I am mentioning myself in the same breath as Michael Lewis, just for a bit. I am writing about a basketball player, just as Lewis did in The New York Times Magazine. Just like Lewis, I am writing about a well-known ballplayer, one who seems to defy quantification. The only difference? Michael Lewis has penned an 8,000-word ode to the utterly selfless Shane Battier. And I am writing a relative couplet about the utterly self-absorbed Stephon Marbury.
Battier makes every team he joins better though few -- if any -- traditional numbers reflect this. And Marbury makes every team he leaves better, even without his once-nightly 20 points and eight assists.