Post#6 » by therealbig3 » Sat Jan 7, 2012 12:11 pm
The difference between Dandridge and Marion for me is that Dandridge was far less reliant on an elite PG to set him up, and he proved that he could dial up the scoring and create for himself when needed (playoffs)...Marion never did that unless he was spoonfed by Nash.
From 05-07 in the playoffs, Marion is in his prime and is playing with Nash, and you see him putting up some very productive playoffs, efficient scoring and great rebounding. But his defense gets overrated imo...I believe someone else said this, and I agree with it, Marion was a B/B+ defender, who could defend multiple positions, he wasn't really that great of a defender at any one position. A little slow for elite SGs (Kobe), too small for PFs (Duncan, Odom, Dirk), and he was good at guarding his natural position, SF, but he wasn't amazing at it, like Artest, for example. I don't think it's a travesty that he never made All-Defense. And if you look at his scoring numbers, yes, he was putting up solid numbers on nice efficiency, and you can see in 06, without Amare and other people needing to step up, Marion averages over 20 ppg in the playoffs. That's very good, but to me, it was clearly a product of playing with Nash, especially according to the eye test. Marion has always been extremely limited in terms of creating offense for himself, and it showed. When Nash wasn't on the floor, the Phoenix offense struggled big time, and it wasn't until Nash came back that they were able to compete. If Marion was a competent individual scoring threat, and not just a finisher, that wouldn't really be the case.
Before Nash came along, compare Marion in the playoffs to his regular season, per 36:
00 RS: 15/10, 51% TS
00 PS: 11/10, 45% TS
01 RS: 17/11, 53% TS
01 PS: 15/9, 43% TS
03 RS: 18/8, 54% TS
03 PS: 14/9, 47% TS
Considering league efficiency at the time, Marion was actually a decently efficient regular season scorer, with good volume, but then that plummets in the playoffs when defenses tighten up and gear in on Marion. He can't create for himself consistently against better and more prepared defenses, simple as that, and that really hurts his value imo. His rebounding is truly fantastic though, one of the best at the SF position ever, not taking that away from him, but he basically is a great finisher (but overall is a very limited scorer), an elite rebounder, and a good defender...that's a very good player, but it's not better than what Dandridge gives you imo. He's a very good scorer, a solid rebounder, and a solid defender, and he was a better facilitator than Marion was too. Better in the playoffs as well.
