The Icon of Elisim
01-05-2004, 04:34 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stephon Marbury would return to his hometown as part of a blockbuster trade tentatively agreed to Monday by the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, sources told The Associated Press.
The Knicks would acquire Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski from Phoenix for Antonio McDyess, Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic, two future first-round draft picks and cash, according to a source close to one of the players who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Three other sources close to the teams confirmed the deal.
The trade would be the fourth of Marbury's career. The Brooklyn native was drafted by Milwaukee and immediately traded to Minnesota, where he subsequently forced a trade to New Jersey. The Nets sent him to Phoenix for Jason Kidd, and he now could be headed to the Knicks in the first major move made by new team president Isiah Thomas.
``I think we got the best deal,'' Knicks center Dikembe Mutombo said. ``He's among the best point guards in the league, he's an All-Star player.''
If the trade is finalized, it would represent a major shakeup for both teams. In exchange for its best player, Phoenix would gain salary cap flexibility. That would allow the Suns to rebuild a team eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last season after missing the postseason the year before.
The contracts of McDyess and Ward expire at the end of this season, and Ward has a buyout clause that can be exercised before Jan. 10. Eisley is under contract for three more seasons. Vujanic, the starting point guard on the Yugoslavian team that won the 2002 World Championship, is playing in Europe.
Marbury, one of the league's best point guards, is averaging a team-high 20.8 points for the Suns, who are in last place in the Pacific Division.
Hardaway, a former All-Star, has been a reserve.
McDyess, who played for the Suns in 1997-98, returned to action last month after missing more than a year because of knee surgery. McDyess took over a spot in the Knicks' starting lineup from Kurt Thomas, then lost it -- thereby becoming expendable.
``We've got a scoring point guard coming in, and a two-guard who's been getting it done for a number of years. So it's going to be a different look for us out there, but it definitely should be an improvement,'' Kurt Thomas said.
Eisley, who recently lost his starting job to Frank Williams, did not play in the Knicks' 95-85 loss to New Jersey on Sunday night.
Ward has been with the Knicks for 10 seasons, the second-longest current tenure of any player who spent his career with one NBA team.
If the deal is finalized, Isiah Thomas will have turned over about half the Knicks' roster in the two weeks since he replaced team president Scott Layden.
``I knew right after we got a new sheriff in town that we were in for a shakeup. One of the reasons he was brought here was to shake up the team and get us to the playoffs,'' Mutombo said.
Marbury will be reunited with Keith Van Horn, his teammate in New Jersey. Last summer, Marbury said the Nets didn't win when he was there because he was surrounded with untalented players, lumping Van Horn in with Gheorghe Muresan and Jim McIlvaine.
``No matter how long you play in this league, there's still things that come up that are surprising, and this is definitely one of them,'' Van Horn said. ``Personally we never had any problems. On the court we didn't win, and I think that was the biggest problem that Stephon and I had.''
At 14-21, the Knicks are fifth in a weak Atlantic Division. But with a starting lineup of Marbury, Allan Houston, Van Horn, Thomas and Mutombo, they should have enough talent to snap their two-year streak of missing the playoffs.
``On paper, talentwise, this puts us right up there at the top,'' Van Horn said. ``But that's just paper.''
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpYTg2ZTBwBF9TAzk1ODYxOTQ4BHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=ap-suns-knickstrade&prov=ap&type=lgns
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Wow Isiah is really turning that team around, adding an all star point guard like Marbury is pretty big. Houston and Marbury will be a pretty entertaining duo I think, might actually make the Knicks a fun team to watch.
Don't really get the deal from Phoenix's standpoint. I guess its pretty good to get ride of Penny but they seem to be getting fairly little for Marbury (unless this Lampe guy turns out to be as good as some people have been saying).
The Knicks would acquire Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski from Phoenix for Antonio McDyess, Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic, two future first-round draft picks and cash, according to a source close to one of the players who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Three other sources close to the teams confirmed the deal.
The trade would be the fourth of Marbury's career. The Brooklyn native was drafted by Milwaukee and immediately traded to Minnesota, where he subsequently forced a trade to New Jersey. The Nets sent him to Phoenix for Jason Kidd, and he now could be headed to the Knicks in the first major move made by new team president Isiah Thomas.
``I think we got the best deal,'' Knicks center Dikembe Mutombo said. ``He's among the best point guards in the league, he's an All-Star player.''
If the trade is finalized, it would represent a major shakeup for both teams. In exchange for its best player, Phoenix would gain salary cap flexibility. That would allow the Suns to rebuild a team eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last season after missing the postseason the year before.
The contracts of McDyess and Ward expire at the end of this season, and Ward has a buyout clause that can be exercised before Jan. 10. Eisley is under contract for three more seasons. Vujanic, the starting point guard on the Yugoslavian team that won the 2002 World Championship, is playing in Europe.
Marbury, one of the league's best point guards, is averaging a team-high 20.8 points for the Suns, who are in last place in the Pacific Division.
Hardaway, a former All-Star, has been a reserve.
McDyess, who played for the Suns in 1997-98, returned to action last month after missing more than a year because of knee surgery. McDyess took over a spot in the Knicks' starting lineup from Kurt Thomas, then lost it -- thereby becoming expendable.
``We've got a scoring point guard coming in, and a two-guard who's been getting it done for a number of years. So it's going to be a different look for us out there, but it definitely should be an improvement,'' Kurt Thomas said.
Eisley, who recently lost his starting job to Frank Williams, did not play in the Knicks' 95-85 loss to New Jersey on Sunday night.
Ward has been with the Knicks for 10 seasons, the second-longest current tenure of any player who spent his career with one NBA team.
If the deal is finalized, Isiah Thomas will have turned over about half the Knicks' roster in the two weeks since he replaced team president Scott Layden.
``I knew right after we got a new sheriff in town that we were in for a shakeup. One of the reasons he was brought here was to shake up the team and get us to the playoffs,'' Mutombo said.
Marbury will be reunited with Keith Van Horn, his teammate in New Jersey. Last summer, Marbury said the Nets didn't win when he was there because he was surrounded with untalented players, lumping Van Horn in with Gheorghe Muresan and Jim McIlvaine.
``No matter how long you play in this league, there's still things that come up that are surprising, and this is definitely one of them,'' Van Horn said. ``Personally we never had any problems. On the court we didn't win, and I think that was the biggest problem that Stephon and I had.''
At 14-21, the Knicks are fifth in a weak Atlantic Division. But with a starting lineup of Marbury, Allan Houston, Van Horn, Thomas and Mutombo, they should have enough talent to snap their two-year streak of missing the playoffs.
``On paper, talentwise, this puts us right up there at the top,'' Van Horn said. ``But that's just paper.''
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpYTg2ZTBwBF9TAzk1ODYxOTQ4BHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=ap-suns-knickstrade&prov=ap&type=lgns
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Wow Isiah is really turning that team around, adding an all star point guard like Marbury is pretty big. Houston and Marbury will be a pretty entertaining duo I think, might actually make the Knicks a fun team to watch.
Don't really get the deal from Phoenix's standpoint. I guess its pretty good to get ride of Penny but they seem to be getting fairly little for Marbury (unless this Lampe guy turns out to be as good as some people have been saying).