Jeremy Shockey is gone. Sean Avery has left the building. Ted Nolan is kaput. Stephon Marbury is teetering on the brink. These are all guys who are more trouble than they’re worth. Even though they’re not going anywhere, you can throw Jason Giambi and Billy Wagner on that list as well. Some of these guys have completely embarrassed their organizations, some have a bad habit of putting their foot in their mouth, but all are a distraction one way or another.

The Giants traded Shockey to the Saints yesterday for two 2009 draft picks. And they won’t regret it for a second. It’s an age-old case of addition by subtraction. Even if Shockey’s running wild in New Orleans catching one pass after another, at some point when things aren’t going well he’s going to throw his teammates or coaches under a bus. Or not work out or practice with the team. Or get into a shouting match with the general manager. Or whine about not being thrown to enough. Or declare he wants to have a ménage à trois with Laverne and Shirley. No matter what Eli Manning says publicly, he has to be glad Shockey’s gone. Kevin Boss may not be the second coming of, say, Jeremy Shockey, but the Giants won the Super Bowl with him as their tight end. You can’t say that about Shockey.

Stephon Marbury’s shining moment as a Knick came in the Anucha Browne Sanders trial with his famous “Get in the van” story. It makes one feel good about the modern American athlete. With Isiah Thomas around, you really had to go the extra mile to embarrass the Knicks any further, but somehow Marbury pulled it off. The only good thing you can say about the point guard at this point is, he only has one year left on his contract (and he sells cheap sneakers; we’ll give him that one). Buying him out and saying bye-bye is the most logical option for the team. What’s $21 million to the Dolans? They’ll add a dollar to your cable bill every month and have the money back before Danilo Gallinari gains enough weight to play in the NBA.

Sean Avery fell under the heading of distraction. The Rangers would have taken him back at the right price but the left winger jumped at Dallas’ offer knowing the Rangers wouldn’t come close to it. If you take the things that he said or is supposed to have said, his antics, his injuries and add them all up, it’s “See ya later, Sean.”

Out on the Island, GM Garth Snow obviously felt Ted Nolan was more trouble than he’s worth. They had philosophical differences on the makeup of the team. And Nolan famously didn’t play Rick DiPietro in either of back-to-back games against the Rangers this past spring. When a coach gets into a power struggle with the general manager and the star player who is signed to a 72-year contract, he’s going to lose. Nolan only lasted two years after the Islanders pulled him off the scrapheap after being out of the NHL for nine years.

Jason Giambi and Billy Wagner will most likely be with their teams for the length of their contracts, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy. Mustache or no mustache, Giambi hasn’t come close to living up to his contract. He’s embarrassed the organization and himself with his cheating and lying about steroids. He’s had a handful of good seasons for the Yankees, but at one point they were seriously looking into trying to find a way to void his contract. Wagner, though, is just an old-fashioned distraction. He calls out his teammates in the press and has a habit of coming up small in big games. Unless he saves the seventh game of the World Series, Mets fans won’t be sorry when he leaves the team.

They don’t play well with others. They distract from the cause of winning. They put themselves above the team. They’re all more trouble than they’re worth.