Larry Brown Sports

Believe it or not, Stephon Marbury has actually captured the hearts of a number of people in China. His Beijing Ducks currently hold a 3-1 series lead over Guangdong and are one win away from their first CBA title in franchise history. Yes, Stephon has even led the way. As shocking as it may be to those of us who remember NBA Stephon, he is loved enough in China that a fan actually has a tattoo of Starbury’s face on his leg. That’s what you’re looking at in the disturbing image above that I Am A GM discovered on Weibo, which is the Chinese version of Twitter.

If you thought athlete face tattoos like this one, this one, or this one were frightening, this may have just rocked your world. The “Love is Love” was the icing on the cake for me. When someone in a foreign country gets a tattoo of your face on their leg, it’s probably safe to say you’ve resurrected your career.

Give Stephon Marbury credit. The dude is still a head case and he acted like a moron for most of his NBA career, but he has done well for himself playing basketball in China. Marbury signed with the Beijing Ducks last year, and this year he has led them to the CBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. The Tigers took a 1-0 series lead over Guangdong on Wednesday night.

Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated decided to profile the resurrection of Marbury’s basketball career. Their piece contained quotes from teammates and Chinese basketball insiders who say Marbury has made a genuine effort to connect and interact with the fans. Missing, however, were quotes from Marbury himself. Apparently those won’t come unless SI agrees to give him the cover.

Marbury’s relations with the American press remain as frayed as ever — he turned down multiple requests to speak with SI.com unless he was guaranteed the cover of Sports Illustrated — but he’s never been more popular among the fans in China.

From the sound of it, Starbury is still holding a grudge against the media in America. Plenty of negative things have been written about him, but when you say stuff like this you kind of get what you’re asking for. It will be interesting to see if SI caves if the Ducks go on to win the CBA championship.

Chest bump to Deadspin for the story

With the news surfacing yesterday that Mike D’Antoni had resigned as head coach of the Knicks, a certain self-conscious someone that once played under New York’s former coach went on a tweeting spree. Stephon Marbury, who has seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet over the past few years, never saw eye-to-eye with D’Antoni when he took over in New York toward the end of Stephon’s time with the Knicks. Like Carmelo Anthony, Marbury felt he was not utilized properly in D’Antoni’s system. It didn’t help that Marbury had been going off the deep end at that point in his career.

With that in mind, it is easy to understand why Stephon turned his Twitter page into a D’Antoni hate website late Wednesday night. Here are a few of the highlights that Ball Don’t Lie called our attention to:

Read The Rest of the Story…

Stephon Marbury seems to be enjoying his days in China more than he enjoyed them in New York. He may not like the food or make nearly as much money, but Starbury is happy to be somewhere with fans who appreciate him — unlike those barbarians back in the United States.  Isn’t that just lovely?

Marbury told the Washington Post on Wednesday how he feels about Chinese fans compared to Americans — particularly Knicks fans. “China is a positive place, what can I say,” Marbury explained. “The Chinese, unlike Americans – and particularly New Yorkers – don’t fill their souls with negativity.”

I can’t speak for the fans in China, but the sad part about this is Marbury is probably right.  American fans do have a tendency to be negative — even if Knicks fans actually wanted Stephon back for a split second.  That being said, Marbury did nothing to help his reputation while playing in the NBA and everything to make fans hate him.

Let’s put the fate of the Foshan Dragon Lions in the hands of Marbury and Isiah Thomas and see how long the honeymoon lasts.  I’d be willing to bet those two could fill anyone’s soul with negativity.

It’s amazing to see fan behavior. Nobody showed up to Knicks games because the franchise became so putrid under Isiah Thomas’ watch. They even had to start giving away food in fan appreciation days last season just to get people to buy tickets. Now they get a new coach who wants to turn things around, install his system, and win his way. They get a win on opening night — something they weren’t accustomed to the last few years — and then they bitch about a player not getting off the bench during the game?

With some in the Garden crowd surprisingly chanting “We Want Steph [Marbury]” with 11:10 remaining in the fourth (others booed the chant), a stewing [head coach Mike] D’Antoni was caught on MSG Network cameras Wednesday in a tirade, mouthing:

“You’ve got to be (bleeping) kidding me. You’ve got to be (bleeping) kidding me. What a bunch of (bleep) holes.”
…
[D'Antoni later said at practice the next day]
“Sometimes I don’t think the fans quite get it,” D’Antoni said. “It’s like who you draft. They’re going to boo. When you make a big decision, someone’s going to like it, someone’s not. You’ll hear from the people who don’t.

Those fans are impossible to please. Steph used to be the biggest scapegoat there for the losing and now they want him in the game? That’s like Dodger fans chanting to see Andruw Jones next year. Looks like D’Antoni put a quick end to any future fan requests for Marbury by putting him on the inactive list. I’m cool with D’Antoni doing his thing but I’m still surprised with the way things have gone with Marbury. If they weren’t going to play him, why didn’t they trade him? I refuse to believe that he isn’t talented enough to play in this league so I can’t understand why he’s just rotting away on their bench.

We already knew that Stephon Marbury was out there. And by out there, I mean from a different planet. He’s responsible for one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever seen, and he also owns one of the oddest tattoos I’ve seen as well. And apparently he picked up some Phil Jackson literature in the offseason because he’s become quite the philosopher lately. Witness his jawing with Eddie House of the Celtics in their pre-season game:

After Marbury drew a foul on Kendrick Perkins and hit two free throws, he turned and screamed at House, from midcourt: “You’re a bum!”

When play returned to the Celtics’ side of the court, House chirped, “Don’t worry about me. You better worry about Ray Allen,” whom Marbury was guarding. Marbury shot back, “You’re nothing!” then added, “You’re caught up in basketball. Get caught up in life.”

That is incredible. Seriously, of all the things in the world, why should House be worrying about basketball, right? Couldn’t he be out helping starvation in the world instead or putting sneakers on kids’ feet one at a time? A nice find by Straight Bangin’, passed on by M. Watson, proprietor of the greatest Detroit Pistons blog around. It’s nice to know where Steph’s head is at.

OK, so over the weekend I told you that Stephon Marbury was busy in the offseason adding a new tattoo of his Starbury logo to his dome. The story was good, but what everyone really wanted to see was a picture of it. Well, thanks to the magic of Deadspin, we now have one. Brace yourself.

Well, if he ever gets tired of it, at least he can just grow his hair out …