More ongoing back-and-forth from Knicks camp about what’s happening with Marbury. The Post captures the battle between the man who would be a starter, a team’s style that could use him, and the fact that he’s still Stephon Marbury and thus must be handled with care. D’Antoni might want to stick him at the wing, at get him minutes that way.
But buried in the article was this rather interesting detail about just how ultra-revived Steph is for this season:
Marbury looked super during the two-a-day Saratoga practices and claims he can dunk this season.
"I knew I had to be a lot lighter for this type of basketball," Marbury said. "I feel golden. This is easy because I prepared myself. It’s the easiest training camp I ever had by far."
That may not seem like much of a point, but does anyone remember just how Steph used to dunk? It’s a part of his game that withered and died in Phoenix, for some reason. Was it his attempt at maturity? In any case, he used to be up there with Steve Francis for high-flying PG’s, and I’m not talking "roll it over the rim on the uncontestest break." Seriously, watch the video evidence (courtesy of The Blowtorch … strong language warning):
I’m not sure that a high-flying Marbury is possible any longer, or would help the Knicks all that much — didn’t Nate Robinson win the dunk contest twice already? But it’s funny how much the joke he’s become has obscured what an exciting young talent he once was. If you squint hard enough, you can almost remember why he was once considered a rising star, not a perennial punchline.
