Celtics to sign Marbury?

Marbury is washed up and is an ego, but for some reason I think he can help the Celtics.  Eddie House or Gabe Pruitt cannot be the backup point guard if the Celtics want to win in the playoffs.  They can bring Marbury in for very short money and if he acts like a douche, they can cut him. 

Espn is reporting:

Stephon Marbury said the Boston Celtics have expressed a firm commitment to sign the exiled New York Knicks point guard who hasn’t played since last April, according to Monday’s editions of the New York Post.

Marbury’s comments confirm an ESPN.com report on Jan. 1 that Celtics management is intent on signing him if he can reach a buyout agreement with the Knicks.

According to the Post, Marbury complained the Knicks have not agreed to buy out his contract because they don’t want him contributing to a championship run with the Celtics.

 

Marbury told the Post the Knicks were playing “kids games,” and “It’s got to be personal.”

“The question to be asked to the Knicks is: Are they fearful for me playing for another Eastern Conference team?” Marbury said, according to the paper. “My thing is, they shouldn’t be fearful. They’re trying to get under the cap for 2010. They shouldn’t be worried about me.”

The Knicks play the Celtics for the fourth and last time this season in New York on Feb. 6.

“You had guys saying I was a distraction, I’m a cancer,” Marbury said. “If I’m all those things, wouldn’t you want me to go to another team?”

Marbury, in his last year of a contract that pays him $21 million this season, told the Post another NBA team has also expressed interest in signing him upon release. According to the paper, the Miami Heat have Marbury in their sights.

“I know I’ll be able to sign with two teams,” Marbury told the Post.

A brief flirtation between Marbury and the Greek team Olympiacos appeared to end Friday, a day after the team contacted the Knicks as part of its efforts to find a replacement for the injured American Josh Childress, sources told ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan.

“It shouldn’t matter that I go to Boston if you’re the eighth seed and Boston is in the front,” Marbury told the Post. “It can’t be about money. The Knicks got plenty of it. It’s got to be personal. If it’s personal, then how is business being done there?”

Report: Stephon Marbury To Boston

From Marc Stein:

Nearly one year since Stephon Marbury last played in a regular-season game, signals are getting stronger that the New York Knicks’ outcast will eventually make his comeback with the Boston Celtics.

That still depends largely on Marbury’s ability to negotiate his release from the Knicks after weeks of fruitless and oft-contentious buyout talks, but sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.com this week that Boston is Marbury’s preferred destination if he manages to become a free agent and that the Celtics are indeed hopeful of signing him.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a New Year’s Day holiday for the entire league and has generally refused to address the possibility of signing Marbury. Yet it’s believed that the Celtics’ concerns about their depth, after losing James Posey and P.J. Brown from last season’s title team, have swelled noticeably since they followed up the best 29-game start in NBA history at 27-2 by losing three of the next four games on the road.

It appears that the biggest obstacle to such a move is Marbury actually securing a buyout from the Knicks in a timely fashion as opposed to reservations Boston might have about Marbury’s impact on team chemistry.

Although it has been widely assumed that Celtics forward Kevin Garnett would resist a reunion with the controversial point guard — after Marbury broke up their Minnesota parternship in less than three seasons together by forcing a trade to New Jersey — one Celtics source insists that Garnett has voiced no opposition to the idea of signing Marbury for the rest of the season to strengthen Boston’s backcourt depth behind starters Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen.

When asked specifically about the likelihood of Marbury joining the Celtics this season, the source predicted that “it will happen.”

One source close to Marbury cautioned that it would be premature to say that he’s narrowed his wish list down to the Celtics, but one Western Conference executive said of the notion that Marbury is Boston-bound: “I’ve heard the exact same thing.”

It’s Official: Marbury Gets Courtside Seats

Much to the chagrin of Knicks management, Stephon Marbury purchased courtside seats to watch his soon to be ex-teammates take on the Lakers. Since the Knicks have ordered Marbury to stay away from the team, but continue to pay him his $21 Million dollar salary, the Coney Island native said that he was just in LA to workout. I’ll translate that for you. What he really means is: I wanna too rub it in the Knicks face that they’re paying me to sit on my ass. I hope they lose every game and Mike D’Antoni gets the ebola virus. I root for whoever the Knicks play against. Suck my ass, James Dolan. Just spell my name right, bitches! That’s probably the clean version of what Marbury really wanted to say. More from NY Times:

Stephon Marbury, ordered to stay away from his team, watched from a baseline seat — a ticket he purchased — while his erstwhile teammates played one of their most riveting games of the season

The only thing more odd than the score was the sight of Marbury, the estranged Knicks guard. Marbury, who was essentially told to go sit in the corner by D’Antoni, was literally sitting in the corner farthest from the Knicks bench.

“I came out here to work out, to train,” said Marbury, who owns a home here.

Asked why he was at the game, Marbury said, “I wanted to come to the game.” Asked if he wanted to see any of his teammates, Marbury repeated, “I just wanted to come to the game.” Asked if he wished he were playing with this group, Marbury said, “No comment.”

Marbury’s rooting interest was not exactly clear. He spent much of the game talking on his cell phone. And while Spike Lee, sitting nearby, frequently jumped and cheered, Marbury sat stoically all evening.

With no apparent progress on a contract buyout, Marbury said he was prepared to sit out the entire season. He said he already had a team lined up to sign him if the Knicks ever granted his release. “The team that I’m going to go to, I think a lot of people will be shocked,” he said.

Gotta be the Celtics, right ?

Marbury To Possibly Attend Knicks Game In LA

Since he has been all but banished from sitting on the Knicks bench, Stephon Marbury is considering buying court side tickets to the Knicks/Lakers game in Los Angeles, reports the NY Post. Which I sure won’t make anyone in Knicks management too happy. It’s just another move by Marbury to enrage Knicks management and get them to give him his full buy-out. If he does get bought-out the Boston Celticswill be a team very interested in his services. Perhaps a reunion for Kevin Garnett who was once a teammate and good friends with Marbury when they played together in Minnesota. More from NY Post:

Despite being banned from the KnicksNew York Knicks Stephon MarburyStephon Marbury is planning to attend the team’s game against the Lakers on Tuesday night at Staples Center, according to a source close to the situation.

Marbury told The Post last week he was headed for a two-week West Coast vacation to get out of the cold weather and begin training in the Hollywood Hills. He flew to L.A. on Sunday.

It is unclear where Marbury plans to sit at the game, but last Thursday he said he was investigating purchasing courtside seats.

Stephon Marbury

From WEEI.com:

The Boston Celtics are one of a handful of teams, according to sources close to the situation, who have expressed interest in embattled Stephon Marbury if the embattled point guard is bought out by the New York Knicks. 

Marbury, who was told by the Knicks earlier this month to stay away from the team until a resolution is arranged, has also fielded interest from Miami, Dallas and the Los Angeles Lakers, according to league sources. 

Celtics boss Danny Ainge, according to the source, is legitimately interested in bringing Marbury on board because of his ability to handle pressure defenses – an area where backup Eddie House has struggled. 

Ainge believes the locker room is strong enough – with veterans Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen – to handle the addition of the enigmatic Marbury.