5 Stages Of Stephon Marbury

This Stephon Marbury story has been going on forever.  Now that he’s cleared waivers, he’s going to sign his name on the dotted line, and officialy join the Celtics.  We’re starting to see a lot of reaction to the signing.

1. Denial

“What?  Marbury?  C’mon… not only do we not want that guy… we don’t even need him.”

This started back at the beginning of the season, when it was clear that Stephon Marbury was clearly on his way out of New York.  In November, his name was first floated out there… a notion Chuck dismissed with this:

Here’s what a lot of people still don’t get: the Celtics don’t need a backup point guard. Eddie House works. Having the 2nd unit offense run through Paul Pierce or Ray Allen works. What doesn’t work is a crazed, tattoo-on-the-head, me first guy named Stephon Marbury.

2. Anger

“The Celtics are actually interested in this guy?  That’s it, I’m keying my objections into Danny Ainge’s car!”

The first inkling of the Celtics interest in Steph was back in December… a report that elicited a post from me called Oh My Dear God No… which ended with me saying

I can’t handle Stephon in a Celtics jersey.  I can’t handle Stephon celebrating in our locker room.  I can’t.  I just can’t.

3. Bargaining

“It’s pretty clear Eddie House is better at the 2… so there’s got to be a non-Marbury option out there, right?”

Aside from wondering aloud why Sam Cassell was just sitting there… or whether Gabe Pruitt should get a shot.  We dropped other names…. even Fred Jones,

4. Depression

“Oh my God… this might be happening.  That’s it… we’re toast”

Just cruising through the comments after the story broke.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Mizzle – February 24, 2009 at 7:45 pm

Let’s just hope this works out… personally I don’t trust Marbury.

ThatGuyOverTheOcean – February 24, 2009 at 7:52 pm

this is like settling for a pabst from the fridge and mr. skin after a failed saturday night at a bar. it might get the job done, but it’s not exactly what you were hoping for.

scalsnutrisystemplan – February 24, 2009 at 9:41 pm

Not a fan of this move at all….. but who the hell am I to second guess Danny Ainge.

Tim (FD) – February 24, 2009 at 11:11 pm

Those are just a few… from a few of our regulars.

5. Acceptance

“He’s here, let’s embrace it, and hope he can help us defend the title.”

Summed up in the post earlier this week titled “Might As Well Embrace It”

So it looks like Stephon Marbury is joining the Celtics… whether some fans like it or not.  And like Chuck with Barack Obama… you’ve got no choice but to embrace it now and hope he succeeds (you heard me, Rush… you fat, blowhard, vicodin addict).

We’re not alone in accepting it.  Hardwood Houdini is in full acceptance mode today.  Celtics Stuff Live has accepted it too…. and they brought up a good point:

The beauty of what Danny Ainge did last week in trading away Sam Cassell is that the Kings subsequently waived the former Celtics point guard and preserved the ability for the Celtics to re-sign Cassell after March 20th. What that means is that even if Marbury flames out and shows up to games acting like rapper extrordinaire Joaquin Phoenix, the team can cut Stephon’s ass and re-sign a former all star and three time NBA champion point guard  that practiced with the Celtics all year long

So here we are.  In the final stage of the Marbury saga.  And if any of you aren’t at “acceptance” yet… don’ t worry… you will be.  He’ll do something good in that C’s uniform, you’ll get up out of your seat, and you’ll think to yourself “ok… I can deal with this.”  It’s just a matter of time.