Enter The Matrix

Confession time: ever since Shawn Marion’s second season in the NBA, I’ve been infatuated with his game. More than any forward not named ‘Garnett,’ Marion has been blessed with the ability to blend into the fabric of a game, skirting the line between taking over and slipping into the shadows. On offense, he possesses the rare trifecta of 3-point range, an ability to drive to the rim, and post up skills. Defensively, he’s one of the league’s premier defenders, equally adept at guarding 2s, 3s, and 4s.

Up until now, I’ve followed Marion’s career via an admiring eye from afar, periodically wondering what if my beloved Dallas Mavericks kept the pick Phoenix used to draft him, and instead paired him with Dirk Nowitzki.

Now, a decade after he entered the league, I’ve got my chance to find out. And even though the 31 year-old Marion is reaching the latter stages of his prime, I’m giddy thinking of what he can add to this Dallas team.

Actually, giddy doesn’t nearly do it justice. Right now, I’m the kid in a Corn Pops commercial. “I gotta have my Pops!” Only instead of fructose-laced pellets of death, I gotta have a 6’7’’ combo forward. Probably better for my figure in the long run, anyway.

The reason I’m so excited about Marion is because he is the yin to Dallas’ yang, a one-size-fits-all solution to so many of this team’s problems. Consider the following:

*Shawn Marion is an elite perimeter defender. If the Mavs are serious about prying back open their window to an NBA title, and they are, it is imperative that they find a way to deal with the one constant among every serious contender: a pair of scoring wings. Kobe and Artest; Ginobili and Jefferson; Carmelo and JR Smith; Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter; Allen and Pierce. Cleveland’s the exception to this rule, but LeBron more than compensates for this on his own.

Ignore, for a moment, the offensive potential of a Marion-Josh Howard combo (and yes, it’s considerable enough to perhaps warrant mention with the above group) and instead recall the difficulties Dallas had stopping some of these players last season. Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo, and Vince ran roughshod while the others on this list gave the team fits in at least one game during the season.

Last year, against these types of pairings, the Mavs only means of countering was to play Antoine Wright together with Howard, which created two problems. First, Wright is a non-entity on offense that teams would give carte blanche to shoot in exchange for having an extra man to double Nowitzki, Howard, or Jason Terry; Antoine rarely made them pay.

Second, while Josh has the ability to be an exceptional player on both ends of the floor, counting on him to defend the opposing team’s top scorer while simultaneously expecting him to double as Dallas’ co-second option (along with Terry) is not only draining but extremely risky; if he endures a second consecutive injury prone season, Dallas is irrecoverably weakened on both ends of the floor.

Enter Marion. He’s an upgrade in every way over Wright, meaning that the team not only improves defensively, but also eliminates the need to play 4 vs. 5 on offense, a sacrifice they too often made in order to accommodate Wright’s defense. Marion also makes Howard’s life a lot easier by drawing the task of covering the opposing team’s best player, which in turn eases the defensive burden on Josh and subsequently allows him to expend more energy on offense.

Finally, go back and read that list one more time. Apart from the Lakers, none of those teams has two defenders as good as Marion and Howard, and some of them don’t even have one. Obviously, it’s a great thing for the Mavs offense, but it has even more disruptive potential on defense given the likelihood that Dallas will be one of the few teams capable of disturbing those aforementioned teams’ offensive rhythm. Come playoff time, that’s a huge, series-altering edge.

*Shawn Marion will fit within the flow of the offense. The now-exhausted tagline for those following the 2008-2009 Dallas Mavericks was “they need more firepower.” Believe me, I know. There were only three real scoring threats on last year’s team, and two of them, Howard and Terry, missed half the regular season between them. That meant that for weeks at a time, the only way this team had a fighting chance of winning was if Dirk and Howard/Terry combined for at least fifty points. It was brutal to watch. Borderline soul crushing, even.

But did you know that despite that, the Mavs finished 9th in the league in scoring last season at 101.7 points per game? While only having three double digit scorers? What that means is as bad as things looked, the offense really isn’t that far off from resembling the elite units from the ghosts of Mavericks’ past.

It also means that the best way to maximize the offense’s potential isn’t to add another premium scoring option, because it could upset the balance of the offense by taking a chunk of shots away from Dirk, Howard, and Terry. Rather, the solution is to add a few complementary scorers, and nobody plays “complementary scorer” better than Shawn Marion.

In Phoenix, he was technically the fourth option who rarely had plays drawn up for him, yet he flirted with 20ppg in almost every season he played there by channeling the same tenacity that earned him his reputation on defense. Using smarts, fantastic off-the-ball movement, and just plain hard work, Marion forced his way into the box score via putbacks, cuts to the basket, and the occasional three pointer. The proof is in the numbers; Marion is a career 17.8ppg scorer on 14.8 shots per game and 48.1% shooting. In other words, he puts the ball in the bucket at an efficient rate.

Analysts cite his decline by pointing at four consecutive years of decreased scoring, but what they omit is that Marion also posted the four lowest shot totals of his career as well during that period. I’m not saying that he’s magically going to return to his Suns glory days overnight, but the rumors of his demise certainly appear to be over-exaggerated.

Acquiring Marion is an easy way to add offense without taking touches away from the team’s primary scoring options. While he’s bristled in the past at being a third or fourth option, he’s also coming off back to back losing seasons and signed with Dallas after testing the free agent market for the first time in his career, meaning that he knows exactly what he’s getting into and is fine with it. It wasn’t too long ago that Nick Van Exel and Jerry Stackhouse were also considered problem players, but both turned into veteran leaders during their tenure in a Mavs uniform; there’s no reason to think Marion won’t do the same.

*Shawn Marion creates offensive versatility.
By this, I mean both in the personnel available on the floor as well as the style the team plays.

In all likelihood Marion’s arrival will shift Josh Howard to shooting guard, meaning that the Mavs’ starting lineup will be Jason Kidd-Howard-Marion-Nowitzki-Marcin Gortat with Jason Terry essentially playing starter’s minutes off the bench. Thanks to Marion’s versatility, however, the looks that Rick Carlisle can throw at other teams are almost limitless.

They can go jumbo-sized, demonstrated by the aforementioned starting lineup that features above average to exceptional rebounders at all five positions.

They can play small and feature Marion at the 4 (where he made his bones in his Phoenix days), using a lineup of Kidd-Terry-Howard-Marion-Gortat.

Or they could even give Mike D’Antoni a wet dream by playing Nowitzki at center, simultaneously featuring five above average to exceptional shooters on the floor. Simply by virtue of having Nowitzki, the Mavs were already an unconventional team that was tough to strategize against but adding Marion creates limitless offensive wrinkles to explore.

The biggest key to the 2005-2006 Finals team’s success was their versatility. Fast or slow, big or small, it didn’t matter what type of game their opponent played because the Mavs could exploit any weakness with equal effectiveness. That type of versatility has been missing since, and it’s evident in the team’s results.

Shawn Marion changes that. It’s an older squad, but teams once again are going to fear Dallas because they’ll once again be able to play any style, at any time – and win doing it.


So what does it all mean? In a nutshell, by acquiring Marion, the Dallas Mavericks just improved significantly on both ends of the floor without drastically altering their offensive structure. Best of all, it cost them virtually nothing; Jerry Stackhouse and Devean George weren’t part of the team’s plans while the newly signed Quinton Ross replaces Antoine Wright’s contributions.

It’s too soon to pass judgment on where the Mavericks stand in the West until the offseason is over, but even just two weeks into free agency, it’s readily apparent that next year’s team is much, much improved over the 2008-2009 version – and Shawn Marion is the biggest reason for it.