The Drubbing

As the New York media anxiously anticipates the summer of 2010 one man continues to capture the headlines: Starbury. If you watch MSG, FSNY, or the Worldwide Leader you know that there are only two topics of discussion when it comes to the New York Knicks:

1. The Knicks are going to get Lebron in 2010!, and
2. Starbury.

Allow me to begin with a statement by the former Mr. Brandy Rayana Norwood, Quentin Richardson. The former Mr. Norwood told the New York Times, “[o]nce again, I don’t pay attention to [Stephon] because I don’t look at him as a teammate anyway.”

There are two problems with the former Mr. Norwood’s statement. First, if Brandy’s-ex was not paying attention to Starbury he would not have realized that Starbury’s beef with Coach D’Antoni rose to the level where he would refuse to play with his Knicks teammates even though thirty-five minutes were available. Second, Starbury is more than a teammate—he is a master marketer who keeps the media watching his every move even though those moves no longer occur on the hardwood. Clearly, Brandy’s ex, like the rest of us, is captivated by Starbury.

Indeed, it is impossible not to pay attention to Starbury. Starbury is everywhere. His shoes are in your local Steve and Barry’s, his new head tattoo is all over Google, and his feud with Coach D’Antoni is covered by every major sports media outlet.

Think about it, if Starbury went Eddy Curry and just told the media that he was “stunned” that he was not in the rotation we would not give him a second thought. Instead, Starbury has become deserving of a moniker that some have reserved for King Stern himself: “Stephon Marbury Master Marketer.”

The evidence does not end with Starbury’s latest feud with Coach D’Antoni; Starbury has been working on his marketing skills for a while. How could anybody forget Starbury’s classic reaction to the prospect of reduced playing time under Zeke? We all remember when Starbury told Zeke that cutting his playing time was fine so long as Zeke did not forget that Starbury had some “stuff on him.” In the very next game, Starbury was in the starting lineup. Someone get Circuit City on the line, they could use Starbury’s marketing expertise during this holiday season to beat Best Buy and ward off Chapter 11.

So what’s next for Starbury? Nobody knows, but we know that people will be talking about it. Perhaps Starbury will go play in Italy and be the “Beckham of basketball.” Maybe Starbury will suit up for a team in need of backup point guard in the Association like Miami, Washington, or Toronto. None of that matters because Starbury has taken one important rule to heart—there is no such thing as bad press.

Starbury—master marketer—has become more than a playground legend. Starbury is a legend. Starbury will never be forgotten by Knicks fans, which makes him different that Kenny “Sky” Walker, John Wallace, Renaldo Balkman, and Eddy Curry. Starbury has not suited up for a single game this year but we continue to talk about him like he was putting up twenty and nine. For this, Starbury deserves our appreciation.