Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
Ok I admit that the title is really pushing the envelope with the “Matrix Movie” references. No worries folks, this will probably be the last. Kind of the same way that the Dallas Mavericks maybe the last NBA team Shawn Marion plays for. Yup, he is 31 after all and he will be pretty old as far as NBA players go towards the end of his 5-year deal (signed with but traded by the Toronto Raptors). It’s a complicated-messy 4-team deal that involves the Mavs, Raps, Grizzies, and Maj. For the full breakdown of the player crossovers and spin moves just read it here, so we can get on to the meat of the matter. This blog “IS fantasy basketball” (read the banner above) and therefore I won’t be wasting your priceless blog-reading time by touching on Jerry Stackhouse or even Kris Humphries’ fantasy relevance (or lack thereof) in the said deal. Patrick and/or Nels can probably do a better in-depth review of Greg Buckner’s fantasy outlook for 09-10.
In the midst of the all the “official” player movement that has hit the fan immediately following the end of the NBA trade moratorium, it’s actually nice to see someone who has some reasonable fantasy upside to him. Yeah, I know! We haven’t seen the words upside and Shawn Marion in the same sentence in like, uh since Patrick used to bring a Trapper Keeper to school. Strictly speaking, Marion is not the only player with “upside,” as you can probably toss in player initials like VC, CV, and SO into the hat as well. Mostly, guys like Sheed, RJ, and Fabricio Oberto (oh, the horror!) are due for some fantasy downgrades.
Seriously, there is some merit in the thought that this particular team might just be the right pill for the Matrix to swallow. He couldn’t resurrect his fantasy glory in Miami nor in Toronto, so what makes me think Dallas will be any different for Marion?
It’s in the role he will be playing in the team, and subsequently how it will impact on his fantasy performance.
A.) While Josh Howard is busy gimping away his time on injury-related fantasy vacation, Marion will be there to be the solid fast break finishing dish target for Jason Kidd. Yup, good OLD J-Kidd does get some collateral upside as a result of this transaction. I will probably have improve Kidd’s outlook for this coming season a bit and recalibrate what I blabbed out so far on PitP. Good FG%, check. Will Kidd be an ample Steve Nash surrogate for Marion? I believe so. Not to the degree of Marion-Nash Phoenix connection level, but workable – very workable.
B.) Marion helps spread the defense around the floor for Dirk Nowitzki to do his dirty work, when the team is in the half court set. So both their three point shooting abilities will be put to good use. 3PTM, check. The offense orientation of the Mavericks will be enough of a healthy environment for Marion to show us some glimpses of his old flair.
C.) He can actually be of assistance to Dirk in grabbing those rebounds that fantasy-not-too-useful, Erick Dampier should be grabbing in the first place! Rebounding, check.
D.) Unless Derek Fisher decides to kick Shawn in nuts, while Marion is shooting two from the stripe; well FT%, check. His Raptor FT% was actually better than what he was logging in from the line over at Miami. So this cat looks good so far.
E.) He actually can make the Mavs a better defensive team. If you will recall back in the mesozoic era (or was it the paleolithic, I forget), Marion and his highly efficient defensive numbers made the upper crust of most fantasy rankings. Defense is a player’s choice. If Marion decides to keep on going for those steals and blocks, then we should see some of the “good OLD Marion.” Steals and Blocks, hmm… odds are, check. 1.7 and 1.2 should serve as juicy enough potential averages, right?
F.) It’s always easier to call an upswing on a guy especially since he’s come from two seasons of utter horrible fantasy disappointment. So I’m really padding my own pillows here. Unless of course you’re one of those pessimists and actually think that the move to the Mavs is MORE of the END and not the beginning of an end to a decline. Ok, I just confused myself with that sentence right there.
I’m not exactly about to jump into the deep end and reserve a slot for the guy on my Top 12 list just yet, however… Upside I say huh, you may then ask “How much upside are we actually talking about here?” Well if you want the answer to that and to many other questions surrounding Top Fantasy Players, then you will most likely appreciate the player analyses and projections we at GMTR will be providing in the much awaited Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide 2009! Stay tuned here and on Points in the Paint for more sneak previews of content of the said guide. Don’t worry folks, as long as you own at least three Fortune 500 companies, you will probably find it to be rather affordable. Kidding… Uh, why isn’t anyone laughing?
Photo Credit: www.chinadaily.com.cn
Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Shawn Marion
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