NBA Champion Shawn Marion checked in today on Scoop B Selects presented by the National Basketball Retired Players Association.
One of the versatile players to ever play the game, The Matrix discussed tons including the state of the Dallas Mavericks; past and present, the 2004 Olympics, Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks, Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
Marion also weighed in on the 2007 Phoenix Suns team that many believed could have represented the West in the NBA Finals. Disappointedly, the Suns lost to the San Antonio Spurs 4-2 in the second round of the playoffs in a series that was marred by controversy. “I don’t know if we would’ve made it to the Finals,” recounts Marion while on Scoop B Selects.
“Everybody put that expectation on us. I’ve done a hundred interviews on this question and it’s redundant because it’s certain things that have to be in place for you to win a championship.”
For those keeping score at home: Disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy, was one of the refs who officiated that series. Additionally, one of the major moments in that series came in Game 4, when Suns point guard Steve Nash was sent sprawling into the scorer’s table by Spurs power forward Robert Horry.
Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw would leave the Suns bench immediately, which is illegal in the NBA, to come to Nash’s defense. For their roles in the incident, Horry was suspended two games while Diaw and Stoudemire were suspended one game each.
While Stoudemire has shared with me that he believed that the Suns would’ve gone to the ‘07 NBA Finals had he not been suspended, Shawn Marion offers a different perspective. “I didn’t feel that we could’ve won a championship that year.”
“Now the year before? Yes! And the year after? Yes! It was certain things that were lurking in the first year that we got a chance to to the Western Conference Finals when Joe Johnson hurt his cheekbone. That was the year that we could’ve won a championship. Then the year we lost to Dallas that year (in 2006), that was a year that I really felt it. And when I say that, I say it because I actually won one so I can actually tell you what it feels like. I’m not telling you from speculation of what the media or anybody that can come up with, I’m telling you because I know the feeling we had when we won in Dallas.”
Shawn Marion Praises 2024 Phoenix Suns With Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal & Devin Booker
While the Suns didn’t get it done then, they’re looking to get it done in 2024 under head coach, Mike Budenholzer. With a roster that includes Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Jusuf Nurkic and Bol Bol, the Suns are sitting at 3-1 in the NBA’s Western Conference.
Coach Bud’s offense prioritizes taking more three-pointers and getting efficient looks near the rim. After a disappointing season last year, Marion wants to see Kevin Durant’s Suns prove doubters wrong. “They gotta win,” he said.
“They got him, D-Book and Bradley Beal. They gotta win. That’s how you shut up critics: Winning. Winning solves everything. They have a lot of pieces in place that they brought in and they were able to sign back some of their key free agents and got to stay healthy. Other than that, I really want to see them healthy. I really do. Matt [Ishbia] is doing a great job out there; James Jones is out there doing it! They just have to have everybody healthy and I want to see what they do.”
2024 Dallas Mavericks With New Addition, Klay Thompson
Shawn Marion also weighed in on his former team, the Dallas Mavericks who aspire to return to the NBA Finals after losing to the Boston Celtics in the big game last year. Dallas added Klay Thompson to their roster that includes Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Thompson, a four-time NBA Champion during his days as a member of the Golden State Warriors.
Thompson is flourishing in head coach Jason Kidd’s system, too!
Only a week into his Mavs career, Thompson is already rewriting the history books. The veteran sharpshooter has drained 15 threes through his first three games, a record for most long-range shots by a player with a new team. During Monday’s 110-102 win over the Jazz, Thompson made four of his team’s 11 threes, less than 48 hours after making five of Dallas’ 13 threes against the Suns. Essentially, he is responsible for nearly 40 percent of the team’s long-range shots through the first week.
Klay Thompson, Ray Allen Comparisons
While chatting with Scoop B Selects Presented by the National Basketball Retired Players Association, I asked Shawn Marion whether he could see Thompson fitting in Dallas similarly to how Ray Allen did during Allen’s time with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh during the Heat’s Big Three Era under head coach Erik Spoelstra. “It could be,” said Marion.
“I think it was a great pickup and a great signing. It’s crazy to look at Klay Thompson not being part of the ‘Splash Brothers’ anymore in Golden State, but it is what it is, you know? He’s a Maverick now and they have a nice team. He was able to make some adjustments and he’s been doing his thing down there and it seems that he’s got something up his sleeve somewhere that’s he’s figuring something out to happen, man! I gotta take my hat off to him; J-Kidd and [Mark] Cuban are doing a great job out there.”
While Marion thinks the world of this team, one has to wonder: How would the current Mavs team stack up against the 2011 Mavs Championship team? ‘You know, that’s funny because J-Kidd’s going to be on the roster with us playing,” laughed Marion.
“I think that we would stack up against them very well. One of the biggest dynamics of the game right now is when you think about the league itself, everybody’s playing differently and it’s not the same traditional basketball. It’s either threes and lobs and layups. That’s it. We ran a lot more plays back then. We singled out people and we tried to — it wasn’t always trying to isolate somebody, right? We put people in situations where you could be successful and these games and teams now are pretty much predicated on one or two guys getting everybody the ball and just going up and down the floor. We did a little bit more thoroughly trying to pinpoint certain people to take advantage of certain situations. The game’s dynamic has changed totally now. You talk about that and we pride ourselves on being a great halfcourt offensive-set team and which the current [Mavericks] team is as well, but we were able to get up and down the floor as much as we needed to. So it’s a little different in the style of play now; it ain’t the same.”
Victor Wembanyama or Anthony Edwards as Face of the NBA?
Shawn Marion likes the direction of the NBA and the youth that will eventually take over the league. While many believe that San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama and Minnesota Timberwolves phenom Anthony Edwards could become the face of the league, Marion likes the plethora of other players who also represent the NBA well. “I don’t think it’s just one,” Marion Shared on Scoop B Selects.
“I think that he’s definitely outspoken about it and making his presence felt and I’m here for it! He’s [Anthony Edwards] gonna back it up and I love it! I told him last night that he had a helluva year and he did great for the team and I told him that he’s a player or a play away from going to the Finals, and that’s the truth. If they can duplicate what they did last year — you got a lot of teams sniffing out here… OKC? Look at Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]. Shai could be the face as well. You have a lot of talent. Luka, Trae Young… all these guys are the same coming out of their 2-3 year window gap and now they’re all setting the foundation for the future.”
Oklahoma City Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Are Storming In!
Speaking of SGA, Marion praised his Oklahoma City Thunder team for their acquisition of both Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein this past offseason. “BIG,” he said.
“They didn’t have a backup big. I’m glad they were able to make some great trades but personally, I think they gave Hartenstein a little too much money, though! I’m happy he got paid honestly, but damn… I didn’t expect him to get THAT kind of deal! But I’m happy for him, though. He’s a great pickup for them and he’s a roleplayer that plays hard every night and he stays healthy.”
The New York Knicks have NBA Finals aspirations under head coach Tom Thibodeau and their All-Star in Jalen Brunson. Brunson’s adaptability to the game of basketball is uncanny for a point guard who’s gifting is in being less reliant on athleticism but excelling through fundamentals and clever play. That proof is in the pudding for the Villanova product who through three games is averaging 23.7 points and 4.7 assists for New York. Shawn Marion believes that Brunson’s on-court presence would fit in the golden era of basketball which many consider to be the 90s and early 2000s along with the greats of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson and many others. “I think that he would be able to,” said Marion.
Jalen Brunson Can Compete In Multiple Eras & The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Competitive Out East Says Shawn Marion
“He’s just a smart basketball player. I don’t know if he would be dynamic enough averaging 30 points a game in our era, but I can still see him being an 18-20 point scorer in our era just because of how his skillset is. He’s a VERY smart player and one of things I love about Jalen is that he never does anything that hurts you. I want you to think about something. A lot of people talk about point guards and it’s not that Jalen Brunson is a point guard — I think that he’s one of the best scoring guards in the league right now and that’s because the team is built around him. He’s never been a big facilitator but what he does do is control the tempo of the game. Think about point guards that emphasize and control the tempo of the game to a way that it imposes their will on the game naturally. The Lukas, the Tyrese Haliburtons, the Jalen Brunsons… it ain’t a lot of ‘em out there but, most of ‘em are controlling how the game flows and it’s not just scoring, you know? It’s how the team is scoring and how they’re scoring.”
The undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Knicks last night after a heroic outing from their star Darius Garland. Garland had a 34-point outing at Madison Square Garden and helped propel Cleveland to a 110-104 win over New York. Garland is not the only difference maker on that team. Guided by first year head coach Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland’s roster includes All-Star Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro and Jarrett Allen. While chatting with Shawn Marion on Scoop B Selects, the former Cavalier shared his thoughts on where he believes Cleveland stands in the NBA’s Eastern Conference amongst the likes of the Knicks and the Boston Celtics. “I think a lot of things in the Eastern Conference and even the Western Conference are going to predicate on matchups,” he said.
“Who do you match up against? I mean, Cleveland had a great year last year. I mean, I think the injuries plagued them a little bit as well throughout the course of the year, but now they have a new coach and they got an opportunity. Everybody got a chance, you know? If you really sit down and look at the scale of how close the teams are to winning a championship and a lot of them are close, Boston was the best team all season long last year. They did what they were supposed to do. They won the NBA Championship. They closed it out. But the thing is, when you look at what Dallas did and how they were able to get that run and get hot at the right time in the second half of the season after the trade; they just took it to a whole other level. I mean, look at Minnesota. Minnesota is one player away from probably being in the NBA Finals as well, you know what I’m sayin’? There’s a handful of teams that are sniffing it. Philly has a chance to do something with Paul George. That’s a BIG signing for them. He’s going to help them really big.”
Paul George Is A Walking Bucket Joel Embiid Must Stay Healthy
Speaking of Paul George, the Philadelphia 76ers forward has been battling a bone bruise on his knee. The veteran forward suffered the setback during the Sixers’ preseason battle against the Atlanta Hawks and hasn’t competed in a game since the preseason setback, but George has been around the team, putting in work still. Shawn Marion is not counting PG13 out just yet. “Listen, he’s one of the best two-way players in the league right now and he’s STILL capable of going out there and averaging 27-30 points a night,” he said.
“If he can stay healthy and Joel Embiid can stay healthy with young [Tyrese] Maxey, they can challenge the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee? I don’t know. It’s a different dynamic and a different situation up there. They got Damian [Lillard] and Giannis [Antetokounmpo] but I feel that they’re still missing something. When they traded Jrue [Holiday] it took a piece of them. It took something that they really needed. Damian’s a different type of player. He’s a killer scorer but they lost so much on the opposite end of the floor with the addition that’s going to be very interesting.”
Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant & LeBron James
While PG-13 left the Los Angeles Clippers to join the 76ers, LeBron James has stayed in So-Cal and is enjoying his best life after a 3-1 start under new head coach JJ Redick with the Los Angeles Lakers. James, who will turn 40 in December, is averaging 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists while shooting 44.6 percent from the field.
Seeing a 40 year old (or someone almost 40) put up numbers like that is not common….unless you’re James or Michael Jordan.
At age 40, MJ played in all 82 games in his final season in the NBA as a member of the Washington Wizards. In fact, back then, MJ became the oldest player to ever score 40 points in a game and average over 20 points per game. In the regular season, His Airness averaged 22.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.
Million Dollar Question: Does LeBron’s career at this point mirror MJ’s Wizard years? “No, because LeBron has Anthony Davis on the team with him,” says Marion, who played against MJ and has been teammates with LeBron.
“MJ didn’t have anyone else on the team with him in Washington that was capable of being an All-Star at that time and being an active current All-Star and probably having a good chance of being with another top five or top ten player in the league — you play with another top five player, he would probably would’ve had a good chance to win; possibly get to the championships or the playoffs. The Eastern Conference was bad back then. It still was that hard to get there and still do anything.”
While Michael Jordan and LeBron James receive high praise from Shawn Marion, while chatting on Scoop B Selects, Marion also shared love for the late great, Kobe Bryant. Marion shared that Bryant was one contemporary that he wished was his teammate. “I used to want to play with Kobe,” he shared.
“I almost had a chance there too, but I really wanted to play with Kobe. Why not go to the Lakers in La-La Land? The Lakers and when you think about organizations in each sport, there are at least two organizations in each sport that stand out above everybody and that’s of course the Lakers and the Boston Celtics because of the rivalries they had history and then you go football, it’s the [Dallas] Cowboys and maybe the [New York] Giants and baseball it’s the Yankees and the Dodgers. And then you can look at hockey — I don’t know because I’m a Blackhawks fan, so I don’t care about all the other hockey teams that are supposed to be the “it” hockey teams! So you know, but every sport has the team ‘That always wins championships’ and they have more championships than others and those are teams that stand out more than everybody.”
Lamar Odom, 2004 Olympics, Kawhi Leonard
Kobe Bryant’s list of notable teammates includes Shaquille O’Neal, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. Odom was a special talent. At 6 ’10 the Queens, New York native is seemingly the prototype to today’s NBA as a walking stats stuffer with his ability to score, distribute, rebound and glide to the basket. While chatting with Marion, we discussed who in today’s NBA era plays a game similar to Odom.
So who plays like Odom?
“Nobody and NOBODY,” says Marion.
“I used to want to say it was Kawhi [Leonard] a little bit at one point because I felt like he never got tired on the floor, but I think that I was more athletic than Kawhi. I mean, he had the ball in his hands more than I did. I played more off the ball and did a lot more slashing and rebounding and other stuff; but as far as two ways? I used to say that, you know what I’m sayin’? I think I was bigger and a better rebounder and a little more athletic I think.”
Odom was teammates with Marion on the 2004 US Olympic basketball team that was led by head coach Larry Brown. The Americans were favored to win the gold medal, after winning the previous three tournaments. However, the team won only bronze, while losing three games against its opponents, the most games ever lost by a U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team. That team, who also had LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Richard Jefferson on their roster, could not seem to find cohesion.
But why? “I think when you first start looking at the merging of talent and the skill sets, I think it was above and beyond on that team for sure,” said Marion.
“We weren’t short on skills, I think it was all about merging these players together and finding what works and how we can elevate and get the best out of each player; and that’s what that is. But at the same time though, you’re not playing for yourself. You know who you’re playing for? You’re playing for that “U-S-A” on your chest and that’s different.”
In a world where sports documentaries like The Last Dance are always being filmed, Marion believes that the story of the ‘04 Olympic team should get attention, as well. “It’s definitely something that should be told,” he said.
“I don’t think people always have their side of the story and they say a lot of stuff that never comes full front, you know what I’m sayin’? It’ll be like it is what is, you know? A lot of people create their own narratives and ways about a lot of things that were speculated and what happened. The BEST way to get the truth out of that situation that really went down with everybody is to get everybody in the room and have an open discussion about it. That’s the real shit. You don’t have to hear my version or Steph’s [Marbury] version. Sit everybody down or get them on a call and let everybody say what really happened.”
