As a player, Isiah Thomas was an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better type. After an opponent scored on him, it was a safe bet that Zeke was going to come down, go into his rapid-fire, sleight-of-hand dribble (I rate him the greatest dribbler of all-time, better than Bob Cousy, better than Magic Johnson, better than the pro version of Pete Maravich), and either take it to the hoop or stop and shoot, all with the intent of embarrassing the guy who had the temerity to score on him.

In his eventful first three weeks as president of the New York Knicks, that's exactly what Thomas has done to the New Jersey Nets. Anything the Jerseyites have done, Thomas has done better. After the Nets made headlines with talk of a schism between their players and coach Byron Scott, they started coming together and playing like the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions they are; but Thomas stole New Jersey's thunder with his surprise hire and his confident there-will-be-changes demeanor. The Nets came into Madison Square Garden and destroyed the Knicks last Sunday; the following day Thomas one-upped them with an electrifying trade that addressed the single-greatest advantage the Nets had over his team -- at point guard.

The deal that brought Stephon Marbury -- a Coney Island baby and a New York-style floor general -- to Madison Square Garden is, admittedly, fraught with financial peril. Already presiding over the NBA's largest payroll, Thomas took on the salaries of Marbury (about $105 million through 2009-10) and a shopworn Penny Hardaway (about $30 million through 2005-06). Here's what I say to that: Big deal! Thomas was never going to escape cap and luxury-tax problems with the contract predicament that predecessor Scott Layden had left him in. With this trade, Thomas accomplished something extremely rare: He got a genuine all-star in Marbury and a serviceable three-position player in Hardaway without giving up a true starter. Not often in the history of the NBA has an executive been able to pull that off. (The Knicks also got a project center in Cezary Trybanski.)

For the record, New York gave up: Antonio McDyess, who may or may not ever return to form after a knee injury; point guards Charlie Ward (who has already been waived by the Suns and may be picked up by the Nets) and Howard Eisley (who can't play); Maciej Lampe, whose work ethic, or lack thereof, had put him on Thomas' bad side, someplace you don't want to be; and another point guard, Milos Vujanic, who, believe it or not, was the biggest loss of the deal for the Knicks since most consider him the top point guard in Europe. But will he ever be better than Marbury? Doubtful.

Execs from both teams put it on the line with this deal. Thomas' impatient fan base applauded the trade but perforce expects it to turn the Knicks into an Eastern contender this season. And though educated Suns fans realize that the trade makes them a 25-win team this season, they have to think that their GM, Bryan Colangelo, is going to take the cap space and make a run at a top-notch free agent this summer. The logical candidate is Kobe Bryant, but what happens if Bryant is convicted of rape? Phoenix's future is, indeed, questionable.

It's beyond obvious to note that the key to the deal is Marbury. But it goes even deeper than whether he can lead the Knicks to, or near, the top of the weak Eastern Conference. He's back home where as a schoolboy legend at Brooklyn's Lincoln High he electrified Garden crowds; he's considered a savior on a team that can't get much worse; he has an ex-point-guard/booster in the front office; and he has a jump shooter (Allan Houston) to bail him out in the set offense.

The salient point is that this is Marbury's fourth team in eight seasons. There may be logical reasons he has moved around, but it doesn't look real good on the resume, since great players -- and I think he has the ability to become one -- rarely get traded that often that quickly. (He's still only 26.) There's a tradition, in fact, of point guards finding a home with one team, creating a style of play that works for years, among them being: Cousy in Boston; Lenny Wilkens in St. Louis; Oscar Robertson in Cincinnati; Walt Frazier in New York; Maurice Cheeks in Philadelphia; Magic in L.A.; Isiah in Detroit; Kevin Johnson in Phoenix; Mark Price in Cleveland; John Stockton in Utah; and Terry Porter in Portland.

That doesn't mean that great quarterbacks aren't traded; a number on the above list, even The Big O, changed uniforms. But most of them did it late in their careers. Marbury is reaching the point at which he should find a home. He talked himself out of Minnesota mainly because he couldn't handle Kevin Garnett's max contract. He wasn't happy during his two-and-a-half seasons in New Jersey, where among the teammates he targeted for public criticism was Keith Van Horn, now a fellow Knicks starter. And despite terrific numbers (20.8 points, 8.3 assists this season) and a promising first-round playoff appearance last year, Marbury couldn't lift Phoenix out of the Western doldrums this season.

There is one obvious historical comparison to Marbury -- Nate "Tiny" Archibald, one of the most overlooked great players in NBA history. Their games are even similar in that Marbury is, like Archibald was, a slasher-scorer as well as a gifted passer. Those type of point guards often don't fit into an offense as easily as the classic point, a guy like, say, Stockton or Porter. Despite Archibald's individual brilliance -- he remains the only player in history to lead the league in scoring (34 points per game) and assists (11.4) in the same season (1972-73), he played with five teams in his first nine seasons. Relatively late in his career, and after an Achilles injury that forced him to miss an entire season, he found a home, and at last a perennial winner, in Boston, where he played with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish et al.

The circumstances aren't the same, of course. Archibald was an aging supporting player with the Celts and Marbury will have to be a star with the Knicks. But rarely have the stars been so aligned for an NBA nomad to at last find a home. To paraphrase a famous Italian, if Stephon can't make it there, he can't make it anywhere.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.