MARBURY A CELTIC...It is Official

So today is the day. I know many of you have been waiting for this day just to snicker or perhaps some of you want to see the Coach blow a gasket. Others are surely going to be rooting hard for this to fail, and fail miserably. But Coach is going to keep the faith, keep it even though his favorite team, heck one of his favorite things in life is about to let in the ultimate NO into their family. That is correct, today is the day the Boston Celtics sign Stephon Marbury for the remainder of the season. (I have a shooting pain in my left shoulder, no shortness of breath...yet) The Celtics hungry for depth in the backcourt and scoring from the wing definitely get that from Marbury if he is able to fit in and if he is in game shape, IF.
We all know the rep. We all know the locker room stories. We saw the decline of his sanity while playing under the Thomas / Dolan regime. The Sunday night on Mike’d Up (Mike was out with Chicken Parm-itis that night and Ithaca’s College’s own Bruce Beck filled in admirably, BOMBERS!!!) when Marbury was acting as if he were on a combination of meds that Richard Dreyfuss and Chevy Chase used to hammer down before their epic 80’s film shoots. Do we all remember this? The beautiful thing here is that I don’t even have to start quoting the interview because Coach has it below. This really is one of the oddest, disturbing and entertaining 9 plus minutes of live television the Coach has ever seen (I feel blessed that I saw this live with Pistol, Wolf and crew back in the tree house days)



There never was any doubt in Marbury’s physical gifts. Strong, explosive, and quick at the point with a very good jumper both off the bounce and on the catch. He could iso you or play the pick n roll game, as well as be very very good in transition. But his career has not been defined by that. It has been defined by him demanding out of Minnesota (how does a 3rd year point guard at the age of 21 want to leave Kevin Garnett?) then being the guy the Nets traded to the Suns to get Jason Kidd, and of course coming back home to New York in the ideal situation to lead the Knicks back to respectability and having it become one of the biggest soap opera’s this proud basketball city has ever seen. The thing about Marbury on the court that fails him is that while his career average for assists is just under 8 per game he never became a floor general that raised the level of play of his teammates. The greats do that. Point guards like Magic, J-Kidd, The Glove, Zeke, Nash and CP3 not only get their numbers they raise the bar for their supporting cast. Allen Iverson who has had his critics since he entered the league was a guy that was always being mentioned in the same conversation with Marbury. But unlike Marbury, Iverson’s desire, will to win and ability to inspire his teammates got him to an NBA final back in 2001. Do you remember his supporting cast? Coach sure does, Big Deke, Aaron McKie, Tyrone Hill, Eric Snow, Derrick Coleman and George Lynch. Marbury in his prime was arguably as talented as AI, but it was everything else that goes with it that has been missing with guy.

As a Celtics fan I am trying to be objective and put personal feelings aside but it is a challenge. Back in the summer of 2005 I was directing basketball camps in Manhattan at Basketball City we had a week of Marbury camp. Usually when the player puts his name on a camp they show up 2 or 3 of the days out of the 5 day week. Showing face is good for everybody, the kids, the facility, and most importantly the player. Well Stephon showed up exactly once, on the last afternoon. When he walked into the bubble he immediately rubbed the Coach the wrong way as he didn’t take the time to say hello to any of our coaching staff who had been working hard with the kids to give them a great experience all week. Marbury then demanded that each kid get a basketball and spread themselves out over 2 of the basketball courts. So there we are 100 plus kids and Starbury with the staff waiting to see what he wants to do, maybe some ball handling, perhaps a story from when he was a youngster in Coney Island that could lead into a drill that he used to do on the playground that we could show the kids, nope. He told each kid that when he holds his hand to his hear they need to scream “I love this game.” That was just the beginning. He told them you have to want it to get somewhere in this game, yes, yes Stephon you do, you have WANT IT if you want to get anywhere in this world. So his instruction to them was this, “Everyone has to hold the ball over their head, last one to put it down gets $20.” That was it. That is what he brought to the table. Now I understand he came from a tough upbringing but these are city kids who paid to go to his camp. The look on some of the coaches face’s were priceless as we sat there and watched him make fun of kids whose arms got tired. In the end it was just a big joke to him, a quick 15K to give to his brother who sat on his rear all week off to the side yapping on his cell piece.

From the Celtics perspective this is worth the risk and I will explain why in clear Coachness terms. The Green have 2 needs. Marbury IF in shape and behaved fits them both. They need another ball handler off the bench and they need more scoring from the perimeter. As well as Ed House has played the last two seasons he is not the player you want handling the ball with the second unit on the court, he is however the guy you want shooting it. Marbury’s ability to create on the dribble, penetrate and yes pass will prove to be very valuable to the Celtics who will now have the opportunity to find a few extra minutes of rest for Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo if needed. A lineup that includes Marbury and House with either Pierce or Allen playing with the front court reserves (Yes, I know they signed Mikki Moore, another on the long list of guys that owes J-Kidd a royalty check each month) is quite an explosive combination of scoring from the perimeter.

I wonder what the first conversation in person will be like when Garnett and Marbury interact, Coach would do anything to be in that room. Would Steph finally say to KG, “So this is what I have been missing out on because I have been a complete clown?” Would KG simply say “Welcome old friend, this is an opportunity of a lifetime, but if you f#*k with this chemistry I’ll put you in the river Jimmy Markum style?” I am sure there was a sit down with Doc and the Big Three today. I am sure the law was laid down. I am sure there were handshakes, nods, looks of intensity as this team is about one thing, winning. But what Doc, Danny, the fans, the critics, the players and Marbury do not yet know is whether or not this will work. For the sake of Marbury’s basketball future and present he better make it work…Marbury in the glorious green and white begins tonight at the Garden, 7:30 tip against the Pacers. I'll be takinig a deep breath and hoping for the best...

The Coach at ALL-STAR

When the Coach finally realized where he was headed after a very long Thursday he realized that something special was right around the corner (Ben Buttons?)

Fearing he’d oversleep and miss his 6am flight Friday morning Coach chose to nap before the gutty Celtics win over the Mavs in Dallas. After the win which included 18 4th quarter points from the Truth and a very timely pair of technical fouls by coach Doc Rivers which fired up the champs the Coach packed, then went to his local spot for a couple of beverages before the his ride was scheduled to pick him up at 4am. So with a carry on, a steamy bag of Newman’s Own and some major anticipation Coach got to the LGA in plenty of time. Everything seemed smooth, even at security where three security guards cheered me on as I chugged the white tea that I forgot I had to drink before I passed through the gate. But then I got on the plane it was like some enemy from the past wanted to keep the coach from getting to Phoenix. Was it that referee that Coach challenged last week? The girl from a couple of weeks ago that Coach just wasn’t that into? Maybe a D-Back that got poco’d back in the day thanks to the Wolf? We’ll never really know, what we do know is that the plane sat on the runway for an hour and a half which caused Coach to miss his connection in Dallas, and ultimately meant a 4pm arrival in Phoenix instead of noon.

As soon as I got on the ground and took a deep breath of that clean southwestern air and I felt something great. I was at ease. This has been a stressful time of year and time away was needed. Friday evening proved to be a great lead in to the weekend. Some down time at the Intercontinental resort and a bath, yes, Coach loves a bath on the road when the tub is large enough and it got me right to start the night in Scottsdale. Dinner, drinks and some conversation while watching KD destroy the rookies on the flat screen in front of us took it until about midnight.(Chicken tacos and sirloin sliders were off the gage!) Following an interesting piece of Arizona police work where they pulled over the cab we were in because of where the driver picked us up (a clear case of racial harassment) we made it back to the Intercontinental for the Chicken and Waffles party thanks to the worldwide leader. It was a good late night activity but would have preferred more ladies and music on hand to go along with the spread instead of perhaps some of the TV personalities that think they are celebrities. You read off of a teleprompter, yes a lot people know your name but stop trying to be THE MAN!

Saturday is where things got really cooking as following the $20 hotel breakfast buffet (both the coffee and fruit were a big help for the Coach’s flow) we then headed to the Phoenix Wyndum for a special VIP sneak preview of Spike Lee’s new joint “Kobe Doing Work.” Thirty cameras were on the Black Mamba last April as the Lakers played the Spurs in a pivotal late season game to determine playoff seeding as well as influence the MVP voting.

Spike was given full access to pre-game, halftime and post game along with capturing each possession of the game while Kobe was on the court or on the bench with the rest of the Lakers. It was a tremendous piece of work by Spike Lee who made some awesome editing decisions as well as showing what the Lakers communication is like both in the heat of battle as well as during their lighter moments. (Kobe has some great exchanges with Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Pau Gasol, some not so great one’s with Vlad Radmanovic and Luke Walton) One of the highlights for the coach from the basketball side was the physical contact Kobe had to endure during the game along with how active he was as a help defender from a communication stand point (Manu Ginobili did not play for the Spurs so Kobe was defending off the ball most of the game) After it ended some walked out amazed, others disappointed but if you can’t see the magic from both the artistic side and the basketball side then there is no way you will be able to really appreciate what Spike Lee was able to create.

After a quick walk around the all-star festivities and Thunder Dan Majerle’s Bar and Grill the Coach returned to the International to have late afternoon lunch and a drink poolside before charging the battery for the Saturday night festivities.

Now I am not going to lie, I have been very fortunate for quite some time in regard to getting taken care of as friends at ESPN, Nike, Dime and the NBA have really looked out for me when it comes to my best interests as well getting me to events. Saturday was an amazing example as my seats were just straight silly for the three point shoot out and the dunk contest. The shootout however was quite a disappointment (We had a four man pool going, it got confusing, no one picked Cook, Coach tried to buy back in but Tubbs disallowed it, Tubbs you owe Coach a crispy $20!) I was pulling for #33 from Indiana, I know quite a shock with my track record, but in the end it was DeQuan Cook who outlasted the others. It was real weak.

The dunk contest on the other hand was flat out fantastic. Between the dancers to our left, the high flyers right in front of us and the storyline involving Dwight and Nate it was some serious entertainment. You all saw it, and while Nate definitely deserved the win there was nothing like watching Dwight walk into the phone booth right in front of us.

As much fun as the dunk contest was the party following it that we got access to was fantastic. Thanks to an NBA connect Coach and crew were able to walk into the NBPA party which had a very tight door guarded by none other than Roy Hinson. But thanks to the development of a recent relationship we walked right in and who do I walk into, yes, the Truth himself, who unfortunately happened to be on the way out and really wasn’t interested in speaking. Crazy, right? Maybe I did not hit him with the right thing, perhaps it was the timing, but either way the encounter that could have been amazing with one of my favorites ever fell by the wayside (Just a reminder I met Larry Legend in 2000 and nothing will ever touch it) So Coach had a decision, be disappointed or hit the bar for drink tickets. Before you knew it we had beverages in hand with a fired up T.I. on stage and were part of a big bumping party.

In the midst of the madness you see which athletes are there and which people are there to be seen with athletes. It was quite an experience. I only approached a few people all night to chat it up with but all exchanges post Truth were real good. I also had the chance to catch up with some of my NYC guys that were also in town. After speaking with Shaun Rogers of the Cleveland Browns (great dude) I was finally able to speak to Steve Smith about his NBA TV co-host Rick Kamala who has got to be the most intense studio guy in the business. Smitty and I also talked about his Atlanta Hawk days when he used to drop daggers on people, especially the Knicks at MSG. It was a terrific conversation with the former Spartan star.

But then there was the highlight of the night and the weekend. Pistol and I were walking towards the front just to take a peek at the entry area and we walk straight into the Glove and C-Webb, WOW!!! Not only were we huge fans of them as players but their NBA TV studio show with Ahmad Rashad has turned into pure entertainment at the Gramercy Estate as those guys are just straight chillin on set. We hit Glove with his Celtics and Bucks days which caught him by complete surprise as well as talked about what it would have been like to have had him in New York for his career. My man Pistol hit C-Webb about his studio lean which Chris got a kick out of and then we took quite a picture as you can see below.

Sunday was a day to enjoy to the hotel, chill at the LRG suite near by where Mr. Durant rolled through fresh off of his dominant performance on Friday night and enjoy one heck of a steak before arriving at the arena for the All-Star game. At this point the weekend had already been a unreal, the game was just the icing on the cake. Hats off to the city of Phoenix for hosting one hell of an event. Special thanks to Pistol, Tubbs, PR, Dime crew and of course the NBA for one memorable weekend for the Coach.

What a Show!!!

The Coach has been real busy planning clinics, attending games and of course coaching. Last week marked a special week for pro basketball especially in New York City. Though the Knicks ended up dropping three games to the three best teams in the league they competed and now know where they stand and how much further they need to go to be a legit NBA contender. The individual performances of Kobe and LeBron and then the gritty team performance of the Celtics were all great to watch at MSG.

Wednesday's blog from LeBron's almost triple double:
Coach's hump day this week was crazy as I went from the financial district with my 5/6 troops minus my mini Ray Ray to the upper east side, then back downtown then to headquarters on the east side for a quick wash and change. Then I finally was able to jump into a cab on say “take me to the garden.”

Coach was on his way to see the King and the level of excitement grew with each honk of the horn and each traffic light in the rush hour frenzy we all know to well.
After meeting the Pistol at the establishment formally known as Cosby’s (they were out of Gerald Wilkins road medium’s, sorry Wolf I know you like em snug) we walked into the Garden and you could feel the buzz. It was clear that thousands were expecting LeBron to put on a show similar to what Kobe did on Monday.

It was evident from the opening tip that Lebron had that mindset. Iso's against Q-Rich, jumpers over D Lee and dribble drives acted as the jabs, crosses and hooks as it was clear Lebron is going after Kobe's 61 points like a boxer would to get his belt.

After the first quarter Lebron had 20.

Random question for my insightful audience? Who the #*#* gets cotton candy at a basketball game? The guy is always standing in Coach's sight line during the game and he is never close to selling half of that crap.

You have heard the Coach say this recently but I just want to reiterate that Knicks are playing very hard and quite well at home. Defensively there is no one in the league or the world for that matter that can check LeBron in a one on one situation and the Knicks are a team that does not have a perimeter STOPPER right now. Is Jared Jeffries effective at slowing down certain types of players? Yes. But Wilson Chandler, Quentin Richardson and Danilo Gallinari did not have a prayer against King. Speaking of Gallinari he is going to be a pretty good player in this league. Very good help defender and a dangerous three point shooter on the catch.
Gallinari holds his follow through like Dave Hopla in front of the masses...definitely some Petro in the Italian.

LeBron slowed down a bit in the second quarter but the flow was back out of the locker room to open the 2nd half. I stopped counting points in the 3rd quarter as I was very into the game and how aware LeBron is of situations and court spacing. With King at 34 points and counting he is still conscious of kickin to the open Walter Szcerbiak when Walt finds 1 of his 2 sweet spots on the floor. 7:07 left in the 3rd and King has 34 8 and 7...

Random question about seating celebs and ex-players at the garden. How in the world does Whoopi Goldberg sit courtside when Willis Reed is up in the 200's somewhere? Reed provided the franchise not only with a hall of fame career but also with its most memorable moment during Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. How does Whoopi have a better seat? Why is she still considered such a big deal?!?! This world is crazy.

Anyway back to the King. As the game wore on the text messages keep rolling in along with the everyone in the garden wondering if he'd get 60 like Kobe did. But this was different. While King was putting on a show it was a show of all-around dominance and his was finding one teammate after another for dunks and open treys. The guy is a tank, a tank that can flat out pass the rock to an open man, a tank that can dribble penetrate with ease and put an unreal amount of pressure on the opponents defense to the point where there are no answers.

Seeing the King score 50 for the second time in person at MSG was something I'll never forget but it was the rebounding, passing, presence and most of all swagger that will stick with the Coach as Lakers at Celtics looms tomorrow.

A memorable start...

Monday night Kobe Bryant went to work on the MSG floor. With the news of center Andrew Bynum to be out 8-12 weeks with a MCL injury to his right knee Kobe Bryant wasted no time reminding everyone that he will do everything in his power to keep the Lakers on the championship track. Kobe went for 61 points in thirty six minutes of action. He was a perfect 20-20 at the free throw line and dissected the Knicks with a variety of jumpers, leaners and spin moves. While watching the game with the “Pistol” the DVR remote was in full use as Coach kept rewinding to check Kobe’s footwork. On multiple occasions Kobe was able to spin completely around on his left foot, keep his balance, then raise up and release his shot while being contested, just an unreal display of balance and strength.

Kobe's performance Monday night immediately took the Coach back to Michael Jordan’s 55 point game at MSG in March of 2005. Coach was a basketball crazed teenager back then whose Celtics had already entered their dark days of the 90’s so getting excited for Michael Jordan’s first game back at the garden in his #45 get-up was not difficult at all. Mind you the Coach is NOT comparing Kobe or anyone else to Michael Jordan, who did most of his damage on that night against non other than John Starks.

Yet this was a new Jordan that people had no seen much of before. He had yet to regain the explosion that left the game with him following the 1993 finals, so he relied on a variety of fade away jumpers, post moves and of course his high basketball I.Q. on that memorable night in the garden. (Random flashback from the coach: when I shared an apartment with fellow Celtic fan Jayme Goldstein on Madison Ave back in 2005 I would fill the DVR box with NBA’s greatest games which included this Michael Jordan game. In that game it is a play by Scottie Pippen that got the most run on the DVR especially on party nights, as an outlet pass from Corey Blount to Pippen after a Starks miss resulted in Pippen dunking on Charles Smith in one of the best regular season plays and Marv Albert calls no one remembers: “Pippen all the way!!!”)

Though Jordan scored 55 that night it was his game winning pass to Bill Wennington for a two hand dunk off the left block that is most memorable. This is one of the best examples of Michael Jordan turning himself into Obi-Wan Kenobi I have ever seen. Jordan looked as if he was setting up his turnaround jump shot as Patrick Ewing came charging up the lane, which of course is what the great one wanted to happen. ("These are not the droids youa re looking for.") The rest of the Knicks were slow to rotate and Jordan zipped the ball down to Wennington for the finish.

It is interesting watching Kobe at this point in his career as certain plays he makes in the triangle offense whether they be moves to free himself or setting up his teammates remind me of certain Jordan moments. What Kobe has also developed which was evident last season especially after the Pau Gasol trade is trust in his teammates. To watch a player put on a performance like that in New York is something that reminds us of why we watch. The Coach loves big games and big moments and Kobe had that assassin look in his eyes from the get go Monday which made many think he’d have a night like the one he did. Even as a Celtics fan I wanted to see something great on Monday and I got it.
Dream week continues tonight at the Garden, as the King is the building with his Cleveland troops, do you think LeBron will be ready for put on a show? The Coach will be there to find out.

A DREAM WEEK FOR COACH

The Dream Week - Part I

After an awesome Super Bowl to cap off the NFL season and a ton of food consumed by the Coach (italian hero with spicy mustard, wings, cupcakes, some suds, wings and some more wings)the Coach and all of you basketball heads had exactly one tiring Monday to get ourselves ready for a dream basketball week. Coach is trying to figure out his schedule as this is going to be one of the craziest regular season weeks of basketball in a long time. Heck, this past week Coach was lucky enough to wake up to sets sketched on his white board labeled Izzo and Harrick by the Buck Man himself down from Bristol for the night to share some knowledge. He of course left town before we could go set for set, but I’ll get him soon. Back doors, short corner traps, pick n pops…it will all happen.

Back to dream week, it starts tonight at 7pm with #2 ranked UCONN visiting #7 ranked Louisville.

These are two teams playing at an incredibly high level, lead by two hall of fame coaches.
UCONN has 4 players averaging in double figures including two players averaging a double-double scoring the ball and hitting the glass. Sometimes you take for granted what an unreal program Coach Calhoun has created in Stores. When the Coach sits and thinks about all the great Big East and NCAA moments he has experienced both live and watching on the big screen many involve UCONN. I could take it back to Tate George, Scott Burrell and Doron Sheffer but that may be a little much for all of us on a Monday.

Coach remembers the 1999 National Championship like it was yesterday. The State Street house on the corner, the beat up living room, mediocre snacks and Khalid El-Amin, Rip Hamilton and Kevin Freeman shocking favored Duke who if you remember was stacked with Elton Brand, William Avery, Shane Battier, Chris Carawell, and Trajon Langdon. Coach and crew were really pulling for UCONN in that one as our college buddy Stevie Chains is a Bolton, CT native. In 2004 the Pistol and I were in San Antonio for the final four as Emeka Okafur put UCONN on his back in the 2nd half of the semi final against Duke to win a dramatic battle. UCONN then blew out Georgia Tech to cement themselves as one of the best individual single season teams we have seen in the last 20 years. That was the third of back to back to back final four’s the Coach was lucky enough to attend thanks to the “Colonel from Cornell.” (The Big Red appear to be in position to dominate the Ivy League once again this season as they are off to a 4-0 start.)

Now as good as UCONN is right now there is a team out there playing at the same level. Louisville is smoking hot right now. Coach Pitino has recruited some serious next level talent and the Cardinals have caught the Coach’s attention. As my readers of course know Coach Pitino was once in charge of the Boston Celtics, that did not go to well and I never got past what a horrible job he did, well not until last year when that GREEN MAGIC finally happened. The Cardinals feature size, length and athleticism which are going to make them a very trendy pick to go deep into the tournament. The front line of Earl Clark, Samardo Samuels and Terrence Williams has been a disaster for teams to deal with. Clark has finally evolved into the all around force Pitino had hoped. Clark along with Samuels and Williams are combining for 40 points and 23 rebounds per game. The matchup tonight with Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet up front will be something special to watch. While the battle upfront will be fierce don’t forget about the backcourt. Lots of tri-state area interest at the guard spots UCONN’s AJ Price from Amityville, and Kemba Walker from Rice will battle as Edgar Sosa also from Rice.
Speaking of Rice, one of Coach’s mentors, “The President” who man’s the post for Nike Basketball East had was the lead as always when Kobe arrived in NYC yesterday. Kobe, PR and the entire Rice team were at the 34th street footlocker yesterday as Kobe and PR discussed the exclusive release of the Nike Zoom Kobe 4-Rice Edition which were made especially for the team. Check out the video below courtesy of Kicksonfire.com:

Tonight Kobe and the Lakers will start quite a run of games at MSG that have the Coach as fired up as he has ever been about regular season pro basketball in Manhattan.

The Lakers come into New York with the best record in the West but for the first time this season with a feeling of doubt as the results on Andrew Bynum’s MRI of his right knee are in and Laker fans can't be feeling very good as LA prepares for the Knicks who are red hot at home this season. Bynum has a torn MCL that will sideline him 8-12 weeks according to ESPN.com (The Coach will have his take on what will change in the western conference later this evening) The LA big man seemed to be taking his first major step towards the next level lately was averaging 26.2 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks and shooting 65.3 percent from the field over his last five games. As a Celtics fan the Coach was not rooting for Bynum to be hurt or for the Lakers to be anything short of full strength come playoff time as you want to beat the best to be the best in this league. It will be interesting to see the Lakers psyche tonight in what promises to be an electric Madison Square Garden.

Coach is out til later like L Fitz on that slant…