If the sage advice of Magic Johnson wasn’t enough, Stephon Marbury has another Hall of Famer eager to straighten him out, writes the New York Post’s Marc Berman.
Knicks legend Walt Frazier told The Post he’s trying to arrange a sit-down with Stephon Marbury to talk basketball and instill old-school values into the point guard’s clouded mind.
Frazier, the greatest guard in Knicks history, might just want to hand Marbury his new book – called “The Game within the Game” – on their plane ride home after their 112-96 loss to the Pacers last night.
“It’s about old-school values having been lost in today’s game,” Frazier said of his book. “The lack of work ethic compared to when I played. It’s why free-throw shooting is so bad.”
Frazier said Marbury is struggling handling adversity; a main theme in his book is that the new generation is coddled so much it can’t deal with tough times.
“I think Steph sometimes gets a bad rap,” Frazier said. “Sometimes he sees me on the plane, points at my championship ring and says, ‘I want one of those.’
“This is the first time he’s gone through this type of adversity in his basketball career.”
Much as I hate to differ with Clyde (he taught me everything I know about how to dress like a pimp stylish adult), Steph’s no stranger to adversity. If you count his tenures in New Jersey and Phoenix, there’s a pretty long span of disappointment.
While Da Bulls are denying any intention to swap P.J. Brown as part of a three way deal with Denver and Philly (Marcus Camby going to Chicago and Allen Iverson headed for the Rockies), the Nuggets’ George Karl blames the A.I. talk, in part, for his club dropping 3 of 4 (the latest, a 119-114 decision to Boston, despite 42 points from the Association’s new scoring leader, Carmelo Anthony).
œI don™t answer the phone – I just kind of feel the phone vibrate, Karl told the Boston Herald’s Mike Murphy. œI™m not going to deny (that it™s a distraction). We™re human beings. Yeah, I™m sure it affects some of our players. But I don™t have my computer, so I don™t have any trade rumors.”
It’s amazing how casually some people can disrespect the print media.
For a player without a no-trade clause in his contract, Allen Iverson seems to have considerable say in his next place of work. After supposedly vetoing a trade to Charlotte earlier in the week, A.I. has let it be known he has no interest in being moved to Sacramento or Golden State, reports the Philadelphia Daily News’ Phil Jasner.
A nightmarish start to the ’06/07 season continued last night for Austin’s D-League entry, as the Toros dropped their eighth consecutive game, 85-84 to the Dakota Wizards. G BJ Elder led a frantic comeback attempt with his 38 points, but the Toros couldn’t compensate for the brutally cold shooting touch of Brock Gillespie, Brad Buckman and Jamar Smith (a combined 4 for 24 from the field).
The winless Toros will attempt to get off the schneid tomorrow afternoon against Sioux Falls at what should be a near-empty Austin Convention Center, for what might be former Dookie Jason Williams’ NBDL debut.