A WALKING TIME BOMB

Lo and behold, "Starbury" is coming to (bean)town! Yes, disgruntled guard Stephon Marbury had finally agreed for a contract buyout with the New York Knicks and is headed for Boston. Now, the question is what will he bring to the defending champs camp? Will it be headaches and more headaches or the great individual talent that he had displayed as one of the premiere point guards during his early years in the league?

The Celtics, in a desperate maneuver to retain their NBA title, had been busy lately in raiding the free agent market as they signed erstwhile Sacramento King slotman Mikki Moore and now, Marbury. Last campaign, the magic of mid-season signing of veteran free agents PJ Brown and Sam Cassell worked wonders during the Celtics run towards winning the championship. Now the men in green are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that history repeats itself. But did they made the right choice in Marbury? "Starbury" had been an enigma during his stint with the Knicks in recent years. Additionally, he had been branded as a loser, as he had not won a regular season game in more than a year, a playoff game in five years and a playoff series in six years.

At best, Marbury will be the lead backup of the team’s starting point guard Rajon Rondo. Again, another interesting question here is how long will he accept his role of coming off the bench? This guy is a notorious and is also well known for crying out loud like a baby, just ask his former Knicks teammates.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, the “Big Three” and their able back-up men had been very serious in their bid for a back-to-back title campaign and the very least that they needed at this point is a destruction, much less a walking time bomb, who is ready to explode anytime, called Stephon Marbury. Truly is Danny Ainge will risk his head if everything bombs out. Then that would be really a pitiful sight considering that only a year had been removed since winning their first championship in 22 years.

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Another sad news had hit the NBA family anew as former Chicago Bull great and current Comcast Chicago Net broadcaster for Bulls games Norm Van Lier passed away at the age of 61 yesterday.

Van Lier is one of the most popular Bulls stars in the mid and late 70s. I remember watching him in the Philippine TV broadcast of the NBA games on IBC 13 anchored by the late Frankie “Ka Kiko” Evangelista. I also read articles about him on Quinito Henson’s NBA column during the TV Times era in the 1970s.

Van Lier played 9 years in the NBA and had seen action for the Cincinnati Royals, Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks. He was a three-time all-star. He finished his career in 1979 with 8,770 points and 5,217 assists.