I'm Sure I'm Missing Something
Stephon Marbury “plays” for the NBA’s New York Knicks. He is paid $21 million a year, about $190,000 a game.
He has pretty much sat the bench for the season, I gather due to a dispute with the coach.
The Knicks have been short on players lately due to trades and injuries. Before a recent game, the coach “asked” him to play and he declined.
On Wednesday, according to Marbury, the coach “asked” him to play and he declined. According to the coach, he told him to play and he declined.
So, he’s been suspended for a game.
The subtle difference between ask and tell aside, what the hell is this? Some quick Google research shows that Marbury is in the last year of his contract. The Knicks hired a new coach before the season. Marbury hadn’t gotten along with the last coach, Isaiah Thomas (who was fired over the summer) and didn’t play much last season. The new guy flat didn’t play him this year until the injuries resulted in “asking” and telling.”
If I were the owner of the Knicks, I know I’d be looking for a way to dump Marbury and I’d have found it long before now.
5 comments:
I'm just damn glad he's not in Phoenix anymore!
I'm not an NBA fan, nor do I know the particulars of Marbury's contract, but I suspect the Knicks would have to eat a good part of his contract if they got rid of him.
I've had a lot of bosses ask me to do things for them, but declining was never really an option.
I haven't watched the NBA in years, but unless coaches are much more mellow than they used to be, I just can't imagine a coach saying, "Excuse me, Stephan? Could you do something for me? No? Okay then, sorry to have bothered you."
It seems like, at best, the Knicks have a $21 million dollar player that doesn't want to play. There's no way Stephan comes out looking good in this one.
Marbury lost my respect more than a decade ago when he played for Georgia Tech a grand total of one season before ditching us for the NBA.
As for this incident, they suspended him for one game and docked his salary by $400K. Too bad they couldn't just fire him.
Contracts with players union protections built in and HUGE penalties to the team with almost no penalty to the player.
Good work if you can get it.
In the real world that we work in, this kind fo reputation would poison your future with other employers. As Randy Moss, Terrel Owens, Pac Man Jones, Ray Lewis, etc etc proved, that does not hold true in pro sports. Yes, those are football players, but the point is made. I don't know the thugs in basketball well enough to post their names.
This is why I prefer college sports.
fermicat - I understand the thought because my favorite teams have lost players "early. One thing to keep in mind is that college scholarships renew each year. The scool doesn't commit to the athlete for more than a year, so the athlete should not have to commit to them for more than a year. I don't blame the players for leaving early anyway when they are gambling multi-million dollar contracts and guaranteed money that could all go away forever with an injury the following year.
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