When playing basketball a lot of emotions can come up, and the way you show them can affect the way you play and can impact your career. For Stephon Marbury, his emotions affected the way his profession went, both good and bad.
The documentary “A Kid From Coney Island” is about the former NBA player Stephon Marbury’s path to greatness, through intimate interviews with Marbury himself, along with family, friends, and former teammates.
The film also goes into detail about the impact Marbury had on the game. From getting his nickname “Starbury,” playing streetball in his local neighborhood park, to bringing light to the basketball scene in China, which influenced more former NBA players to make the transition to play in China.
Despite the film being about the sport, it more so dives into Marbury the brand, along with the reputation he’s left in the NBA.
The documentary is so appealing to those who really care about the sport, because it describes the NYC basketball scene as a whole. Most players from The Big Apple get their skills and toughness from playing at local parks in their neighborhood.
That’s why events such as Rucker Park Basketball are so popular in the world today because Marbury and others like him, played in the park the event is named after, even while playing in the NBA, which propelled it into a new level of popularity.
Marbury also inspired players in the NYC area as well. An example can be from his cousin, Sebastian Telfair, going to the same high school as him and playing basketball in the same events as him.
This path led him to make it to the NBA like Marbury, which is one of the many reasons Marbury is so inspiring.
This inspiring nature isn’t limited to Marbury, every character is very authentic in the way they acted towards NYC basketball and towards Stephon the person, whether they were bad or good comments.
The adversity works great with the tone and doesn’t feel fake.
The film does a good job with selling Stephon as a popular sensation since the age of 12, whether it was showing pictures of him at the playground or showing clips of him scoring the ball.
Something else the film does well is making sure his family members were heard. There were continual cuts in scenes where the film would go back to the family members to hear and see them talk about Stephon and who he is as a person.
It would’ve been neat to have seen Stephon’s life in school. Although the film says Stephon went to school and stayed away from the streets, there really wasn’t any proof. There was a clip of Stephon walking to school with a backpack on, but it would have been great to see an interview with Stephon’s teacher or something along those lines.
Another thing that could have been useful to show the audience would be Stephon’s love life. His wife, Tasha, comes in later in the film to talk about his experience and journey to his time in China, but the film also mentions he had a baby while in high school.
Even though he might not be with that woman currently, input on his youth from a lover’s point of view wouldn’t hurt in getting to know Stephon personally.
Although it’s unlikely that your average viewer would want to go into the nitty gritty of something that doesn’t come up until the very end.
“A Kid From Coney Island ” is a good watch for those that enjoy documentaries or are interested in basketball and the struggles it takes to make it big.