The Knicks are slogging through one of the worst seasons in their history but that's not the problem.

Larry Brown has so many mismatched pieces on this roster that finding a consistant rotation is akin to finding a Celtics fan who likes Isiah Thomas more than Larry Bird, but that's not the problem.

Star point guard Stephon Marbury has shown himself to be the ultimate "I" player in the ultimate "team" position...and that's a big problem.

It would be one thing if Marbury were just in a slump, if he were just going through a bad stretch but it is more than that, Marbury has shown himself to be a petulant child who would rather sleep walk through the season and pout during and after games than adjust his playing style to the system Larry Brown is trying to install.  Now if Marbury had Michael Jordan's resume of titles and the coach asking him to change was Don Cheney then perhaps Steph would have a leg to stand on but in his nine years in the league Marbury led teams have been in the lottery five times and never gotten beyond the first round of the playoffs, Brown on the other hand comes with a reputation for winning and is a year removed from leading the Detroit Pistons to the title.  Other tempermental players have adapted their styles to fit Brown's system including Iverson and Rasheed Wallace, but not Marbury.  Even Marbury's biggest supporter in New York has seemingly seen enough.

Knick GM Isiah Thomas had declared as recently as this summer that Stephon was a crucial part of the Knicks' future, a month ago he backed off that sentiment saying that the cornerstones of the franchise are Eddy Curry, Channing Frye and Larry Brown, the man once known as Starbury having been replace by an oft injured center with a heart condition , a rookie many branded as soft this summer and a coach who was contemplating retirement earlier this summer.  Thomas is at best a creative general manager and moving Stephon will require all the creativity he can muster.  The Knicks were one of the last teams to believe Marbury could be a winner.  After all he was a New York kid getting the chance to live out his dream of calling the Garden his home court.  He has a killer contract, a bad attitude and a reputation for not getting along with players (see Keith Van Horn, Kurt Thomas and Kevin Garnett).  The Knicks though know that they have to move him.  The core of the team is made up of young and still impressionable players, Jamal Crawford actually wants to learn, and is trying to adapt to Brown's style with mixed results, Curry is only 22 and when healthy needs a point guard who will feed him the ball rather than look for his own chances to score, second year man Trevor Ariza makes up for his lack of shooting touch with an endless motor and tenacity on defense and rookies Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee have all shown flashes.  The last thing this group needs is for Marbury's bad attitude and bad habits to infect them as well.  It is not unlike the situation that the Timberwolves found themselves in when they drafted Kevin Garnett.  Here they had a young, impressionable player coming in and their first order of business was to get malcontents JR Rider and Christian Laettner off the team as fast as possible without regard for what they brought back.  The Knicks need to take this approach with the artist formerly known as Starbury.