give MLE to shawn marion

[enzino]

ainge said that he's willing the give full MLE to the riht person, if possible
my guess is that marion could be the man
he is experienced, can defend, shots the 3s and and playes 2-3-4 position (a la posey)

[Papa Irish31]

marion would not take the full mle to play on the celtics, he would be great for us, but its not going to happen

he orchestrated his way out of phoenix because he didnt want to have to play third fiddle to nash and staudemire, im guessing he is not a guy that sees himself as coming off the bench

plus, he wants to cash in, my guess is he stays with toronto and gets overpaid, thats pretty much how it usually happens in the nba

[cfan79]

I like it, especially if we are trading for Amare too. This would help us offensively which we really need.

[dsorc]

Marion can't play SG though he could guard some mediocre SGs. (I wouldn't want him guarding Kobe)

Even if you offer him the full MLE, he'll decline it. He wants more money and more shots than he'd get in Boston. At the very least, he'll want to go to a team where he can start.

[cfan79]

Marion can't play SG though he could guard some mediocre SGs. (I wouldn't want him guarding Kobe)

Even if you offer him the full MLE, he'll decline it. He wants more money and more shots than he'd get in Boston. At the very least, he'll want to go to a team where he can start.

He can start if Ray isn't on the team. We would be much longer. If John Holmes were alive he'd be jealous with our length.

[Banks2Pierce]

Good idea if we trade Ray. I think he's been humbled by Miami and Toronto and realizes he can't be a first banana. I don't see anyone giving him over the MLE. Who has cap room? Detroit and the rest are young teams. Young teams won't be giving a guy in his early 30's a huge contract in a crap economy more than 7 million a year.

[greenbeans]

For some reason I think the player Danny has his eye on is JKidd with the talk about full mle.

Marion would be a great fit talentwise, but not personality wise. And we'll never find out anyway because some dumb gm will throw a nice contract at this guy.

[15th overall]

I don't see it happening but FWIW Marion did recently say that playing for a contender is more important to him than money.

[BakersDozen]

if PP came into the offseason with the mindset that he would be playing a good chunk of his minutes at the 2 it would be interesting in bringing in Marion. This would leave us with using Ray as a 6th man. Not sure how he would feel about that.

[Avalanche]

As it is now... both Marion and Artest would be amazing additions and guys you know Danny would have no issues throwing the full MLE at (i realise both, artest especially will get those offers from everywhere and probably more money where he is now).

If Ray goes, and Paul trains the off-season at the 2, again.. both would be very solid options, depending on what we get in return

If they are really shopping Rondo as is being reported, the MLE will likely have to go to a point man, Kidd, Miller (my choice) or Bibby.. again, depending on what we get in return

Issue is, as the team stands now, i dont think Marion would accept that much of a reduced role

[threrf23]

Marion opted out of a player option that would have given him a huge guaranteed salary next season because he admittedly wanted to play for a winning team and wasn't sold on the Raptors' organization (as pointed out by 15thoverall)

It is unclear that he ran himself out of Phoenix. His complaints weren't necessarily overly financial, but from afar to me he just had differences with the Suns' FO. I don't aim to validate anything he may have said, I will point out that the season he was traded - his main complaint was

"I’m tired of hearing my name in trades," Marion said by phone from his Chicago home Tuesday night. "I love my fans in Phoenix but I think it’s time for me to move on."

http://www.thisisjuststupid.com/stupid- ... enix-suns/

He was sick of the Suns considering a trade to cut down on their financial obligations, he felt he deserved more loyalty after sticking with the organization for so long. His complaints were not along the lines of "I am worth X dollars and you need to be willing to extend me at this price." He wanted security.

Pre-07/08 DA & Doc made a huge push for Marion, even traveling to Phoenix to try and convince him to come here (this was posted here during that offseason), persuading him that we would be a good team....in doing so they showed him that they appreciated and valued what he brought to the table which is what Marion thought Phoenix was not doing. Marion declined anyways though, as he didn't want to play for such a crappy team. Then we went and won the championship.

IMO, that has gotta be in the back of his mind, his finances are taken care of, IMO it is not far fetched that he is willing to eat some crow in the form of the MLE.

[Avalanche]

solid post...

i still cant see it happening if the team stays as is, just because he would clearly not be a focal point, but it does give it some possibility

[LarryBrdismyDad]

Marion would be the best case scenario for us with the MLE. Artest won't sign the MLE here because I think Houston resigns him. Marion would be a great fit too because he can shoot, rebound, and most importantly defend. Phoenix has gone downhill ever since dealing him away because they now have no defense at all. Marion used to cover Duncan at times! He did everything for them. He clearly isnt a #1 or #2 offensive weapon but he provides a lot of value in other areas. He is very similar to a Lamar Odom in that he is the perfect guy to bring off the bench and chip in with pts, rebs, asts, blocks, and defense. Danny has a good relationship with him from coaching in Phoenix as well. Marion we could have cover Lebron, Turkoglu, and Joe Johnson in the east.

I could easily see Danny giving him a 1 yr MLE deal which would work for Marion and the Celtics. Marion gets a great chance to win a ring and improve his image while waiting for his last contract in the summer of 2010 when more teams have dough. The only teams with capspace this summer are Detroit, Oklahoma City and Memphis and those 3 teams aren't going to sign him. That leaves 26 other teams. These teams won't sign him as well: NYK, Philly, NJ, Mil, Chicago, Indy, Miami, Char, ATL, Orlando, Wash, Minnesota, New Orleans, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Sacramento, Houston, Golden State, Utah, Phoenix, Denver, and Portland.

That leaves these teams with potential interest: Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, Dallas, and Toronto. I think he fits in very well with the Spurs with Ginobili moving to the 2. I think he starts on that team. I don't know if Clev wants him with Lebron at the 3 but they could play alot of small ball like Orl with Marion at the 4. He probably isnt the greatest fit there. Dallas I can see making a run at everyone with Dirk in his prime. They need to get better quickly as their current group isnt good enough to get it done. He probably isnt the greatest fit there with Howard at the 3 spot.

The one widlcard here is Toronto. Will they resign him or renounce him? They lost a lot of games with him and he complained about losing. Marion also didn't play very well in their system. Colangelo has liked Marion since they were together in Phoenix though. If they renounce him to go after Turkoglu or someone else then I think we have a good shot at signing Marion. Does anybody know if Toronto has the intention of resigning him?

[sully00]

Marion opted out of a player option that would have given him a huge guaranteed salary next season because he admittedly wanted to play for a winning team and wasn't sold on the Raptors' organization (as pointed out by 15thoverall)

This isn't true. Marion had a huge option for last season and exercised it to stay in Miami. His situation in PHX was pretty complicated. Basically the Suns were constantly shopping him for any comparable talent that had a year less than his option year left on their deal and was basically told there were no more gravy pay days for him in PHX. They are cheap and they probably knew how far his game was falling off and frankly it has a lot.

I think PHX made him out to look like a bad guy, there were no gripes about shots and touches in Miami and even now his gripe with being in TOR is they suck. My guess is that he can do better than the MLE and coming off the bench in Boston but I don't know how much better. Boston can make it clear that he will get his mins and while he may not be starting he will likely be finishing.

It would be crazy if they got Marion for the money they wouldn't give Posey a year ago. I know there is FA money out there next year but my guess is that Marion looks for a 5 year MLE deal or a S&T. His game has fallen off far too much to risk what another year could do to his value as well as being limited to a 4 year contract. The full MLE would be 5 years and around 33 mil avg 6.5 mil a year.

[threrf23]

This isn't true. Marion had a huge option for last season and exercised it to stay in Miami.

Ahh, so I was confused.

In any event, considering the teams that have cleared capspace for next season, perhaps a one year deal @ the MLE is not a tough sell. One year playing for a contender and then there will be a few suitors with capspace next offseason.

[sully00]

I added in my edit that I think Marion will look for a full 5 year MLE if he has to go that route, even with more cap space available next offseason I don't see a 31 year old Marion being able to capitalize on it his offense has fallen off too much. The real question is whether you give Marion the 5 years and 33 mil.

[Avalanche]

He could get ample minutes really, and would take the pressure off a lot of guys

he can be used as the main sub for Ray and Paul, with whoevers still on court manning the 2.. and even as a back up at the 4 to help reduce KG's minutes

will do some digging from the Toronto side and see if theres been any talk of him returning... would be an amazing (if not unlikely) pick up