury. Seriously — the man's doing nothing wrong. It's obvious that New York coach Mike D'Antoni wants nothing to do with the point guard, and after a couple failed attempts at getting him to enter a game from the bench, their relationship was over.

After a fractured meeting with team president Donnie Walsh, Marbury was banned from all Knicks games and practices. In fact, he had to make sure that it was OK for him to attend Tuesday's contest in L.A. since it involved his, eh, team. (And it was fine; no violation.)

Such is the life of the 31-year-old from Brooklyn. I mean, just consider this for a moment. A kid like Marbury, who grew up dirt poor with nothing but a dream. Now he's getting paid a fortune, a life's salary, to do absolutely nothing. Life couldn't be grander, right?

Well, Marbury is actually handling this correctly. While he said he can't wait to be freed from his contract, which expires after the season, he has no plans of bailing out the Knicks for their woeful financial decisions (on a side note, Walsh must be loving Isiah Thomas right now).

And why should he? They agreed to pay him a certain sum of money. Now they want nothing to do with him. He owes them nothing, and I doubt he thinks very highly of the franchise.

Marbury said another NBA team has expressed interest in him. If so, and if he gets a new contract after the season, good for him — and maybe good for that team, as long as they are very careful not to pull an Isiah and do some deadly overspending.

Heck, maybe after a year of free millions, Magnanimous Marbury will make an appearance and agree to pay for a small salary.

Or maybe not.

But back to the question...

Come June, I'd like to be Tiger; he'll be hitting the Big Dog with regularity.

But at this moment, no athlete's life is better than Stephon Marbury's.

Marbury's case a unique one

ON BASKETBALL

While the New York Knicks continued to stink up Madison Square Garden Wednesday night, losing 107-97 to three-starters-less Sacramento, there was a positive for Isiah Thomas' dreadful bunch.

The return of point guard Stephon Marbury.

Not every Knicks fan, I'm sure, was excited to see their mercurial No. 3 back in uniform, but I sure was pumped. Marbury is a key cog on my fantasy team, and his 16 points in 30 minutes Wednesday was a solid first game back.

But enough fantasy, let's talk reality.

Wednesday marked a full month since the death of Marbury's father, Don, on Dec. 2. During the month, Marbury briefly came back for bits and pieces of three games, but he missed 10 games. His case is extremely rare in today's fast-paced sports environment.

Usually, an athlete mourning a family member's death will miss one game — or two at the most — before returning to their team. Rejoining their teammates and staying busy is the best way for them to grieve, for them to get over their enormous personal loss.

But not for Marbury, which is very interesting.

I can only speculate as to what Marbury has gone through the past month. Losing a family member who was very close to him must have been extremely difficult. But returning to one of professional sports worst franchises couldn't have been too enticing either.

Was there more to Marbury's absence? Or was it a combination? I find it hard to believe that if Marbury was a key player on, say, the Dallas Mavericks, he would have taken off a month.

That's just me — and I might be entirely wrong — but it's not as if everything was rosy for Marbury before his father's passing. Almost three weeks prior to Marbury's personal tragedy, Thomas fined him a day's pay for leaving the team in Phoenix, because Marbury was angry about being pulled from the starting lineup.

Since then, there have been conflicting accounts from both parties as to whether Marbury informed Thomas he was leaving. But by all accounts, it was not a day in the sun for the soon-to-be 31-year-old Knick. Marbury flew to Los Angeles for the Knicks' next game against the Clippers, and there he was shaking Thomas' hand before playing 34 minutes in another loss, but were things truly peaceful between player and coach?

Again, questions we may never know the answers to.

To go back even farther, Marbury's name surfaced during the sexual assault case against Thomas prior to the season when it was learned he had consensual sex with an intern working for Anucha Browne Sanders. The former Garden employee eventually settled the lawsuit against Thomas and MSG to the tune of $11.5 million.

So the last four months of 2007 weren't exactly smooth for the bald-headed Marbury. His already flailing reputation as a point guard who shot too much and simply didn't win games was hurt by the benching incident followed by the flight out of Phoenix. His off-the-court reputation wasn't helped by the revelation in the lawsuit — Marbury is married, after all.

But a month removed from his father's death, a more-at-peace Marbury made his return to MSG Wednesday night. Longtime New York Times columnist George Vecsey described Marbury's demeanor as "as soft and gracious as he had ever seemed." Marbury, Vecsey said, came back because of his faith in God.

Which sounds good, but how many times have we heard an athlete thank God or praise God for their accomplishments? How many times, during the course of a game, do players point to the sky with both fingers to salute God?

Very, very often.

So what was Marbury's motivation for sitting out for most of a month? Is he, now in his 12th season in the NBA, depressed about his situation? Forget the $20 million he's making, we all know money doesn't buy happiness. Marbury has yet to lead a team anywhere close to the NBA Finals. He's no longer considered one of the league's premier point guards — or even one of the top 10 PGs.

Again, lots of questions, no real answers.

It's often easy to label athletes: Some are selfish players, some are consummate team guys; some are brainless, some are smarter than we think; some have a knack for getting in trouble, most are pretty decent citizens.

With Stephon Marbury, however, it's hard to know.

I'd like to think the month he took off was because he really was struggling to get over the death of his father, because he didn't think his return would be beneficial to the already-unfocused Knicks. I really would like to think that.

But as long as he produces for my fantasy team, I guess I won't worry too much about what's going on within that shaved noggin.