Stephon Marbury to the Celtics?

The Celtics got off to a franchise-best 27-2 start this season, and there was obviously little cause for concern. But then, the team hit the road for four games out West, and dropped three of them ... which apparently now is causing complete panic in the front office. Why would I say this? Because the hot rumor of the day has Boston as the ultimate destination for Stephon Marbury this season. ESPN's Marc Stein explains:

Nearly one year since Stephon Marbury last played in a regular-season game, signals are getting stronger that the New York Knicks' outcast will eventually make his comeback with the Boston Celtics.

When asked specifically about the likelihood of Marbury joining the Celtics this season, the source predicted that "it will happen."

Now of course, before Marbury can go anywhere, there's the little issue of his contract with the Knicks. He and the team were previously a few million dollars apart on the negotiations, and unless Marbury has changed his stance and is willing to take less than he is owed, he's going to stay in his highly-paid purgatory for the rest of the year.

But if Marbury's contract does get bought out and he becomes available ... why would Boston take the chance?

While the Celtics do have some depth issues, what they really need is some size off the bench. (Instead of, you know, a crazy, me-first point guard.) Sure, the team would have loved to sign P.J. Brown or Dikembe Mutombo's corpse for the remainder of the season. But Brown officially said earlier this week that he's done, and Mutombo signed with the Rockets.

It's possible I suppose that Marbury might be able to provide some scoring or stability for the Celtics' second unit. Equally possible, however, is that he might be another Sam Cassell, whose ineffectiveness on the court ended up relegating him to the bench. And we all saw how well Marbury-on-the-bench worked out in New York.

As far as Marbury becoming any type of distraction though, there's little chance of that happening with alpha dogs Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce around. Still, there's a chance. Which means that this seems like an awfully big risk to take for a team that is the defending NBA champs and has only lost five of their first 33 games. Stay tuned.