It's Stephon Marbury's turn to tell his side of the story

Stephon Marbury's NBA career attracted plenty of media attention, not all of it positive, across his meteoric rise from Coney Island phenom to All-Star, tumultuous tenure with his hometown New York Knicks, and stunning fall from grace as he crashed out of the league by the age of 32.

When he finally retired from professional basketball last spring - following nine triumphant seasons in China - the Brooklyn native decided it was time to tell his side of the story.

"This gave me the opportunity to share my story, to give people some facts about things that may have been misconstrued about my time playing in New York, playing for Larry Brown, and all of the things that have gone on in my past that people only got one view about from the TV or the newspaper," Marbury said of "A Kid From Coney Island," the Kevin Durant-produced documentary released last week.

"For me, this was a perfect time to create clarity and give people their own imagery about what went on," Marbury told theScore during an Instagram Live interview Tuesday night.

He added, "People may think it's a basketball movie, but it's not, really."

The 42-year-old also discussed his humanitarian work in response to the crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'm from New York. I wanted to have some sort of impact, and try to help my hometown," Marbury said of the deal he helped broker to ship 10 million N95 masks from China to New York, which has become the American epicenter of the crisis.

Marbury sent commissioner Adam Silver a letter warning of the dangers related to COVID-19 days before the NBA suspended its season.

"I saw the precautions they were taking (in China) and how serious it was. So for me, having access to Adam, I thought it was prudent to give them my understanding and knowledge of what was going on here, so they could take the same precautionary measures back home," said Marbury, who implored Silver to shut the league down.

Three days later, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, prompting Silver to do just that.

Following his retirement as a player - he made such an impact in China that there is a museum in his honor in Beijing and a statue of him outside the Beijing Ducks' arena - Marbury is now a head coach himself; ironic for the star point guard who clashed with coaches like Brown, Mike D'Antoni, and Isiah Thomas in New York.

The Beijing Royal Fighters finished a league-worst 8-38 last year but were off to a 19-11 start in Marbury's first season at the helm before the CBA suspended its campaign.

So has moving from the court to the sidelines softened Marbury's perception of those interactions with coaches from his past?

"I'm not gonna sit here and say I was perfect," he said.

"I went against the grain with coaches when the coach told me to do something I didn't think was the thing I needed to do. And the coach can go the opposite way of what you're thinking, which is cool. I've experienced that as a coach now too, but I've also been able to have an understanding with my players, because I was a player, and I did have a strong personality on the court. For me, that gives (my players) the freedom that they need.

"I can see how coaches can get mad and frustrated with players, but it's all part of the job. You don't bring it to the newspapers. I don't talk (publicly) about my players if I have a feeling about something that's going on. I don't go behind their back to create that energy among the press to be concerned about our team," Marbury said, referencing his long-held belief that Brown aired his grievances about their clashes to the New York press.

As for whether he has his sights set on an NBA coaching gig, Marbury says he remains committed to Chinese basketball for now.

"You never know what can happen, so I would never close that (NBA) door. But right now I'm focused on building what I'm building here," Marbury said. "China's been really amazing to me after leaving America. After everything that happened in the NBA, I had the opportunity to put myself back in the realm of doing the things that I love to do (in China), and for that, I feel blessed and thankful. I made an obligation to help basketball here, and that's what I'm doing right now."

The full-length interview will be available on this week's episode of Pound The Rock, theScore's NBA podcast.

Joseph Casciaro is theScore's senior basketball writer.