http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=14561
Marion starting to turn it on
By Mike Tulumello, Tribune
Shawn Marion's All-Star status likely won't be repeated this season. But his All-Star talent remains.
Just check out the numbers over the past six games. The Suns small forward has averaged 26 points on 48 percent shooting, plus all kinds of additional dazzling stats: 12.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.7 blocks in 43 minutes per game.
The most interesting point in all this is the phrase "the past six games."
This marks the time since Amare Stoudemire went down with a serious ankle injury. Until then, Marion had only looked like a shadow of his All-Star stuff.
Clearly, the mix of players roles the first couple of months of the season didn't go smoothly.
Last season, everyone knew that Marion and Stephon Marbury made the team go. Everyone else filled in around them.
This season — when Stoudemire and Joe Johnson were presumed rising stars able to handle a bigger role in the team's offense — the mix turned sour.
"That could be it," new coach Mike D'Antoni said, with a tone more certain than his words.
"That's what we've been trying to do: define people's roles."
Marion seems sure of this theory, saying of the change in roles early this season, "It wasn't the same.
"Everybody knows this is me and Steph's team," Marion said, while adding, "Amare will get his, too, when he comes back."
Marion also repeated his occasionally stated idea that his drop-off in production may have been linked to a change in the team's offense.
In Marion's view, the team used more pick-and-rolls this season, where he wasn't as involved. Now, it's using a part of the team's motion offense that includes him more, he suggests.
"I wasn't involved in the pick-and-rolls. I was left out a little."
Yet, he concedes, "I should have been more aggressive in other ways." He also says former coach Frank Johnson discouraged him from taking 3-pointers, a past strength but a weakness this season (barely 30 percent).
After hearing this, "There was crazy stuff going through my head."
Then, he started his comeback about the time the Suns came back from a 29-point deficit to win in Boston. Then, "Frank said, 'Just play. If you have an open shot, take it.' " Of course, there's one other little stat to point out: The Suns are 0-6 since Stoudemire went down.
So obviously, the Suns need the reigning rookie of the year. The trick will be to integrate him in a way that more mirrors his role last season as an inside force.
"He (Marion) had a great year last year, and Amare was there," D'Antoni points out. "Sometimes, guys go through a down period. "He (Marion) has come out of it."
Of Stoudemire, D'Antoni said, "We can't win without an inside presence. He (Stoudemire) gets to the foul line. And we don't get to the free-throw line enough."
Which begs the old question of why Marion doesn't do the same. At times, he has said, "It's not my game."
D'Antoni repeats the question, then seems resigned to the answer.
"Would we love to get Shawn to the line more? Sure. . . .
"But you have to deal with reality. Shawn is Shawn. He's an All-Star. He's a great player."
In other words, the Suns will take him the way he is. At least the way he has been the past six games.
Marion starting to turn it on
By Mike Tulumello, Tribune
Shawn Marion's All-Star status likely won't be repeated this season. But his All-Star talent remains.
Just check out the numbers over the past six games. The Suns small forward has averaged 26 points on 48 percent shooting, plus all kinds of additional dazzling stats: 12.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.7 blocks in 43 minutes per game.
The most interesting point in all this is the phrase "the past six games."
This marks the time since Amare Stoudemire went down with a serious ankle injury. Until then, Marion had only looked like a shadow of his All-Star stuff.
Clearly, the mix of players roles the first couple of months of the season didn't go smoothly.
Last season, everyone knew that Marion and Stephon Marbury made the team go. Everyone else filled in around them.
This season — when Stoudemire and Joe Johnson were presumed rising stars able to handle a bigger role in the team's offense — the mix turned sour.
"That could be it," new coach Mike D'Antoni said, with a tone more certain than his words.
"That's what we've been trying to do: define people's roles."
Marion seems sure of this theory, saying of the change in roles early this season, "It wasn't the same.
"Everybody knows this is me and Steph's team," Marion said, while adding, "Amare will get his, too, when he comes back."
Marion also repeated his occasionally stated idea that his drop-off in production may have been linked to a change in the team's offense.
In Marion's view, the team used more pick-and-rolls this season, where he wasn't as involved. Now, it's using a part of the team's motion offense that includes him more, he suggests.
"I wasn't involved in the pick-and-rolls. I was left out a little."
Yet, he concedes, "I should have been more aggressive in other ways." He also says former coach Frank Johnson discouraged him from taking 3-pointers, a past strength but a weakness this season (barely 30 percent).
After hearing this, "There was crazy stuff going through my head."
Then, he started his comeback about the time the Suns came back from a 29-point deficit to win in Boston. Then, "Frank said, 'Just play. If you have an open shot, take it.' " Of course, there's one other little stat to point out: The Suns are 0-6 since Stoudemire went down.
So obviously, the Suns need the reigning rookie of the year. The trick will be to integrate him in a way that more mirrors his role last season as an inside force.
"He (Marion) had a great year last year, and Amare was there," D'Antoni points out. "Sometimes, guys go through a down period. "He (Marion) has come out of it."
Of Stoudemire, D'Antoni said, "We can't win without an inside presence. He (Stoudemire) gets to the foul line. And we don't get to the free-throw line enough."
Which begs the old question of why Marion doesn't do the same. At times, he has said, "It's not my game."
D'Antoni repeats the question, then seems resigned to the answer.
"Would we love to get Shawn to the line more? Sure. . . .
"But you have to deal with reality. Shawn is Shawn. He's an All-Star. He's a great player."
In other words, the Suns will take him the way he is. At least the way he has been the past six games.
