Newsday’s Alan Hahn reported this afternoon that Stephon Marbury and Zach Randolph would each be available tonight when the Knicks face the Clippers. Earlier, the Knicks fined Marbury some $180,000 for missing last night’s loss in Phoenix, seemingly contradicting the point guard’s claim he’d been given permission by Isiah Thomas to head home.
CBS Sports’ Tony Mejia has observed Marbury’s antics of late, and submits the most definitive sign of Stephon losing his mind came when he claimed the Knicks would win a championship upon Randolph’s acquisition.
Right then, and I mean that second, New York should’ve known he had gone mad. I’m talking cobwebs-in-your-hair, bats-in-your-attic, crazy. That’s not a word to be thrown around loosely, either. I’m all for personal expression and I buy the whole, “crazy is a dismissive word” theory, but the Knicks-in-the-Finals talk was just that, and it was proof of just how delusional Marbury had become. This is what Thomas failed to consider when he made his decision to choose this four-game road trip the Knicks are currently on to make a move. So, on the plane, he was confronted by Marbury about his decision. There may or may not have been a skirmish, but undoubtedly, the news wasn’t well-received. Forget all the blackmail talk for now. If Marbury did allude to having dirt on Thomas, as the well-connected Frank Isola of the New York Daily News is reporting, it was heat-of-the-moment talk. Put it in the category of peculiar things Marbury has said in the past 10 months, like going off to play in Italy when his current contract is up.
Yeah, I can really see Lottomatica Roma salivating to get this guy running its team.