Celtics introduce Marbury
TD BANKNORTH GARDEN — He’s done this before.
Local and national media members packed the makeshift press conference room the Celtics used during last season’s playoffs as the team introduced newly signed point guard Stephon Marbury this afternoon. Having driven to Boston this morning from New York, Marbury was no stranger to this latest fishbowl.
“I’m so happy to just be able to play basketball again,” Marbury told the media. “I [don’t care] what my role is. I’m excited about just playing.”
Marbury spent a “cumulative hour” working with the Celtics coaching staff today, but he will be in uniform and wearing No. 8 tonight as the Celtics take on the Pacers.
“His impact will probably be more immediate than P.J. [Brown’s last year],” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “One, because we almost have to with Gabe [Pruitt] being suspended today, and with Tony [Allen] being out. We just need bodies … If he screws up a play tonight, it’s because he doesn’t know it. One of the things I told Steph is just to be free.”
Marbury’s day was largely spent on the procedural: signing his new contract, taking a physical, and learning some of his new team’s plays. He also said he had a little time to meet his new teammates.
“They were very receptive to me,” said Marbury. “Everybody was excited, which I was happy about.”
During the press conference, Marbury seemed eager to please his new coach, laughing at several of Rivers’s jokes while sporting a sheepish grin. If Marbury has a defiant side, he certainly didn’t show it.
The questions were mostly tame, but the former Knick had terse, if not solid, answers to the more difficult ones. When asked if he thought the media had given him a bad rap, he said, “If you know me that’s one thing. If you don’t know me you’re speaking about me from what someone else told you … I’m human. I make mistakes. I’ve learned from my mistakes.”
Marbury said he spoke to several other teams but chose to sign with the Celtics “because they wanted me.” He said that sitting home and watching basketball games “wasn’t fun”, and that this season with the Knicks was a “humbling experience.”
His most unenthusiastic answer may have come when he talked about Celtics starting point guard Rajon Rondo. While he said all the right things, Marbury seemed almost distant in his response.
“I like him,” said Marbury. “He’s a really good player. His hands are amazing. The things that he does with the basketball are amazing.”
Despite Marbury’s prior reputation as a team killer, Rivers said he wasn’t worried about disrupting the Celtics’ winning chemistry.
“That was in New York and wherever else,” said Rivers. “That has nothing to do with today or tomorrow. Our locker room is very strong. We just have good people.”
On what effect Marbury will have on backup guard Eddie House, Rivers added, “I think it will help Eddie because it will move him off the ball more. I think it will make Eddie a better player because now Eddie can become a shooter full time.”
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