A couple days after seeing him do a surreal interview on Quite Frankly, Peter Vecsey is now starting up the Stephon Marbury trade rumors. That took what… four games?

I understand why the Knicks brought him in to begin with. The Knicks were losers, and if you’re going to be losers, you might as well have a really exciting point-scoring machine out there on the court. But now, they bring in Larry Brown, a sign that they want to be winners, and suddenly, the point guard position does not exist just for show. You need real, actual, basketball intelligence, and with Marbury, it just is not there.

The interview on Quite Frankly was a sight to behold. I will paraphrase.

“Stephon, who’s the best point guard in the league?”
“Me.”
“You’re better than Jason Kidd?”
“Yes.”
“You’re better than Steve Nash?”
“Yes.”
“Then why haven’t you ever won even a playoff series–”
“Let me cut you off right there, Stephen, because let me assure you I have an excuse for every situation, and the important thing to remember is that nothing has ever been my fault.”
“So it was your teammates’ fault?”
“Yes. My teammates have always been very bad, and I can’t even come close to comprehending the notion that point guards can make their teammates better. That one’s lost on me.”
“Who’s the best point guard in the league again?”
“ME! ME! ME! LOOK AT ME!”
(…and the New York crowd cheers wildly, because they just don’t know any better.)

He doesn’t get it. And at the age of 29, he probably isn’t going to start now, no matter how many times a day he calls Chauncey Billups. I don’t mind a guy being confident… I don’t even mind him saying he’s the best in the league, because sometimes a little swagger is a good thing. But when Marbury says it, it doesn’t come with a sense of “I’m going to outplay my opponent every night,” it comes with a sense of “I’m good, and my teammates aren’t, and if I had the supporting casts of those other guys, I’d be better than they are, because nothing is ever my fault.” Coming from Marbury, it doesn’t sound like confidence, but rather a refusal to be held accountable for any of his shortcomings. Sure, he’s never had a great set of teammates, but that shouldn’t keep him from making the ones he did have better… something he’s never done.

Just for kicks, I’m going to list all 30 of the league’s starting point guards, in order of how I’d select them if I had my choice of anyone in the league. I’m going to assume good health on all of them, and also take into consideration things like age and contract, etc. And just for the record, I wouldn’t be particularly excited about anyone outside of the Top 5.

1. Chauncey Billups
2. Tony Parker
3. Steve Nash
4. Jason Kidd
5. TJ Ford
6. Allen Iverson
7. Gilbert Arenas
8. Luke Ridnour
9. Kirk Hinrich
10. Mike Bibby
11. Joe Johnson
12. Sebastian Telfair
13. Baron Davis
14. Chris Paul
15. Delonte West
16. Andre Miller
17. Jamaal Tinsley
18. Steve Francis
19. Stephon Marbury
20. Mike James
21. Sam Cassell
22. Jason Terry
23. Marko Jaric
24. Brevin Knight
25. Damon Stoudamire
26. Jason Williams
27. Eric Snow
28. Smush Parker
29. Rafer Alston
30. Keith McLeod

And Marbury’s down there at #19… and I’m not even sure about having him that high. I could be talked into putting Mike James, Sam Cassell, and possibly Jason Terry ahead of him. Terry has his deficiencies, sure, but the difference is that he doesn’t think he’s the greatest basketball player in the universe, which works to his advantage.

Being a bad point guard is one thing, but it becomes that much worse when you have the attitude that you’re a good one. That’s Marbury.

(Gracias to joenetsfan.com for the image that I stole…)

Thanks to the Boogie Man for passing it along… this is phenomenal.

Deadspin documented their trip to an NYC book-signing yesterday where Dennis Rodman showed up in a hearse, with the GoldenPalace.com logo all over it, was rolled out in a casket covered with the GoldenPalace.com logo, which was accompanied by underdressed hoes with GoldenPalace.com written on their chest. It was, by all accounts, a very classy and dignified affair. Look how excited my man Will looks to be there (hey, nice jacket, by the way).

It’s just sad. I mean, it’s not Mike Tyson sad, or Darryl Strawberry sad, where you’ll kinda feel bad for someone involved… no one here needs any sympathy. This is sad because when just one of us; just one single, solitary member of our beautiful melting pot here can consider this a worthwhile activity… then we’re all in trouble. It’s a serious illness, and if one of us has it, we all have it. This happened right here on our own soil, and we, as a people, have to do a better job of helping our brothers and sisters, because clearly, many of us need help.

What does Joe Dumars think when he sees something like this? I mean, when Dennis was with the Bulls, he was already kinda gone, but back then, he was just a good, hard-nosed basketball player, not unlike Joe Dumars. How did they take such divergent paths? Most of the main guys on that team kept doing positive things. Dumars runs the Pistons, Laimbeer coached a team to a WNBA title, Mahorn does radio work for the Pistons, Isiah Thomas… well, OK, he kills about everything he touches. But even he can wake up every morning and say, “Hey… I may have given Jamal Crawford a big contract, but at least I’m not going to be rolling out of a casket today with a GoldenPalace.com sticker on my ass.”

Anyway… I don’t seek to influence your purchasing decisions at all, but keep in mind… if you don’t buy this book, Dennis might not do this again.

I suppose it’s difficult to really quantify these things, since the NFL’s salary structure is so complicated… there are base salaries, signing bonuses, cap value, and actual money… and I’m not sure how any of them are even related. Does anyone out there really understand how the NFL’s salary cap works? Really… anyone?

But, presumably, Bill Moore and Ryan Wilson, authors of these articles, do. Did you know that the Raiders are paying more for Warren Sapp than the Jags are paying for Marcus Stroud and John Henderson combined? I believe that’s what football insiders call “really really dumb.” Sapp got a $4.5 million signing bonus in 2004, and his base salary jumps to $4.5 million next season.

Aaron Brooks checks in on the most overpaid list at only #8, despite carrying a $5.5 million base salary in 2005, which equates to about $1.1 million per every dumb Aaron Brooks play that directly leads to a Saints loss. At #2 is Raiders corner Charles Woodson, giving the Raiders two of the top five, exemplifying their team philosophy, Commitment to Expensive Garbage. Woodson has a 2005 base salary of an unbelievable $10.6 million. The Raiders are expected to soon offer big contracts to Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Allan Houston.

Topping the most underpaid list is Jake Plummer… not something anyone would’ve predicted at the beginning of the year. In 2005, he’s pulling down just $665k in salary and carrying a $1.7 million cap value. Lesser-known studs like Hank Fraley of the Eagles, the oh-so handsome Steve Foley of the Chargers, and Colts DE Robert Mathis also make the most underpaid list.

The New York Times weighs in on MLS’s somewhat tenuous position in the American sporting culture at about the same time that Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots and MLS’s New England Revolution, is negotiating to buy a chunk of the Liverpool soccer team in Europe.

And I know you don’t care about soccer, but hey… it’s my website, so you’ll just have to deal. I’ve kinda grown to like soccer, and I’m sorry, MLS, it doesn’t have a lot to do with you. Watching games in the English Premier League is a completely different experience than watching MLS games. It’s like the difference between high school football and the NFL.

But MLS people seem happy with where they are… which is odd, considering the following:

- Attendance has not grown. In it’s first year, average attendance was over 17,000. Last year, it was 15,000.
- The league lost $250 million in the first five years, and $50 million in the last five
- Only two teams in the history of the MLS have reported having at least one profitable season

Personally, I don’t know if the MLS is ever going to get big. It’s just not fun to watch, and it has to get a lot better, in terms of the skill that’s represented on the field. I really believe that the EPL would have a much better shot at developing a big following in America than would the MLS… because it’s so much easier to watch. There’s skill there… creativity, speed, passion, teamwork… it’s just not the same in the MLS.

And I’m wondering if that’s what Bob Kraft and Malcom Glazer are up to. Glazer, of course, bought Manchester United for about a billion and a half dollars… a move which made many English folks want to murder him. And that’s not an overstatement… people actually want to kill him, as the chants of “Die, Glazer, Die” seem to indicate, as do this tremendous button. Anyway, I just wonder if Kraft and Glazer believe they can expand the reach of teams like Man U and Liverpool to America, and make some money here. I think they’d have a better shot at developing a major following than do the Kansas City Wizards or Colorado Rapids.