This is tough
I believe a lot of Marbury’s lack of scoring has to be put on Larry Brown. I am not nor have I ever been a fan of Larry Brown, so I know my opinion will appear tainted. There were games last year when Steph was benched the entire 4th quarter. He was constantly called out by Brown in the papers. He was basically shown that he was not wanted on the Knicks by Brown. All of these things will play a part in your game, with some players. AI dealt with the same thing but proved to able to blow Brown off and play his game. I believe Steph is a little more thin-skinned than AI, so was unable to not let it affect his play.
And, of course he had some bad shooting games, as well.
Jim, you and I both know Steph is capable of being among the league leaders in scoring. We also know that ANY player can have an off year, and has! With all due respect, it’s a little simplistic to say he missed a lot of lay-ups. You want him to go to the basket hard, it’s the cornerstone of his game. It enables him to get opposing guards in foul trouble, which leads to all sorts of good things. The Knicks, as a team, lacked off the ball movement, leaving Steph not much of a choice but to create his own shot. I agree he is a selfish player, but do you honestly think he took tough shot instead of passing to wide open teammates? Nobody lasts in the NBA as long as he has doing those type of things. Add to that the complete confusion of the Knicks as to their roles, and you have the makings of a disastrous season. I think you’ll see the difference this year, in ALL the Knicks!
HTG, although I scratched a hole in my head when Isiah made the Francis trade (alas, giving up Trevor Ariza), I can only hope he may have had the Dallas Solution in mind: overload at one position and use the surplus to get what you need in other areas. Plus, by the time he made the trade, the writing was on the wall as far as the season was concerned. The trade was looked upon the same as the Van Exel trade a few years ago in Dallas. Only Dallas was winning, so the criticism was a little different.
I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this story. If Mardy Collins turns out to be the pure #1 the Knicks need, he will be the steal of the draft and Isiah will be a genius! I like Isiah, but I don’t think he’s a genius.