Grade The Mavericks: Shawn Marion

Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The season is over and all we can do is either look back or look ahead. We’re going to take some time to look back and the TSC team will be grading the Dallas Mavericks.

The Matrix is up.

Shawn Marion: 10.4 points, 48.2% fg, 6.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals

Ace Feltman (@MFFeLtman): B- I can’t bring myself to dip into ‘C’ territority for one of the Mavericks 2011 championship players. However, Shawn Marion had a poor season across the board. It was a lot of “Minor Trix” in the bag for ‘The Matrix,” but to help me justify my non-performance related B- grade, he did guard the hell out of Kevin Durant during the regular season, helping the Mavericks snap their 11-game losing streak versus the Oklahoma City Thunders, which is why I really wanted to beat Memphis in game #82.

Brian Gosset (@Gosset41): B- Mmmm…what can I say. It’s kind of sad that he’s the Mavs’ best defensive players, but Marion can still play. And a bonus, he found his 3-point shot this past season. But there was a lot of frustration when Marion would miss dunks and easy layups with his orthodox shot. Another shot that hurt was in the playoffs, believe it was Game 4 when he and Sam played the two-man game and Marion went in and missed the backboard completely.

Bailey Rogers (@BRogers789): C+ Marion probably played more minutes than he needed to this season, mostly because he was about the only player on our team who could actually play defense. Marion definitely took a step back this year, on both ends of the court. He still gave a lot of effort, and without him, I shudder to think about how many points we would’ve given up this year. Honestly, if Marion would’ve just passed it a few more times and shot it a few less, I probably would’ve given him a B-. As fun as it was to see Marion hit so many more 3s this year than the past couple, I still cringed every time he wound up to shoot one. With Dirk, Monta, Calderon, Vince, etc. available to take shots, it felt like Marion would’ve been better served to stay more within his role, the defensive expert and occasional rebound-cleaner-upper. It will be very interesting to see him potentially adjust to a bench role next season.

Jose De Leon (@JoseOfLion06): C+ It’s a crime, no, a felony that Marion has never made an All-Defensive Team. He was asked yet again to guard the other team’s best player night in and night out and played at a level that most 20-something’s could only dream of. I had no problem with his productivity at that end of the court. The problems were at the other end. Marion isn’t a shooter so anytime he’d take a shot outside the paint, I’d say a little prayer hoping it’d go in. He wasn’t even all that reliable in the post for that matter. There were just too many gimmes that ricocheted off the backboard. Too many shots that bounced off the rim. At this stage in his career, he needs to settle for wide open lay-ups and dunks.

Rami Michail (@RamiMichail): B+ Has Shawn Marion lost a step or two? Ya. Is he unbearable at times on offense? Ya. Should he not be starting anymore? Another yes. But, without him, there is no way the Mavs would have gotten as far as they did. He never complained. He’d guard all five positions. Most importantly, he left it all out on the court.