'It Was Something I Needed For My Basketball Life': Stephon Marbury On 'A Kid From Coney Island' Documentary & New York Knicks
(CBS Local)-- Stephon Marbury is one of the best basketball players to ever come from New York City.
The Coney Island native became a star at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, was a 2x NBA All-Star, and the face of the New York Knicks during the mid 2000s.
There were many ups and downs during Marbury's basketball journey and they are chronicled in a new documentary called "A Kid From Coney Island," which is executive produced by Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant and produced by actor Forest Whitaker. The former New York State Mr. Basketball winner wanted the opportunity to tell his story in full.
"I saw the documentary when the documentary came out for the first time. I didn't even see it and I had complete trust in Forest Whitaker and Chike Ozah and Coodie," said Marbury in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "That team, they made me feel like it was going to be OK. They told the truth. It's honest, it's encouraging, it's ups, it's downs, and it shows where you can see failure happening. You can also see some success and then it just evolves into a piece where you're like wow, there's a lot that happened. It speaks on the truth of what happened in my story and my life."
FULL INTERVIEW:
Marbury's Knicks made the NBA playoffs just one time during his tenure in New York. Despite the struggles on the court, Marbury still has great love for the franchise and New York fans.
"When I came here and saw my name on the board when I was driving up and it said Stephon Marbury is coming back home. This whole vision and imagery of me playing inside the Garden after so many years of not playing there. I wanted to get drafted by the Knicks, but I knew that wasn't a possibility at that time because they were pretty decent. Then I got the opportunity to play and it was something I needed for my basketball life. That excitement, that love, that fanfare, the hate, the boos, all of that. It's a cycle with the Knicks. If you're not doing good, you're cold. Period, that's the Garden. They make you go harder. It was an experience. It was a bunch of people dealing on a platform that wasn't San Antonio, or the Lakers, or Boston."
After his time with the New York Knicks, Marbury finished his basketball career in China where he won multiple Chinese Basketball Association championships. Marbury still resides in China and wouldn't change a thing about his decision to go overseas.
"When I think about China, I think about love," said Marbury. "I think about how they treated me during the time and what I needed. I needed to have that type of support from people who love basketball and were happy that I was coming some place where I was going to entertain. They gave me the opportunity to share who I was as a human being. I was completely transparent in telling them who I am."
"A Kid From Coney Island" premieres March 10.
