NEW YORK — If I were the Knicks' supreme commander, the moment Stephon Marbury contemptuously announced he wouldn't accept a Lincoln penny less than his final season's $20.8 million salary calls for to become a free agent, I would have ended any and all absurd conjecture about him saddling up somewhere else for a championship drive.
Knicks president Donnie Walsh is far too nice to play the only kind of dirty pool people like Marbury understand.
Given Marbury's negotiating stance and being the vindictive, grudge-to-the-grave person I am — and proud of it — unless he agreed to give the team the contract discount it demands, I wouldn't even reflect on his possible release (if then) until after playoff eligibility expired.