This is the second installment of our Stephon Marbury chat recap paying tribute to FireJoeMorgan.com and ridiculing Marbury’s deplorable PR/sympathy tour over at the Worldwide Leader. Part I can be found here.
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Matt (MN): Do you regret the way things ended in Minnesota? What could you and KG have done the past 10 years if you had stayed together?
Stephon Marbury: I do not regret what happened and I do not think things went badly. I just chose not to re-sign. When I told the owner I was not going to re-sign I did it so they could go get a new PG. I do not know what could have happened. I could assume the best would have happened, but that would be just me assuming.
See? Steph is magnanimity personified. When he demanded his trade from the Wolves he enabled them to upgrade to a better model. And he’s been doing that for every team he’s played for ever since.
Nick (Orlando, FL): How do you want to be remembered when you have retired? Do you feel that this contract mess will harm your legacy?
Stephon Marbury: I would not say it would harm it, because if I go to another team and win some titles my legacy would be based on that. I have a lot of basketball left inside of me. People may think I am done, but I have a lot of basketball left.
Don’t fret Steph. You’ll still be remembered for burning down every team you’ve ever played for; for having sex in your truck with a 21 year old intern; for turning every team that’s ever traded you away into an immediate playoff contender. See? Legacy’s well intact.
Scott (Austin, TX): The rap on you is that you have been a selfish player. How would you respond to that comment? How do you think your teammates would respond?
Stephon Marbury: I do not know why people would say that. I do not shoot the ball 25 times a night. I have averaged eight assists per game throughout my career. I was always the person that was basically the blame guy when things went wrong, and I understand that comes from being the highest paid player. But look at the number of shots per game taken in my career and you will see it is not that many. So I do not believe I am a selfish player. I go on the court to win and that is it.
“I averaged 8 assists!” The highest paid player always takes the blame. Poor Raef Lafrentz.
Brandan (Rolla, MO): What would be the ideal conclusion of this season for you personally such as playing where?
Stephon Marbury: To get out of my deal, go to another team and win a title.
“If only there was something (anything!) I could do so they’d let me out of my deal…”
Lionel NYC: Do you think you’ll get into the hall of fame?
Stephon Marbury: I do not know. You never know what can happen. I can go to another team and win a title or two. You never know what is going to happen in the future, that is why you must allow your presence to be bright.
Lionel wins the award, as EZ pointed out to me, for the best possible question you could ask Stephon Marbury if you wanted to put the depths of his delusions on full display. The fact that this man can still conceive of a scenario where he makes the Hall of Fame…Wow.
kevin(la,ca): do you still think you are the best point guard?
Stephon Marbury: I’ve got to get back on the court before I make a statement like that.
If Lionel wins the gold, Kevin gets silver in a photo finish
for this one. In fact, the best reason I can think of why Marbury should get back out on the court is to find out whether he still thinks he’s the best point guard.
Jonathan (Boston): Have you been talking to KG at all? Or Sam? Do they want you to come to Boston?
Stephon Marbury: I have not spoken to any of them. But Kevin made a comment on ESPN saying that he would not mind me coming to play in Boston.
“Careful Steph…Don’t want to say anything compromising here…Gotta be careful… easy does it…Perfect!”
Parnell (Whitman, Ma): Have you ever thought of playing for my Lakers
Stephon Marbury: I would never rule out playing for the Lakers, but their roster is full. I think they are set.
“Oh believe that I asked! Kobe said they’re all good right now. But if something happens to Sun Yue, well let’s just say I’m next in line. “
Adam (Chicago): If you could play with any one player, not considering rest of team, who would it be and why?
Stephon Marbury: Kobe Bryant, because he is the best player on the planet.
Man love is a beautiful thing. Incidentally, my favorite episode of Stars-On-Stars, Steph’s ill fated talk-show on FoxSportsNet, was the one where Kobe was his guest. He was trying so hard to get street cred with Steph. But I think even he was a little bit taken aback when Steph said that KG got his contract extension in Minnesota because he told Kevin McHale to “Put the money in the bag!!”
Dan (Hamilton, ON): Since beginning your career in New York, how would you describe your experience with the Knicks, and if you could go back to the day you arrived in New York, would you still have come to play for the Knicks if you could do it over again?
Stephon Marbury: The first day I came back it was a rebrith for me from a basketball perspective. I was playing in my hometown. I would do it all over again, because I have learned so much and grown so much because of the move. I was able to build Starbury.com. There have been a lot of things that have happened that allowed me to build a successful sneaker and clothing line and made me a better person and helped me grow.
“It was the honor of my life to have the opportunity to help run my hometown franchise into the ground! I’d been dreaming about it since I was just a little boy. And now I sell products!! Did I mention that I sell cheap clothes?! I’m so misunderstood!”
Anthony (New York): What will you do after your basketball career is over
Stephon Marbury: I am a business man. I love real estate and my sneaker company, keep up with the Starbury brand. I am a philanthropist. I like going to charity events and helping people. I like speaking to young kids and telling them they can get out of the ghetto. I also want to go back to school and get my degree. And I want to challenge myself in life to be better every day.
I guess it’s a good thing that he plans to use his retirement to become a better person. I just suspect a lot of people wish he could’ve gotten on that a little bit sooner.
Colby (NY): Who gets your vote for MVP?
Stephon Marbury: Kobe Bryant.
God knows Steph loves him some Kobe. But could this have anything to do with the fact that Lebron trashed Steph’s shoes?
Mike (NY, NYC): Do care that you may be hurting the Knicks by not accepting a reasonable buyout?
Stephon Marbury: This is a business. Just think, if you signed a contract and you were supposed to get $100 and then the person you signed the contract with said they would only give you $80, how would you feel? Forget about basketball and just think about it as a deal.
Ok, fair enough. Let’s just think about it as a deal: Let’s say a company promised to pay you $100 to work for them. And then mid-way through your employment you decided you wanted to go work for a different company. Would you expect them to give you the full $100 even though you were going to be working for somebody else? Steph would apparently.
Will – San Francisco: What is the biggest misconception about you?
Stephon Marbury: When people get to meet me they understand me a lot better. I speak my mind. And because I do that people have a hard time dealing with it. I think a lot of people do not like speaking their minds. I am an open book. I have no secrets. I am not perfect, but I try to learn and grow from the mistakes I make, so I can be a better person.
It’s true. Speaking your mind is the worst thing you can do. No one would have even noticed that Steph was a terrible teammate, historic loser, and huge embarrassment to the franchise if he’d just been quiet about it.
Stephon Marbury: Thanks to everyone for coming on to the ESPN chat. I am sure there are some questions I could not get to, but I am blessed to be able to be talking to you and I thank God for letting you hear my side of the story. Most of the time you only hear one side of the story and not the other. So for me to be able to share with you my side, makes me very happy. Thank you for supporting Starbury and everything else. Make sure to check out Starbury.com!
“Thanks for giving me this platform to spin some excuses and rationalizations to you. And for the opportunity to play victim for a little while. There was starting to be a little bit too much unvarnished truth out there about me. Gotta nip that in the bud. Oh yeah! And don’t forget I sell cheap sneakers!! Buy them! It’s practically charity!!”
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[...] Star-Chat Re-cap, Part I Jan 27th, 2009 by Jon. Hi all, I actually posted this in it’s entirety yesterday but it mysteriously disappeared. Luckily (for some, angrily for others), I saved a draft! So this time I’m breaking the post up into two parts. Here is Part I. I’ll post Part II sometime later today or tomorrow. Enjoy getting angry! (Whichever side you’re on.) Part II is here. [...]