Ex-Knicks guard Stephon Marbury reportedly signs on for three-more years in China
Marbury, who has played in the Chinese Basketball Association since 2010, is so popular in China that after leading the Beijing Ducks to a championship a statue was erected outside the team's stadium.
By Mitch Abramson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, October 19, 2013, 1:37 PM
Sports Illustrated China/Getty Images
Stephon Marbury holds up the trophy after leading the Beijing Ducks to a Chinese league title.
Stephon Marbury, the former Knick and Coney Island product, has reportedly signed a three-year deal with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association, ensuring that Marbury will play in China until he's nearly 40.
Marbury, 36, has played for the CBA since 2010, and is said to be contemplating a future in coaching with the Ducks. He's so beloved in the capital city that after he led Beijing to the team's first championship two years ago, the team erected a statue of him that sits outside the team's stadium, a monument to second-chances if ever there was one. Marbury's cousin, Sebastian Telfair, has also reportedly signed to play in the CBA this season for Tianjin with an eye toward returning to the NBA early next year.
Stephon Marbury has become a real fan favorite in China and even a mentor to other U.S. players.
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Marbury spent five mostly erratic and controversial seasons with the Knicks after he was traded midway through the 2003-04 season. He quarreled with teammates and team brass, failed to get along with coach Larry Brown and later feuded with coach/GM Isiah Thomas. Reports surfaced that he and Thomas even came to blows. Marbury finally agreed to a buyout during the 2008-09 season, ending his turbulent time with the Knicks and ushering in a second, better-received act in China.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
Stephon Marbury is reportedly also interesting in coaching in China following his playing days.
While other big-ticket NBA imports such as Steve Francis, Tracy McGrady and even J.R. Smith achieved only moderate success in China, Marbury, a former lottery pick of the Milwaukee Bucks, has somehow emerged a national hero. While he may have struggled to connect with fans in the U.S., Marbury seems to have remade himself in China. Marbury is often held up as a model for success for former NBA players in East Asia and has been credited with bolstering the profile of the CBA.
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Simmons, Howard
Stephon Marbury struggles to see eye-to-eye with Larry Brown during his stint with the Knicks.
"When Yao Ming retired from basketball, the worry was that the sport's popularity would wane," wrote Mark Dreyer in the Chinese tabloid, "Global Times," as mentioned by NBA.com. "With Yi Jianlian unable to carry the torch overseas, the focus turned to the CBA and while it's no substitute for the NBA in terms of quality, the Chinese league has definitely improved over the past few years. Marbury should get as much credit as anyone for that improvement."
According to reports, Marbury has been a model citizen for the league, a warm and fuzzy accessible employee who rides the subway to practice, makes appointments to visit kids in hospital wards and runs clinics for aspiring players. He's even become a mentor of sorts to American players who make the pilgrimage to East Asia, doing for them what he seemed to not do with Keith Van Horn and other ex-NBA teammates. Marbury has even found his inner-journalist, penning a column for the China Daily. He served as an assistant coach for the Beijing team during the recent National Games in China.
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"The four-time CBA All-Star has done more than many foreign imports during his stay in China," wrote Kenya Brown of Marbury, in a story for the Chinese basketball blog NIUBBall.com.
Over 13 seasons in the NBA, Marbury had career averages of 19.3 points and 7.6 assists a game for five different teams, including a stint with the New Jersey Nets. He was a two-time All-Star.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...s-years-china-article-1.1490442#ixzz2iCZApNjP
I thought he was the man 2 years ago homie.
bust in one year? And he's worse than Stoudemire status on defense.
(feat. Evan Fournier) with another classic 
