The new sherrif in town, Mike D’Antoni, had a strong message for Stephon Marbury in the Knicks’ season opener last night: You’re no longer part of the show, bub.
D’Antoni didn’t give Steph a nanosecond of playing time in the Knicks’ 120-115 victory over Miami, sending an unmistakable signal that this is an entirely new era in The Garden.
“We’ve got to know certain things as we go forward,” D’Antoni said. “We’re trying to build a team, and this is not this year, it’s a two-to-three year project. I don’t want to get started next year, I want to get started right now … We need to build a team and know that’s who we are … right or wrong.”
“This is a business and I understand the decision if that’s the way they want to go,” Stephon said after the game, “I have no problem with it.”
Marbury didn’t lash out at his coach for the embarrassing DNP, mostly because he doesn’t need to: his biggest fanboy in the media takes care of those things.
Of course, it remains to be seen just how long Marbury can maintain the facade of the cool, calm and collected professional should D’Antoni keep him glued to the bench.
