He was. Marion's worst season in a Suns uniform (since his rookie season) was 9.3 RPG. He averaged almost
9.9 RPG in a Suns uniform and that is his current career average. You don't need to say "great" as a SF at all IMO to call Marion a great rebounder.
To put that into perspective, let's look at this seasons rebounding leaders (qualified - 70 games or 800 rebounds):
Howard - 14.0
Lee - 12.1
Murphy - 11.9
Biedrens - 11.5
Duncan - 10.7
Okafer - 10.3
Ming - 9.6
Bosch - 9.5
Gasol - 9.4
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...rder=true&league=nba&avg=pg&qual=true&pos=all
That would put Marion in 7th this year if he was still getting his average this year. Marion is #1 at the SF position this year despite being off his average. Marion was toward the top of the league every single year in rebounding. If your top 10 or top 15 in anything in this league that is great.
You might not like the SF argument but you can't discount it either considering the company he was in (Centers & Power Forwards). That just shows you what a sick athlete Marion is (or was in a Suns uniform). The Rebounding leader list (like above) year in and year out is always populated with Centers and True Power Forwards. I don't see how you cannot mention that as part of the Marion rebounding discussion.
Here is Marion's last few full years:
Qualified Leaders
2006-2007 (Marion #8)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...league=nba&sort=totreb&order=true&season=2007
2005-2006 (Marion #3)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...league=nba&sort=totreb&order=true&season=2006
2004-2005 (Marion #3)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...league=nba&sort=totreb&order=true&season=2005
Marion was a great rebounder by any estimation. Adding the SF argument not only boosts what an accomplishment he has managed over the years but would be short sited to ignore that part of the discussion.
I only had 1 problem with Marion and that was he was overpaid IMO. He was never a max contract player. I think what he has done since leaving the Suns proved that. I always felt that some of the crap people used to spew at Marion was ridiculous. Now that seeing how the team still has some of the same problems now that he is gone even makes some of the hate crap even more hilarious now.
If Marion was not a max contract player and could keep his mouth shut, I would still love to have him on this team.