DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Sources: Marbury, Celtics interested in deal

Nearly one year since Stephon Marbury last played in a regular-season game, signals are getting stronger that the New York Knicks' outcast will eventually make his comeback with the Boston Celtics.

That still depends largely on Marbury's ability to negotiate his release from the Knicks after weeks of fruitless and oft-contentious buyout talks, but sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.com this week that Boston is Marbury's preferred destination if he manages to become a free agent and that the Celtics are indeed hopeful of signing him.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a New Year's Day holiday for the entire league and has generally refused to address the possibility of signing Marbury. Yet it's believed that the Celtics' concerns about their depth, after losing James Posey and P.J. Brown from last season's title team, have swelled noticeably since they followed up the best 29-game start in NBA history at 27-2 by losing three of the next four games on the road.



Marbury

With Brown telling the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Wednesday that he is "officially retired" and Dikembe Mutombo having re-signed earlier this week with the Houston Rockets, Marbury easily ranks as the most accomplished low-cost veteran that the Celtics can add to their bench in-season. Boston also knows it would have the option to simply release Marbury without significant salary-cap consequences if he fails to click as a backup or proves unwilling to accept a secondary role.

It appears that the biggest obstacle to such a move is Marbury actually securing a buyout from the Knicks in a timely fashion as opposed to reservations Boston might have about Marbury's impact on team chemistry.

Although it has been widely assumed that Celtics forward Kevin Garnett would resist a reunion with the controversial point guard -- after Marbury broke up their Minnesota parternship in less than three seasons together by forcing a trade to New Jersey -- one Celtics source insists that Garnett has voiced no opposition to the idea of signing Marbury for the rest of the season to strengthen Boston's backcourt depth behind starters Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen.

When asked specifically about the likelihood of Marbury joining the Celtics this season, the source predicted that "it will happen."

Joining the NBA's reigning champions would certainly back up Marbury's recent claim at halftime of a Knicks-Lakers game in Los Angeles that "the team I'm going to go to, a lot of people will be shocked." The 31-year-old hasn't officially played for New York since Jan. 11 of last season and began this season on the inactive list while awaiting a buyout. Marbury was then barred from contact with the team in late November after a dispute over Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni's offering him the chance to start playing again following the Knicks' two trades on Nov. 21, which left them short of available players.

The Celtics lack size more than anything off the bench, which should explain their interest in Brown and Mutombo. But Marbury -- when he's right -- is a proven scoring threat who can also handle pressure on the ball, freeing up Eddie House to focus on his preferred role of designated shooter. The Celtics also clearly have the strong team culture -- with Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and coach Doc Rivers -- to take on the various challenges of a Marbury dice roll.

"All the people who say nobody wants me on their team, [that] I'm all different things -- a cancer -- that's not what's going on," Marbury said at the game in L.A. earlier this month when surrounded by reporters.

One source close to Marbury cautioned that it would be premature to say that he's narrowed his wish list down to the Celtics, but one Western Conference executive said of the notion that Marbury is Boston-bound: "I've heard the exact same thing."

The fact remains, though, that Marbury has to extricate himself from the Knicks before he can make any firm future plans. Media outlets in New York have reported in recent days that Knicks president Donnie Walsh is planning to seriously rekindle buyout talks now that the calendar has flipped to 2009, but one theory in circulation holds that the Knicks have dragged out Marbury's release this long in part because they don't want to see him wind up as a contributor in a championship race with a team from the same division.

The Celtics have also yet to make either of their two scheduled regular-season visits to Madison Square Garden. The first is Sunday and the second is Feb. 6.

In buyout negotiations to date, Marbury has refused to surrender more than $1 million of his $20.8 million salary and, at last report, was no longer offering to give back that much. The Knicks have reportedly asked Marbury to give up at least $3 million for the right to choose his next team, although they could be moved to lower those demands if a trade materializes that requires New York to open Marbury's roster spot.

Assuming that Marbury does eventually secure a buyout from the Knicks, it would appear that his options are scarce should the Celtics ultimately decide not to take the gamble.

Orlando and Phoenix are among the top teams needing guard help which have publicly declared their intent to steer clear of Marbury. Miami is often mentioned as a possible destination, but the luxury-tax implications from signing Marbury and the Heat's status as a rebuilding team make it a questionable fit. It is unclear whether the Los Angeles Lakers -- who recently lost backup point guard Jordan Farmar until mid-February at the earliest because of knee surgery -- would be a Marbury bidder.

ESPN.com reported in mid-November that Dallas planned to investigate the possibility of signing Marbury if he became available -- with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Marbury having built a casual friendship over the years -- but that was before J.J. Barea emerged as a reliable contributor off the Mavs' bench. Club sources, meanwhile, have maintained from the start that the Mavs would likely pass on the tricky prospect of bringing in Marbury to back up Jason Kidd, given what happened after those two were traded for each other in the summer of 2001. Kidd led New Jersey to back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003; Marbury experienced only moderate success in 2½ seasons with Phoenix before a 2004 trade to the Knicks which has delivered little beyond a steadily deteriorating relationship with his hometown team.

In a first-person weblog entry for the New York Post on Wednesday, Marbury discussed his ongoing exile from the Knicks.

"People who know me know I'm in the best shape of my life," Marbury wrote. ". . . Bottom line, I came to camp with the right attitude, in shape and ready to play. I didn't come to be a distraction.

"I didn't want to be a distraction for the team first and me second. I honestly came to help the team win. Real talk. I was willing to put in the work necessary to earn my starting spot and humble enough to accept coming off of the bench.

"It was unfortunate that the coach wanted to go in a different direction and didn't want me to be part of the team. I just wish it had been handled correctly from jump. I could understand the fact they didn't want Chris Duhon looking over his shoulder, but if you don't want me just pay me and let me go. I just want to play basketball."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3804977
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I think that this would be a bad move for the Celtics so I hope that it happens lol

Go get him "C"s. I would like to see the "Iverson Effect" happen to your team too!

I don't get it. "We won a championship last year, we have the best record in the league this year, so let's change the formula and hope to find something that works."

One question.

Why in the hell would they want this cancer?

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Why in the hell would they want this cancer?

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As a Celtic fan, the only option I see is that he'll be a backup PG and take the role of shooting the ball off the bench.

It's actually kind of important, Sam Cassell was really good at it. Guess we need Marbury to do it now. haha

We're looking at Marbury as Cassell. When we signed Sam last year it was to be that spark off the bench, and thats all we're looking at Marbury as.

It's really a much lower risk signing than it appears. Eddie House can move to the position he prefers, and we get a PG who is willing to shoulder the load if need be. Plus if Marbury can work with a Ray Allen, itll be even better.

Everyone in Boston knows the starting job is Rajon Rondo's, and everyone will continue to know that. Just because the name Marbury is thrown around, dont worry. Think Randy Moss in NE. Thats the basic plan, minus the starting job, he will come in as a backup and be fine, or else he will be gone immediately.

No risk, no worry, no problem

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Think Randy Moss in NE. Thats the basic plan, minus the starting job, he will come in as a backup and be fine, or else he will be gone immediately.

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Dude, Randy Moss was 2nd in the nfl in receiving by about 10 yards and had 7 more TDs than the next closest WR... that's not a very good analogy.

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Dude, Randy Moss was 2nd in the nfl in receiving by about 10 yards and had 7 more TDs than the next closest WR... that's not a very good analogy.

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He's taking Sam Cassel's role of last year. We both just explained it. Bad analogy yes, but basically his job is to take shots as a backup. We take out our starters at the end of the quarters and beginning of the quarters to rest them. They aren't like Lebron and play close to 48 a game.

The Celtics are a deep team, but we need a guy willing to shoot the ball who is a backup. The shooting pct doesn't have to be that high, we just need a shooter. Eddie House is a liability dribbling the ball and not a great passer, he's a decent defender and a good spot up off ball shooter.

So yeah, Marbury makes sense. If you think that that guy is going to become a cancer to the Celtics, your crazy. We will simply cut him if he's like that.

He's a backup and we're a very deep team. I'm not a Starbury fan, but he can carry the ball down the court for us, and he can take the role of dribbling then shooting which Cassell did so well for us last year.

With Sam, we were guarenteed to at least get off a shot, sure it would make you nuts when Sam was shooting when the starters were on the court, but hey, A SHOOTER'S GOTTA SHOOT BABY!

Don't worry about my guys, will be fine. We were national champs and are still number 1 in the East and number 2 in the NBA. We had a 3 game losing streak, but expect another like 20 game run.

Worry about your teams, they're the ones who have to step up, the Celtics were dominant all last year. If Cavs fans think that Ray Allen will be ice cold during the first two series of the playoffs, they ought to think again. It won't be so easy when Pierce and Allen both are hitting shots.

MMMMmmmMMM Cancer is goooooooood.....


NOT!

Whoa man, after reading that, I am sure your breakdown for the rest of the league would be "must read" material

You probably get the bulk of your NBA basketball knowledge from Tommy Heinsohn as you watch your beloved C's.. You come off very slanted in your observations...

Hopefully Marbury will do what Sam did for you last year. He can help you "guarantee to at least get a shot off"

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If you think that that guy is going to become a cancer to the Celtics, your crazy.

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All he said was it was a bad analogy, and it was, it was terrible or turrible if you like.

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They aren't like Lebron and play close to 48 a game.

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Lebron doesn't play anywhere near 48 a game.

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Don't worry about my guys, will be fine. We were national champs and are still number 1 in the East and number 2 in the NBA.

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Haha, no one is worried about "your" team. But maybe you should pay more close attention to "your" team. The Celts have the #1 winning % in the NBA, not 2.

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Lebron doesn't play anywhere near 48 a game.

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I stand corrected, I didn't think that James' minutes changed much since he was playing more than anyone in the NBA. I checked out the stats, you're correct.

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Don't worry about my guys, will be fine. We were national champs and are still number 1 in the East and number 2 in the NBA.

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I also stand corrected about the Celts average. I thought the Lakers lost fewer games than they did. It's a good thing that we're number one i guess


And I need to be cut a break on having more trouble following the Celts this season. I watch them when they're on national TV every time or when they play the Nets/Knicks, I don't go to school in Vermont anymore and don't get the Celtics locally. I was hoping to be in OCS with the Coast Guard this month, but unfortunately the people who interviewed me weren't intelligent enough to want me, hehe, so I didn't get the NBA League Pass

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Whoa man, after reading that, I am sure your breakdown for the rest of the league would be "must read" material

You probably get the bulk of your NBA basketball knowledge from Tommy Heinsohn as you watch your beloved C's.. You come off very slanted in your observations...

Hopefully Marbury will do what Sam did for you last year. He can help you "guarantee to at least get a shot off"

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I guess you've sort of caught on, I'm biased towards the C's, just like my beloved Heinson. What a guy, he understands. If we arent winning it's generally the refs fault, never that the other team could some how be better. hehe.

I mean seriously, who wants to hear about the other team when you're watching a game, I hate those announcers when the games are on national TV.

I just love my guys, they're the best, especially since we used to suck. Even five years ago when we made the playoffs, the team wasn't particularly good.


As for how nice it is to have a guy who has the ability and confidence to shoot the ball consistently, yes, it's a great thing. A lot of bench guys don't do that. Especially ours. Nobody shoots, we keep passing, we take a terrible shot or turn the ball over. That's what seems to happen sometimes. A veteran who thinks he's better than he is, it's a great thing.

I was misunderstood, im sorry.

I'm talking with Moss in attitude only. He was a cancer in Minny and had to go, and then was in Oakland and had to go...He showed up in NE and hasnt made a peep since. Thats what I'm talking.

If Marbury can show up and not make a peep he will come in and do the role that he is assigned. That will be backup PG, with a propensity to shoot the ball. Thats it. If he doesnt, see ya buddy.

So he will make like Moss did, come in, do your job and shut your mouth. Im not talking production, im talking attitude.

J/C,....I'm no Celtic fan, but like most, try to be respectfully appreciative of other fans and their teams.

This is not in the best interest of this franchise. I would not do it. Not only does this guy espouse cancer, it is malignant.

I hope it works out, but messing with Boston's obvious ability to create and handle success as a TEAM should not fooled around with.

No way. I just don't believe this guy can do a Randy Moss imitation.