Stephon Speaks

Posted: August 6, 2002

Stephon Marbury joined Brad Cesmat on the KTAR 620 Sportsline Friday evening for a revealing one-on-one interview. The Suns’ guard, who has been rehabbing his ankles in Los Angeles after offseason surgery, announced his upcoming wedding plans and talked about Shawn Marion’s contract extension, the upcoming 2002-03 season and his busy August charity schedule. The following is an excerpt from the show…

Cesmat: Are you getting married?

Marbury: Aw, yeah (laughs).

Cesmat: When is it?

Marbury: September 14.

Cesmat: What have you been doing this summer?

Marbury: I’ve pretty much been in L.A. the whole summer rehabilitating my ankles. It is going extremely well. I’ve been doing a lot of different things as far as trying to give my ankles the motion that I need to go out and play at the highest level of basketball.

Cesmat: How was it for you at the end of the season, physically?

Marbury: During the whole year my ankles were up and down, but when it got to the middle of the season that’s when it got really bad. Going down the stretch it was really bad, but I figured I made it that far. It was tough. I think I was compensating after partially tearing my hamstring at the beginning of the year. I think that was a big factor. I felt like I got traded to an organization that really wanted me. For me, sitting down that was not going to look good for me. I wanted to give the fans all 82 games. That was my goal for the year and I reached that goal.

Cesmat: Did you put too much pressure on yourself last season?

Cesmat: I got criticized out here. I said on TV that Stephon Marbury had a disappointing season last year when he saw what Jason Kidd and the Nets were able to accomplish. I said, “I’m sure he had to feel like no matter what the numbers showed, that last season was a disappointing season.” Fans said, “No, that couldn’t be the case. You shouldn’t be criticizing.” I wasn’t being critical, I’m saying…

Marbury: I understand. It was a disappointing season. As far as how I played, my numbers were decent. I averaged 20 points and eight assists, and 45 percent shooting from the field. But from a team standpoint, it was very disappointing. It was a difficult atmosphere. We lost so many guys to trades and the coaching change. I think with Jason, when he went to New Jersey he had to show people a whole different side of him and he did that. He proved he was one of the best point guards, if not the best point guard in the NBA. But I know with all the things I went through last year, I know I was nowhere near where I will be this year. I know it will be totally different when I step on the basketball court. My mind and my body are on a totally different level this year.

As far as the team situation, I think everyone is trying to go out and prove something. You got a guy like Tom Gugliotta, who is working extremely hard every day. He is trying to make a statement and prove he is a guy who can make a difference here. When you have guys who want to do that, everyone is hungry. Everyone is starving. I know for myself, it is not about money anymore, now it’s about straight up trying to win a championship now. That’s the only thing you’re going for.

Cesmat: I have one last question about last season. I don’t want to get too much into that. How different for you was it under Frank (Johnson) than Scott (Skiles)?

Marbury: They are too different coaches. I think Skiles put everyone’s personalities in one bag. I think in the NBA you got to know who’s who. You have to treat everyone different. You can’t treat everyone the same because you can yell and scream at a guy like me and get down in my throat, and I will perform. With some other guys you may say something and treat them the other way, and they’ll go in the tank. With Frank, I think he deals with everyone’s personality individually. He doesn’t pretty much say, “This is how it’s going to be done and this is it.” He pulls everyone to the side. He treats everyone different. He’ll yell at me, but he won’t yell at some other guys because he knows I can take it. I think that’s the difference between them. Skiles is a really good coach, but I think it kind of clashed with some of the guys on the team. He was trying to push their buttons the wrong way.

Cesmat: In talking with you, you sound great. Mentally, you’re ready to roll. Physically, you’re ready to roll. But it’s a young squad, and for the first time I can remember, there is actually a core group of guys I can see being together for an extended period of time rather than the revolving door. Maybe Frank is a better fit in that coaching environment.

Marbury: Right. Whenever you got a young group of guys you have to have somebody who is willing to listen and compensate for not knowing. Whenever you are in that situation with a young group of guys you have to patient and Frank Johnson has all the patience in the world, as far as basketball. There are a lot of things he doesn’t have patience in, though (laughs). I think with the core of our team, with Shawn and myself, when we go into the season with Penny (Hardaway), Googs, those guys are going to play bigger roles because they know the ropes already. They know what things have to be done. Those guys have to be mentors (to the younger players), including myself. It’s going to be very important for them to step aside and say, “These guys are young. They have a lot of talent. We have to get them to where we were and where we are trying to go.”

Cesmat: When I saw Shawn got the max contract (last week), I’m saying to myself, “He’s not (a max player) yet.” But this is a potential deal. He’s 24 and you’re saying over the next six years, he’s going to be a max player. That’s putting the pressure on Shawn Marion’s shoulders to produce.

Marbury: There is always going to be pressure to go out and perform no matter what, but if you look at Shawn’s numbers (19.1 points and 9.9 rebounds last season) they are almost 20 and 10. You can’t hide from that. Twenty and 10 is 20 and 10.

Cesmat: Let’s talk about your charity functions. Did you play in Chicago with Shawn when he scored 52?

Marbury: Yeah. I played.

Cesmat: Fans are calling and saying he scored 52 and I said, “Well, it’s a charity game.”

Marbury: It’s not the same.

Cesmat: But your charity stuff, it’s like August should be called Stephon Marbury charity month. You have your basketball camp next week. You have your Big Splash coming up. The Sporting News named you one of the “Good Guys in Sports” for the second year. Where did this charitable side come from?

Marbury: I’ve really been doing it for five years, but nobody knew about it. I was doing it because I felt like I would want somebody to do that for me. It’s easy for me to do it, but my sister (Marcia) was a blessing from the sky. She told me people need to know about that. People like to hear about that. I didn’t want anyone to know that I’m doing this and doing that and I’m bringing kids to my mom’s house for the weekend, and I’m pretty much babysitting them. I really didn’t feel there was a need for everyone to know about it so I pretty much took it in stride. I’m just happy to do it, but now that people are starting to recognize it, you do more things. You want to hear people say, “I want to be involved.” The more that people are involved, the more kids you can help.

Cesmat: You take kids to your mom’s house? How many kids?

Marbury: Fifty kids.

Cesmat: Is she cooking for these kids?

Marbury: We barbecue and have a party. We take 50 kids from Coney Island and every kid has to have an 80 or above average. If they don’t, they can’t go to the basketball camp. Those 50 kids are on a scholarship to go to the basketball camp for a whole week. Then after the camp the highlight is going to my mom’s house. We have pool parties. We play games, pool and round robin basketball on the court. We do so many different things and the kids really have a good time.