Analysis: No final resolution in Knicks' Marbury saga

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- Today, the media descended on the New York Knicks' practice facility expecting to put a period at the end of the Stephon Marbury story.

Instead we'll need to use an ellipsis as the team said it didn't expect an official resolution today in regard to their suspended and beleaguered point guard.

To be continued ...

Although the situation between Marbury and the Knicks is far from over, Knicks president Donnie Walsh ordered Marbury to stay away from team practices and games for the time being.

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"After meeting with Stephon and his representative this afternoon, we have directed Stephon not to participate in practice or attend games until further notice," Walsh said in a statement released by the Knicks. "We want to continue to meet with him to discuss a long-term resolution."

This is how the saga went down earlier today.

Former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik watched practice with Walsh. Granik, who lives in Westchester County near the practice facility, was not in the house to advise on the Marbury negotiations, but was present for a previously scheduled meeting.

Around 2 p.m., Players' Union Executive Director Billy Hunter emerged from the Knicks practice facility. Every NBA team has annual players' meeting with the union. Today, the Knicks' players' meeting happened to coincide with the Marbury buyout talks. Coincidence?

Then, Marbury arrived at the practice facility at 2:29 p.m. ET and used the public entrance in front of the facility instead of the players' entrance in the back. He left through the public entrance at 2:46 p.m., shot the remaining media a look and smiled at the question, "Are you still a part of the team?" walked to his car, a resplendent Rolls Royce, and sat.

He sat until Hal Biagas, a lawyer from the National Basketball Players Association helping represent Marbury, who has no agent, in the negotiations, emerged from the practice facility.

Biagas had no comment on the talks.

"We're going to try to keep this in house," Biagas said. "No comment at this time. We'll keep you posted if things happened.

Nothing was resolved?

"We had a conversation. Thanks, guys."

Biagas then stepped into Marbury's car and drove away. It was 3:08 p.m.

Walsh didn't speak to the media as he disappeared into the Knicks locker room moments after the team broke practice. Whatever the outcome of this afternoon's meeting, which is no official outcome as of now, it's clear the team, its coach and the players are ready to move on.

"I think everybody's looking forward to the resolution," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Again, it didn't work out the way anybody thought or hoped and we'll go on."

With or without Marbury, moving forward will be tough in the short term. The Knicks have been beset by injuries. The Knicks PR department scrawled five names on the white board -- Jeffries (fractured left fibula), Eddy Curry (sore right knee), Nate Robinson (strained groin), Cuttino Mobley (medical testing) and Danilo Gallinari (sore lower back) -- to inform who was nursing what and Chris Duhon, who dished a Knicks record 22 assists in the team's 138-125 over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, also kept it light as well so as to calm his sore back.

But as much of a surprise it was to see Granik sitting next to Walsh it was also a surprise to see Jeffries participating in practice, the first time he absorbed contact since suffering his injury in training camp.

While falling a bit short of channeling his inner coach Norman Dale from Hoosiers ("My team is on the floor."), D'Antoni was more than willing to pump up the guys he has under his tutelage.

"The mood's great," D'Antoni said. "We're getting Jared back, he should see some action pretty soon. Nate's real close. Duhon had another couple days off so we could get his back 100 percent.

"We're getting better and having practice as we'd like to, the mood's great and we're looking forward to the tougher part of our schedule. They're coming together as a team."

Meanwhile, the players themselves wouldn't mind concentrating on basketball. Guard Quentin Richardson, who has traded barbs with Marbury in the press, gave the media a wry smile as they surrounded him after practice and said, "What? Is there something going on?"

"He's entitled to his opinions, as I am," Richardson said of Marbury's statements in Monday's New York Post. "I've said what I said and he feels differently about that."

Richardson, like D'Antoni, talked about going forward.

"We look forward to getting better as a team," Richardson said, "and will keep trying to win games no matter the outcome today. That's our goal."

After another question about Marbury, Richardson tried to steer the conversation toward basketball and Tuesday's opponent.

"Everybody has their own opinions about different things," Richardson said. "The main thing we want to do is play basketball and win games. These aren't the things we want to come off the court and talk about. We want to talk about Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge and the Portland Trail Blazers.

"It's a situation we've grown used to and it is what it is. Our whole thing is we deal with it for these two minutes off the court before we head to the locker room and focus on what we focus on."

So, it looks as if the Knicks and their players may need to talk about Marbury for another day as it becomes not a matter of if Marbury is gone, but when.

Then, we can get to what's really important: what about LeBron James in 2010?

After all, the Knicks play in Cleveland on Wednesday.

To be continued ...