I finally got around to watching “A Kid from Coney Island” on Netflix, and let me tell you something, it is worth the watch. Starbury is and always has been one of my favorite players in the league ever since I started watching basketball. Growing up, there were the Allen Iverson fans, and the Starbury fans, and I was the latter. As a matter of fact, the first pair of basketball shoes I ever had were Starbury’s, so he and I have had a connection since about 2005.
Let’s get this out of the way first: yes. He’s had his share of ups and downs, more downs than ups in his NBA career. From getting screwed out of a big paycheck in Minnesota due to a new NBA rule, to getting blamed for the lack of wins in New Jersey, to the New York crowd turning on him after being traded from Phoenix. Every step of the way in his career, Marbury faced adversity, and I think that it made him better.
A lot of people like to go online and bash NBA players, current and former, myself included. I try my best to keep it to the stuff on the court. Even though I can’t personally stand guys like Chris Paul and James Harden, I can’t help but admit that they are some of the best players to ever play the game. When it comes to personal stuff, I believe anything is fair game. When it comes to the court, there isn’t much to be debated. Talent is talent. Doesn’t matter where you’re from, what school you went to, what style you have, what gender you are, or what league you’re in. Greatness is greatness, and let me tell you for those who missed out, Stephon Marbury was great. For his entire career, he averaged 19.6 points and 7.6 assists a game. Scrubs don’t put up those kinds of numbers. The great ones do.
For his NBA career, I refer to him as Icarus. You know, the guy in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun and got burned. The sun, in his case, was being too good at the wrong time. He was part of the 1-2 punch in Minnesota with Kevin Garnett. After not getting the big paycheck like he wanted, he went to New Jersey, to where he never had any talent around him. After that happened, he gained the reputation of being hard to play with, or being too much of a diva. There isn’t much of a chance to comeback from that title in today’s league, and there wasn’t any chance back then. So what does he do? He does what is commonplace now, but was out of the blue a couple of years ago. He went all the way across the world to play basketball in China.
China changed Stephon, and the hooper landscape, for the better. Marbury went from being someone who was an after thought in the NBA to being a deity in China. He was able to win three championships in China, along with being a league MVP. In watching his documentary, it was truly astounding to see how beloved he was in China. Do you remember in Kobe’s last game, how everyone was waiting with baited breath and what he would do next? And when the game was over, and he was giving his retirement speech, the whole crowd was moved to tears? The EXACT same thing happened when Marbury decided to hang it up in China. It was crazy to see how someone’s career could change in the matter of a couple of years.
The biggest message that the documentary conveyed was how much Marbury is giving back to the community now, in China and in Coney Island. It’s easy to forget the players who’ve come and gone in this league, and I’m really thankful for documentaries like this to help us relive those moments.
Round The Game 
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