To be completely honest, while his gifts are undeniable, Shawn Marion has always rubbed me the wrong way. I think it all started with an interview he gave, where he was asked if he would rather be the number-one, MVP type guy for a terrible team, or play second or third banana on a team like the 2004-07 Phoenix Suns.

His noncommittal answer told me everything I needed to know: Shawn Marion wants to be the star more than he wants to win.

So after bouncing to the Heat, then to the Raptors with no more than a handful of notable games, it’s easy to say Marion was washed up.

After being traded to the Dallas Mavericks, a team with a clear number one guy in Dirk Nowitzki, my first thoughts were that Marion was just another crack in the rapidly closing Mavericks championship window.

No, that metaphor doesn’t really make sense, but don’t let it bother you.

However, upon closer inspection, the Mavericks might be the perfect team to allow Shawn Marion to unleash all of his potential.

With the Suns, Amare Stoudemire was the clear number one player, the superstar, with Marion’s role ranging from spot-up shooter to lockdown perimeter defender.While Stoudemire was dealing with his various injuries, Marion proved himself an athletic scorer, capable of finishing Steve Nash-led fast breaks as well as hitting the occasional mid-range jumper.

But as soon as Stoudemire returned, Marion would be reduced to an overqualified role player. In Toronto, Marion was basically a third option between Dwyane Wade and Dwyane Wade.

Toronto played a more finesse style of basketball, with Chris Bosh’s low post designed with a ball-movement, drive-and-kick oriented style of play, Marion didn’t have much use other than to knock own a corner three. With his gifts, that’s nothing short of a waste.

Now he’s in Dallas, with an able but willing to share Nowitzki. While Nowitzki has carried the scoring load for the Mavs for most of the decade, he has never been one to hog the shots, or chase stats.

He’s got another Hall-of-Fame distributor in Jason Kidd, and he’s got some pretty good defensive talent around him, unlike the run-and-gun Suns.

As teammates go, I would much rather prefer Dirk to Amare. I think Shawn will too.

I was at the Wizards-Mavericks game last week, and I was able to see firsthand what exactly Shawn Marion can do for this team.

He provides a quick, yet powerful perimeter defense that can match up with most high-scorers in the league, from Kobe Bryant to LeBron James and everyone in between.

He also provides the willingness and ability to run, and the athleticism to finish off the break. Jason Kidd was brought in to help them up the tempo, and with Marion he has an All-Star that makes a damn good living doing exactly that.

He also gives the Mavs the flexibility to go small without sacrificing a huge defensive edge. Before, going small would mean Kidd, Barea, Terry, Howard and Dirk at the five. Not exactly world beaters on defense.

Now you’ve got Kidd, Terry, Howard, Marion and Dirk. That’s two great perimeter defenders (Howard, Marion), two lights-out shooters (Terry, Dirk) and a world class distributor in Jason Kidd. Oh, and by the way, Marion and Howard can score too.

So Shawn Marion gives the Mavericks a chance to play a variety of difference games, and if he stays happy, there’s not reason why he can’t keep the Mavs competitive.

What Shawn Marion must do to become a successful pickup:

- Defend big, quick shooters like Kobe, LeBron and Carmelo Anthony.

- Finish the fast break

- Slash to the basket while in the halfcourt set

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.