FanNation - The Republic of Sport

4/4/08

The more I've been reading, the more it seems Isiah Thomas is as likely to remain the Knicks headcoah next season as Britney Spears being voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Ironically, one of the people most immediate impacted by the Knicks hiring of Donnie Walsh is guard Stephon Marbury, who has probably spent as much time making the wrong kind of headlines on the backpages as Spears has on the frontcovers.

I am going to make a very, very bold prediction.

Stephon Marbury will not only be part of this team next season, but he will lead it to the playoffs.

I've watched Steph play here in New York since he was acquired back in the early days of the Isiah era, and while it is easy to rip him apart for his lack of production on the court and poor judgement off of it, however I genuinely believe that removing Isiah from the Garden, along with finally playing healthy, will result in a rejuvenated, reenergized and refocued Stephon Marbury.

There is clearly a seemingly endless laundry list of things that need to be changed on 7th Avenue between 31st abd 33rd street, and the first domino has already fallen, with a second hopefully not far behind with the firing of Thomas.

Marbury came out and had the following to say in regards to his current head coach:

"The fans have a right to feel how they feel...Our fans aren't ignorant. They're smart. You can't tell them one thing and do another thing. Be truthful to them. You can't lie to our fans. If you play bad, don't blame it on someone else."

It's hardly a secret  that there's no love lost between Marbury and Thomas, however the departure of Thomas would logically seem to ease the burden on Marbury, potentially putting him in a situation where he's able to become a postive contributer on a team that, as bad as they were this year, can easily find itself back in playoff contention in the NBA's minor leagues (no, not the NBDL), better known as the Eastern Conference.

I might be way off in saying this, but I don't believe Steph was as bad as people want to make him out to be.

He didn't win, and didn't do much in making those around him better, but then again I'm stopping short of calling him a good point guard.

He's not.

BUT- I do believe that an Isiah Thomas-less Knicks team, along with the guidance of right head coach (Mark Jackson?) will lead to Knicks fans being pleasantly surprised with the Stephon Marbury they see next year, assuming of course Walsh retains him.

It isn't a stretch at all to think that with his contract expiring at the end of next year, Walsh could use trade him and his expiring contract, perhaps in an effort to move other bad contracts while making the team younger and also helping in getting them in a position to get under the cap in time to sign a big time free agent down the road.

Stephon Marbury's career has certainly seen more down's than up's, however my gut feeling is that with Walsh in charge and Isiah out of the picture, those number 3 jersey's won't be coming down from Garden gift shops as quickly as most people are assuming they would.

Of course knowing the New York Knicks and how they have operated under the ownership of James Dolan, there's always the chance that somehow, Isiah keeps his job and Steph is bought out, traded or maybe even kept to play UNDER Thomas for yet another season.

You would have to believe, though, that with the power Donnie Walsh was given with his new job, the long process of fixing the Knicks is underway.

The next step is removing Thomas.

After that, it's one Steph at a time.