By MARC BERMAN
Do you think there was any chance the Boston Celtics were going to publicly confirm they have a secret verbal commitment to Stephon Marbury when he’s still under contract with the Knicks and may still be when the season ends? I would’ve been shocked if they confirmed it.
Marbury’s not lying on this one, the proof being he put that $1 million giveback onto the table again because of the commitment. It’s to his detriment that the Knicks know the Celtics are in the picture because Marbury feels James Dolan doesn’t want him to play in Beantown.
The Celtics actually feel Marbury will not be freed. The Boston Herald’s online story cited a Celtic source saying there is no verbal commitment, just talking, but the story added Boston desires to add him to the program. Sounds like semantics. Reggie Miller has also said the Celtics have inquired about him coming out of retirement.
Doc Rivers was so afraid of tampering that when the Celtics were in town Jan. 4th, he said he didn’t want to talk about if the Celtics have interest in Marbury for fear of tampering. I told Doc the Knicks have given him permission to talk to teams. Doc responded that he doesn’t care what the Knicks say, he cares what the NBA says. David Stern would not want the Celtics to publicly confirm such a commitment if there was one.
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Marbury and Eddy Curry have combined to play 2:38 this season. As Post night editor Kevin Kenney chimed, Chuckie Taylor has played more minutes than Marbury this season
Curry, meanwhile, has appeared in one game – in Dallas two weeks ago and hasn’t played since and probably won’t. As inconsequential as they’ve been on the court, they’ve remained front and center off the court.
The Knicks will likely have to pay Curry and Marbury about $30 million this season for two minutes and 38 seconds. That means the Knicks will have paid $189,873 per second for the inactive duo.
Curry is expected to go on a leave of absence after the horrifying murder of his former girlfriend in Chicago who bore his child three years ago while married to another woman. (Don’t be shocked. This is the NBA.)
With his sexual harassment lawsuit, two bad knees and density issues, nobody expects Curry to really play again this season. Even if he gets back to practice, he’s not slated as being part of the D’Antoni rotation, just as when the season began.
And yet with Curry and Marbury out of the picture all season, with Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford shipped out Nov. 21, the Knicks have marched on and are within shouting distance of the eighth seed, just one game behind Milwaukee, which will not have Michael Redd the rest of the season.
Mike D’Antoni has made his mistakes, but he has them where they want to be – in the middle of a playoff race after beating Houston tonight with a big fourth-quarter comeback, spearheaded by Wilson Chandler, who was taken out of the starting lineup, and Nate Robinson.
Last year at this time, the Knicks were amidst an 0-5 West Coast trip, returning to New York on Feb. 3 so far out of the playoff picture, the final 2 1/2 months were garbage time.