Shawn Marion To The Cavaliers An Underrated Signing

Photo Credit: Associated Press

On August 17, Shawn Marion, aka The Matrix, signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the chance to play alongside LeBron James.

Marion’s decision has obvious benefits. For one, he gets to play with the best player in the world. Second, he will have a chance to compete for another NBA Title. Marion won in 2011 with the Dallas Mavericks. Fittingly in the NBA finals that year, it was Marion guarding LeBron for most of the series. He wore him like a shirt and defended him as well as it is possible to defend him. That, combined with Dirk Nowtizki going to another level, helped Dallas to win the title over James and his Miami Heat. The Heat won the next two titles and made it to another NBA Finals in 2014. Meanwhile, Marion spent the last three years as a role player on the good-but-not-great Mavs team. With Dallas’ signing of Chandler Parsons and their acquisition of Tyson Chandler, there were no more starting spots (or money) to go around in Dallas.

Last week and the week prior, Marion had reportedly met with Indiana Pacers brass, including Larry Bird, who tried to pitch Marion on joining them. Bird’s comments after the meeting seemed to indicate he knew that Marion was undecided on where to play. This was not surprising. Just a week before visiting in Indiana, Marion had met with Cavaliers general manager David Griffin and new coach David Blatt. So Marion went to visit the Pacers, meanwhile supposed “insiders” (like Jalen Rose on grantland) said all along that Marion would join the Cavs. Sure enough, it ended up happening. Sometimes “they” end up right.

Adding Marion to play alongside LeBron, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving brings a level of defense that they would have been lacking otherwise. Aside from the 2011 NBA Finals against James, Marion has been known as one of the elite defensive players in the league for over a decade. His versatility as a defender was a key cog in the mid 2000′s Phoenix Suns ’7 seconds or less’ teams piloted by Steve Nash (who got two MVP trophies along the way). Personally, I have been watching NBA basketball for over 30 years and Marion is the third best all-around defender I have ever seen (along with LeBron James and Scottie Pippen). Tall, long and smart enough to defend centers and forwards, fast and agile enough to defend point guards, Marion has been truly able to defend all five positions on the court at an elite level.

Even at this latter stage of his career he will prove invaluable in Cleveland. He will give James the ability to not have to defend the other team’s best perimeter player every game. Marion should help add years to James’ career and comfort to his game on the court. He should be especially valuable during the regular season, helping maintain a veteran presence on the floor while the young guys like Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson (and technically also Kevin Love), who all have no idea what it is like to play in the playoffs and in big games in general. Marion has been through years of playoff battles and has much wisdom to share with the young guys if they will listen and learn.

This is not an earth-shattering signing by any stretch, but one of the potential elite NBA teams just got one notch better.