Random Thoughts
I Love Starbury!
Ok I know our new Celtics bloggers are seemingly very negative on the Stephon Marbury signing. To be honest I don't even know how that's possible. It makes me think they may be crazy or something. I mean worst case scenario is he acts like a jackass and gets cut the next day. No harm no foul. But there is just no way that is going to happen. Just no way. And the guy can obviously still play. This is just what troubled superstars do. They come to Title Town USA to win a ring and redeem their image. They come here ready to do whatever the team asks. We’ve seen it with Randy Moss. We’ve seen it with Corey Dillon. I don't care what they do in other cities. Boston isn’t like New York or the rest of the country where it’s more about the name on the back of the shirt then on the front. The only thing that matters here is winning and everybody knows that. So I’m not sure how anybody can be against this deal? Stephon Marbury isn’t stupid. He knows this is his last chance to prove he can still play and that’s exactly what he’s going to do just like he did last night. So do me a favor and cue the Motherfucking Duckboats!
PS - If you're still not convinced that Stephon Marbury is the answer after my rant then maybe this interview will change your mind. Trust me it's long, but it's worth it. The guy only crys when bad stuff happens.....
UPDATE: It's Official; A 2nd Rounder
kcchiefs.com - The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Saturday that the club has acquired QB Matt Cassel and LB Mike Vrabel from New England in exchange for the Chiefs second-round pick (34th overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft.
There's no reason we should waste time quibbling over who said what the Pats should get in return for Cassel, or who guaranteed they'd get however many 1st rounders or who came up with however many reasons why they would. The important thing is the Pats took a linebacker on the 17th hole of his career and a backup QB they took with the 230th overall pick and they flipped them for the 34th pick. And freed up almost $20 million of cap space. Not a bad day's work.
PS. Now I know how El Pres feels when one of his mortal locks doesn't pan out. Except this didn't cost me anything.
PPS. I've been waiting since one minute after the season ended for this moment, and now I've got to run off to my kid's Cub Scout meeting. The life of a blogger is no walk in the park.
Breaking News: No Way the Patriots Are Only Getting a 2nd Rounder for Cassel and Vrabel
Peter King on SI.com - The New England Patriots have traded quarterback Matt Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel to Kansas City for the Chiefs' second-round pick in the 2009 draft, SI.com has learned. The trade is expected to be announced this weekend. The Patriots originally dealt Cassel to the Chiefs -- now run by former New England vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli -- on Friday for an undisclosed draft pick. Now it has been learned that the Chiefs will get both Vrabel and Cassel in exchange for the 34th overall pick in April's draft. It's a stunning acquisition for Kansas City.
No kidding it's a stunning acquistion. Too good to be true. And like everything that's too good to be true, it isn't. I don't care what Peter King says. The only way Pioli got Belichick to pull the trigger on this deal is if he slipped some kind of hallucinogen in Belichick's coffee or a mind control device into his hoodie before he cleaned out his office. As of 2PM today, the reports are all over the place, including one rumor about a 3rd team involved. I'll believe the Pats got the Chiefs 1st rounder... 3rd overall... but never that they traded the most sought after QB of the offseason for a 2nd rounder then threw Vrabel in to sweeten the deal. Why not just throw in the Gillette lighthouse and the Bass Pro Shop too?
I know King supposedly has a ton of sources, but so did Will McDonough and he went on Imus to say the Pats were moving to St. Louis the very day Bob Kraft bought the team. This is one of those moments for King. Trust me.
Celtics Win, Marbury Looks Great, Time Bomb of Insanity Starts Ticking...
The Celtics beat the always scrappy Indiana Pacers tonight, but the real news was that Stephon Marbury played his first minutes with the Celtics after only an hour of practice. Not gonna lie- he looked really good. I had no idea what to expect, considering that Stephon doesn't have an agent looking after him and there is no one really knew what he was doing in the last year. For all we know, he's been throwing up a couple thousand jumpers a day. Either that, or he's been rolling X and slamming jello shots at the Spearmint Rhino for the last year. Thank goodness for the Celtics, it appears as though he has been more on the basketball side of that equation.
He looked good- with all the shenanigans surrounding Stephon during his career, it's easy to forget that he was probably the best player on the 2004 Olympic team. He was also a legendary ass on that team, as well, which bears mentioning. But- he's a very good player! All- star talent.
Unfortunately, he's got a track record for being a pain in the ass that stretches back to his freshman year in high school. In "The Last Shot," Stephon was signing autographs on his first day of freshman year. For all intents and purposes, he's been a professional basketball player since the seventh or eighth grade, being recruited by high schools in New York, and he acts like it. Combine that with the fact that he has had a revolving door of bad coaches throughout his career and you get a guy that doesn't have the ability to work together with his teammates and coaches effectively. He's been the center of attention since he was 12 years old, maybe earlier! But, at the same time, Lebron had similar hype as a youngster, and unprecedented amount of hype as a high schooler, and he's a professional. So, clearly Stephon's main problem is mostly the dusting of crazy he's got going on- that craziness serves as PCP fueling his negative qualities.
Will Marbury help this team out? If this was NBA Live instead of the NBA, it would be a fantastic front office move. It worked out really well tonight. Stephon was the key player in the key run that won the game. Unfortunately, anyone who has ever had to work with a relentless asshole can testify to the fact that it is a draining experience not conducive to an effective work environment. It almost never works. For a little while you can delude yourself into thinking it won't be that bad, but it's always bad. Always.
Now, maybe Marbury's got a bad rap, I can buy into that a bit considering his coaching situation has always been suspect. Maybe he will have a new lease on life having spent a year being made fun of and ostracized, and he'll be playing 15-20 minutes off the bench. I just don't see any indication that it will be the case. If I was in charge, I would keep him quarantined from his teammates except when on the court. He would sit on the sidelines in a soundproof box made out of two-way mirrors.
Regardless, this season is much more interesting with Marbury in the mix, so there's always that silver lining.