A True Role Model

To an avid basketball fan, the name “Stephon Marbury” usually generates responses along the lines of “he’s a selfish point guard who thinks it’s always about him” or “I wouldn’t want that overpaid bum on my team! All the team’s he got traded out of became contenders!”

It’s easy to sympathize with these unflattering and discourteous statements because to some extent, they possess grains of truth behind them. Marbury has never been known as a team-oriented point guard. He’s talented, no question about it. But while his skills on the hardwood cannot be doubted, it’s his leadership skill that always crumbles under the spotlight of scrutiny.

Under the glaring lights of arguably the biggest basketball market in the world, Marbury has choked on the pressure of being the so-called “savior” of the New York Knicks.

His hasn’t endeared himself to the Garden faithful with his style of play. While his stats may deceive a common fan (he’s only the second player in NBA history to average 20 points and eight assists in a career. The other one: Oscar Robertson) the basketball purists will shun at this statistic and invariably compare him to the two point guards (Jason Kidd and Steve Nash) who replaced him after his stints with the New Jersey Nets and the Phoenix Suns.

(Note: Marbury had little to no success with both teams and after he left, both the Nets and the Suns flourished under the leadership skills of both Jason Kidd and Steve Nash. The Nets made the Finals twice with Kidd at the helm and the Suns have been one of the leagues premier teams since Nash became their point guard)

In addition to his self-glorifying style of play, Marbury has also been known to engage in verbal, sometimes physical, spats with teammates and coaches. The most notable example of this boorish behavior was his “soap-opera-esque” saga with former Knicks coach Larry Brown.

After a promising start, his relationship with Brown went sour and deteriorated to the point that the coach jumped ship after only one year as the head man of the Knicks. After the whole saga played out, Marbury’s popularity plummeted faster than a Wall Street crash. He was called selfish, spoiled, and egotistic. Two columnists from the New York Daily News, Frank Isola and Michael O’Keefe, even went as far as calling him the “most reviled athlete in New York."

It‘s safe to say that after everything that has been said and written about him as a basketball player, Stephon Marbury probably heads the list of athletes you’d want your children to NOT emulate.

But then, judging his character solely on his basketball skills - as so many people seem to do nowadays - does not do justice to his entire personality.

If you go beyond his proclamation of being the “best point guard in the NBA”, you’ll realize that there’s so much more to Stephon Marbury than people give him credit for.

Much, much more.

What never gets brought up in conversations about the guy is the fact that while he continues to get maligned by the critics for his “selfishness” on the court, nobody seems to realize the fact that off the court, this guy, with the exception of Dikembe Mutombo, is one of the most charitable players the NBA has ever had.

A lot of people don’t know that Marbury donated 1 million dollars of his own money to aid the victims of Katrina - by far one of the biggest donations of any athlete for those affected by the deadly hurricane. In addition to that, he has also donated over 3 million dollars to help the NYPD, FDNY, EMT’s and New York City teachers.

Marbury also hasn’t forgotten to give back to his hometown of Coney Island. He hosts a summer basketball camp there at Surfside Gardens called the “Stephon Marbury Basketball Classic.” For this year, he is requiring each participant of his camp to read three books and write an essay. Apart from his basketball camp, Marbury has also built countless state-of-the-art basketball courts throughout Coney Island and regularly hires barbers to give free haircuts to neighborhood children.

Let’s also not forget about the “Starburys”. Marbury understood that a lot of inner-city kids today can’t afford the Nike’s and Adidas’ of the world. So, he teamed up with Steve and Barry’s to create and promote sneakers that sell for only $14.98. He’s not being paid to endorse the sneakers and whatever profit he makes out of them goes directly to charity. Marbury has also promised to give out a pair of these same sneakers to every high school varsity basketball player in New York City.

If only more people knew this side of the guy, then maybe they will come to grips with the reality that “selfish” is the last word you’d ever use to describe Stephon Marbury.

So how ironic is it that one of the most maligned basketball players in the NBA is also one of its best humanitarians?

Stephon Marbury may not make the best decisions on the basketball court, but his heart for the world is, without question, always in the right place.

Make it a series, Mike!

For Mike Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers, there are two ways to look at the reality of being down 2-0 in the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs: they pack their tails between their legs and run away, or they make adjustments and take the fight to the Spurs.

For the fans of the NBA, and fans of quality basketball for that matter, we pray it's the latter.

Play-off basketball is the time when making proper adjustments on your team becomes the thin line between winning and losing a series. It's not the regular season anymore, where you can receive a grade-A pounding like the ones the Spurs laid on the Cavs in Game 2 and face a team like the Knicks the next night.

In the play-offs, teams don't have that luxury; which makes the need for adjustments so much more crucial.

Against a team as good as the Spurs, the Cavs coaching staff, especially its head coach, needs to understand that the they need to change their approach for them to have, at the very least, a fighting chance of even keeping this series a competitive one.

Unfortunately for us, the Cavs head coach seems to be either allergic or inept in understanding that rather simple logic.

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Mike Brown has to realize that Larry Hughes has become a liability for his team. Sure, it's admirable that he's still playing his heart out even with an injured foot. But last time I checked, the NBA is still about the team scoring the most points and Larry Hughes has failed miserably for the Cavs in that department during the Finals. In the two games, he has scored a mouth-watering total of two (yes, two!) points on 1-for-10 shooting. When he injured his foot, it took away his slashing ability (his only offensive skill, for that matter) and he was reduced to a one-legged jump shooter - someone who never had a good stroke even when he had two good legs!

Compounding on his miseries is the utter abuse Tony "Don't call me Mr. Longoria" Parker has been laying down on him in the first two games of this series.

Put one-and-one together and you'd come to the conclusion that Larry Hughes has become Eric Snow with no defense! (Think about it, that's not an exaggeration)

The coach has to do the smart thing and take out Hughes out of the game and have Daniel Gibson start in his place. The man they call "Boobie" has been a god-send for the Cavs this play-offs, and after two games against San Antonio, he's more than held up his own by averaging 15.5 points while shooting 13-for-21 from the field. Gibson has shown that he has what it takes to limit Parker's forays to the basket, and at the same time, hit the open shot whenever he has one.

Come to your senses, Mike Brown. Take out Hughes and give us some Boobie!

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As great a defensive team as San Antonio is, there's still a way for the Cavs to make this a series, shocking as it may sound now.

They should try to create as many transition opportunities as possible so they can exploit LeBron's open court, runaway train skills. There's no better finisher in this game apart from Kobe Bryant than LeBron James. The Cavs should defend like crazy, pray the Spurs don't make their shots, get the rebound, and RUNNNNNNNNNN!

(Easier said than done, I know. But to Brown's credit, he did manage to turn the Cavs into a great defensive team and if they buckle down and focus, I believe they can slow down the Spurs' offensive onslaught.)

If the Cavs are forced into setting up in the half court, Brown should go back to his attic, dust off his offensive playbook, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, incorporate a few more plays in his gameplan. It was absolutely ridiculous how during Game 1, he went to the EXACT same play through most of the night.

Here's the play in all its glory:

Lebron gets the ball 35 feet from the basket, surveys the defense, calls for a screen, and attacks the basket. The Spurs, being as good as they are, collapse on the King and forces him to either, a) pass the ball, b) force an ill-advised shot, or c) re-set and do the entire sequence all over again until the shot clock goes down and he forces an even harder ill-advised shot.

Add a few more plays here and there to give the Spurs different looks throughout the game. With any luck, it might cause San Antonio to scramble on defense and allow LeBron enough room to work his magic.

Instead of LeBron dominating the ball at the top, the Cavs should get him the ball off of picks set by Gooden or Varejao (ala Rip Hamilton) for catch-and-drive situations. This way, LeBron will have the luxury of catching a defender vulnerable. Maybe even getting a mismatch once in a while. This scenario would even make it a little tougher for the Spurs to send a double team at him, something they've been able to routinely do in the first two games.

The Cavs should also try looking at taking something away from the Spurs playbook. Instead of LeBron bringing the ball up court and waiting for a Gooden pick, why not let the point guard, preferably Daniel Gibson, bring the ball up and work a pick-and-roll with LeBron James! If executed properly, LeBron would be salivating at the thought of Tony Longoria trying to contain him in the post. Sure, the Spurs will send the double team, but if Lebron thinks fast enough, he can attack the basket before the help arrives!

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One of the Cavaliers strengths as a team is there ability to rebound. So far, they've been outjumped and outhustled by the Spurs in the Finals. For them to make this a series, they must take control of the paint and limit San Antonio's second chance points, and at the same time, get enough offensive rebounds to score some putbacks of their own. And if they can control the boards, they may have a better chance of doing the "Lebron-Runaway-Train" play I mentioned earlier.

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These are some of the adjustments I'd like to see Coach Brown make. All of it, however, remains up to him. Whether or not he sticks to his guns or tries something new is still his call. It's just my belief as a fan that with the way things are going for the Cavs, any new approach would be a good approach.

Then again, I'm just hoping and praying that the remaining games will be more exciting than the snoozefest that was Game's 1 and 2.