Stephon Marbury – The Forgotten All-Star

I have been waiting for several months for the Kevin Durant-produced ‘A Kid from Coney Island’ to be available on UK TV screens. I was even prepared to purchase the documentary. Low and beyond, the doc dropped on Netflix this past week, so I sat down with a brew and enjoyed an hour and a half of Stephon Marbury.

Now if you are as old as me, you can remember when Marbury was thriving in the NBA. Before that though, Marbury was getting recognition in the New York area when he was in High School. He acclaimed the nickname ‘Starbury’. After being at New York’s Abraham Lincoln High School, Stephon attended Georgia Tech University where he averaged 18.9 PPG and 4.5 APG.

In a legendary 1996 NBA draft (Pictured left), the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Marbury with the 4th Pick. Within an hour of the pick being made, the Bucks had swapped the draft rights of Marbury to the T-Wolves for Ray Allen. This was a dream for Marbury, as he would now be partnered with his friend Kevin Garnett.

In 1997, Marbury and the future Hall of Famer Garnett were one of the most exciting tandems in the league. The combination of Marbury’s speed and agility and Garnett’s outright power and explosiveness, the T-Wolves finally had the foundation to be a contender in the NBA for the next 10 years. It wasn’t a question of if the Minnesota Timberwolves would win an NBA title with these 2 players but was a question of when. Sadly this never materialised and the T-Wolves have only 1 Division banner (2004) and 0 titles. Unfortunately the division title was without Marbury. Here are his stats during his time at the T-Wolves:

In 3 short years and 2 playoff berths later things all fell apart after Marbury informed the T-Wolves hierarchy that he would not be re-signing with them in the summer of 99’. With that news, he got traded to the then New Jersey Nets.

In nearly 3 years at NJ (Splits are below), Marbury excelled individually averaging well over 20 PPG and over 8 APG. Although the Nets struggled with injuries to other players and to add the right pieces around Marbury, he got increasingly frustrated.

In 2001, Marbury was selected as a reserve in the NBA All-Star game in Washington DC. In what arguably could have been Marbury’s best NBA moment, Marbury and Allen Iverson led the East team to a 20-point comeback win over the West 111-110. Marbury hit 2 clutch three-pointers down the stretch to seal the victory.

In the off-season of that year, Marbury was again traded to the Phoenix Suns. Marbury again showed that he could be the best player on a playoff team. In 2003, he earned another All-Star game call up this time in Atlanta. This was coincidently Michael Jordan’s final All-Star game appearance. That

season he was teamed with Rookie Amar'e Stoudemire and Shawn Marion. They made the playoffs but unfortunately lost in the 1st round to the eventual champions San Antonio Spurs 4 games to 2. Another Marbury highlight came in Game 1 when he hit a game-winning three in OT. The Suns were down 2 with only 5 seconds remaining and banked in the shot from behind the arc to steal the game in Texas.

Midway through the 2004 season, Marbury was once again traded this time to the NY Knicks. This was a dream move for Stephon as he was of course from the New York area and grew up as a Knicks fan. It was portrayed as prodigal son returning home. During the summer of 2004, Marbury participated for Team USA in the Olympics in Athens. Despite Team USA having a stacked roster, they failed to even make the gold medal game eventually settling for a bronze. The Head Coach of that team was Larry Brown. Marbury was about to get real ‘friendly’ with Brown as he was later announced as the Knicks new Head Coach for the 2005-06 season.

The public spats between Brown and Marbury became almost circus-like and it did not end well for either of them. Brown was fired after one season and Marbury who remained, ended up taking all of New York's fans and media’s scrutiny. The team was then turned over to Isiah Thomas, days to which most Knicks fans state as some of the worst in the team’s history up until that point.

The 2006-07 season ended with 33 wins. By the 2007-08 season, more public spats followed this time with Thomas led to more vilifying from media and fans. Marbury started to butt heads with his Coach once again and the losses began to mount up. The pressure kept mounting on Thomas and he was eventually relived of his duties near the end of campaign.

Thomas was replaced with Mike D'Antoni for 2008-09 season, but it did get any better for Marbury. He was benched by his Head Coach in favour of fellow Point Guard Chris Duhon and apparently refused to play for one game when the Knicks roster was depleted in November. On 1st December, Marbury was banned from all Knicks activities.

After a short stint playing for the Boston Celtics to end that season, Marbury had by many people’s opinion had outstayed his welcome. Although he was offered a one year deal with the Celtics for the next year, he declined. He went un-signed as a free agent that off-season and said he would sit out the season altogether. Many believed he would never return.

In January the next year, Marbury had joined the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons of the CBA in China. A move which surprised many, including myself. After not making the playoffs with the Dragons and again the next year with the Foshan Dralions, Stephon joined the Beijing Ducks in 2011. This is where Marbury enjoyed his best years in the CBA. In 2012, he lead the Ducks to their first ever Championship. To award him, they had a statue built of him in his memory. Marbury followed this up with winning 2 more titles with the Ducks in 2014 and 2015, cementing his legacy in the CBA. Marbury played is last professional Basketball game on the 11th February 2018 for the Beijing Fly Dragons.

Marbury still lives in China to this day and has been the Head Coach of the Beijing Fly Dragons since 2019, which used to be called the Beikong Fly Dragons when Marbury played for them. Apart from Kobe Bryant, there is no other Basketball player is as popular in China than Stephon Marbury. The work he did with charities and the community has kept in the hearts of the country. I mean the man even has his own museum!

I cannot help but think what might have been with Marbury’s career. There were very few players that could stay in front of him and he could get to the paint at will. There always seemed to be a circus shot every game, or an amazing assist or both. Flat out the guy could play and was a joy to watch. I hope this documentary shines a light on a player that when engaged, was a real baller.

Even so Marbury has appeared to found that inner peace that seemed to have plagued him during his prime NBA years. As you watch the doc, he is happy with the choices he’s made and never regrets going to China so early in his career where some say he could have still contributed in the NBA. For those who watched him at the time, we will never forget ‘Starbury’.