Sabotage? Mike D's Starbury stance gets downright mean

Me, I look at D'Antoni and I see phoniness and even some cowardice. In the preseason D'Antoni met with all his players and told them to get into shape. Only players who busted their ass on their own time would be able to play on the new coach's dime, so Marbury busted his ass. He came into camp ready to run.

Center Eddy Curry didn't. He came to camp out of shape, got sick and then injured and was inactive to start the season. Last week D'Antoni activated Curry even though he remains fat, out of shape and too injured to play.

Marbury, healthy and presumably in some of the best shape of his life, sat on the bench in his rugby shirt.

From the outside, which is where I like to be when it comes to the snake pit that is Madison Square Garden, D'Antoni looks to be punishing Marbury for his sins against the coaching profession. With Marbury as their starting point guard, the following coaches have lost their jobs: Don Casey (2000) with New Jersey; Scott Skiles (2002) and Frank Johnson ('04) with Phoenix; and Don Chaney (later in 2004), Wilkens ('05), Williams ('05), Brown ('06) and Thomas ('08) with the Knicks.

D'Antoni refuses to be next. Understandable. But also a little bit, um, cowardly.

Did you see A Few Good Men? I'm reminded of the scene where attorney Tom Cruise pokes some holes in colonel Jack Nicholson's puffed shirt by wondering why, if Nicholson's orders are always followed, did Nicholson fear for a certain soldier's safety after Nicholson had ordered the rest of the base to leave that soldier alone?

It was a great question, and Nicholson had no answer.

D'Antoni isn't puffed up like Nicholson, but at the end of the day, the Knicks are his team. He is the coach. The leader. The man. So I guess my question of Mike D'Antoni is this: If you're as good as you're supposed to be, why is your most talented player on the bench in a rugby shirt?

If D'Antoni was trying to humble Stephon Marbury, the message has been delivered. If D'Antoni wanted to humiliate him, well, he has done that too.

Which means Marbury isn't the only bad guy in street clothes on the Knicks bench.