Marbury, Thomas: Shake on It -- And Say No More
Missing Marbury returns, Knicks still lose in L.A.
Nov. 15, 2007 — -- "This is part of being a coach in this league," Isiah Thomas said, as if having a key player skip a game, fly home, then fly all the way back across the country was as normal as calling a play from the sideline.
The crazy thing is he's right, these kinds of things do happen in the NBA -- and only the NBA. For instance, Rod Strickland went AWOL twice; first in Portland, then in Washington. But they only happen to the teams that deserve it, to the ones that don't heed the warning signs, ignorantly and arrogantly believing that things will improve.
It says a lot about the New York Knicks that Stephon Marbury showed up to work for them on Wednesday. We've learned that no act is too disgraceful for them, not assembling an overpriced, underachieving roster or failing to win a playoff game or having sex with an intern in the back of a truck or dragging the franchise through the public laundromat of a sexual harassment trial. And skipping a game in a snit isn't a horrible offense either. Oh, it cost Marbury money. But in the world of Madison Square Garden, financial payouts are merely an inconvenience -- an $18.5 million settlement with a fired coach here, an $11.6 million jury award to a former employee there.
Marbury should have been suspended for his insubordinate act of flying home after getting in an argument with Thomas about playing time. There were reports -- all denied by the Knicks -- that punches were thrown and Marbury threatened to dish info on Thomas. The fact that he wasn't suspended shows that the Knicks are just that desperate. Indeed, Marbury's starting lineup replacement in Phoenix, Mardy Collins, sprained his foot and was unavailable Wednesday.
Marbury was docked about $195,000, according to reports, for missing the game in Phoenix Tuesday. That got his attention all right, prompting him to catch a 7:45 a.m. flight to Los Angeles Wednesday morning. But he was rewarded with the privilege of playing in an NBA game. And what type of message did that send to his teammates? Anytime you want to take an unpaid vacation during the season, your uniform will be hanging in your locker when you return.
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