Photo. Brandon SullivanWhat’s Shawn Marion’s deal? Usually when an NBA player is “unhappy” with his situation, it’s over money, shots or losing. (Notice how that term is only used in sports? You never hear your boys saying, “Man, I’m unhappy with my role at the post office.”) In Marion’s case, reports and rumors have circulated for a while now that he’s got beef — but the hard part is figuring out why. Matrix is the highest-paid player on the team; he makes $16.4M this year, while Amare makes $13.7M and Steve Nash makes $11.3M. He took the second-most shots on the team last year (Barbosa took the most). And he plays on a contending team. Still, with Suns camp opening up soon, the Arizona Republic cites team sources who think Marion is upset because no progress is being made on a contract extension. The sources think Matrix wants $60 million over three years. Marion’s name has been linked to trade rumors forever too, and you know a team like the Jazz would be interested now that the Andrei Kirilenko situation has gotten sticky … Meanwhile, the Suns picked up Brian Skinner. He goes after it and will get you some rebounds. Not a bad signing … As expected, Sarunas Jasikevicius signed with a team in Greece … The Heat inked Brian Chase, the ex-Virginia Tech star who we had as a “What’s My Name?” in Dime #29 when he was trying to make the Jazz roster after a crazy tour through the minor leagues. The Miami deal came after Shaq saw Brian balling at the Barry Farms summer league in D.C. and called Pat Riley on the spot. One tryout later and Chase is headed to training camp … And the Celtics are still auditioning seemingly any and everyone, bringing in Esteban Batista, Eric Williams, Kelvin Cato and Linton Johnson in for workouts recently. We’re gonna miss watching Cato stare into space and get easily distracted on the bench at Knicks games … When our man Christian was in Boston last week playing softball with A.I. and the RBK fam, he got some ‘07-08 NBA predictions from Baron Davis, Gerald Green, Shaun Livingston and Marvin Williams. Check out the expert’s picks here … Corliss Williamson retired yesterday. “Big Nasty” will always be known more for what he did in college — leading a crazy-talented Arkansas squad to the ‘94 title and back to the championship game in ‘95 — than his pro career, which was decent enough: he won a chip with the Pistons in ‘04 and was a solid bench guy on some good teams. His best statistical year was when he averaged 17 points and 5.6 boards for a sorry Kings squad in ‘98 … Penny Hardaway wanted #1 with Miami and Dorell Wright was apparently willing to give it up to the vet, but it was past the League deadline for number switches. So Penny will rock #7 this year … New stuff over on High School Hoop, including a feature/video on Erving Walker, arguably the best PG in New York. The kid is 5-8 at best and still busts up every team he faces … We’re out like Jasikevicius …
September 26th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Lucky Lester says:
You’d think a guy would see that his team struggles with trying to cut salary every single year, and the fact that he rolls the most dough should at least be worth enough - but no, Marion’s pissed he’s not making 20million per… Who is more important to that team, Beast, Nash, or Marion? Marion’s nasty, don’t get me wrong, but if I was building my franchise, I think I’d roll with the first two… There’s not enough millions to pay everyone what they want, unless you play for the Knicks.. Jerome James anyone?
You can’t win them all, but putting up as many 3s as you want with that kind of stroke, having Nash pass you the rock, and getting close to a shot at the finals year after year, you think that’d be worth a couple million to a guy who makes 10+ per year…
I guess he needs some extra cheese on his whopper… Or a new pair of Nikes…
September 26th, 2007 at 3:03 am
triple threat says:
Man, hearing guys like Shawn Marion wanting 60 million dollars over 3 years, is crazy. It’s crazy because Matrix is not worth that much money. 10-12 million dollars at the most. He must really believe he’s the best power forward in the league. Does anyone know if Timmy D makes that much a year? Well, I hope Shawn Marion doesn’t ruin the Suns upcoming season with he’s request of asking for $10 million more than he’s actually worth. He’s a good regular season player, but playoffs I think he needs to step up more often. I mean, he can get 30 points 20 rebounds one game, but the next he might get 15-17 points 8-9 rebounds. The position he plays is too deep for him to be inconsistant in the playoffs. Everyone knows Amare and Nash carry the team, Leoandro comes out of nowhere and drops buckets like crazy. Marion is their best defender, but not their best player. I would give the max deal to Amare, he still has an upside to him, he’s still young and athletic, and has time to work on he’s elbow jumpers his been dropping more often since is return from injury. I like that about Amare games, he’s confident to take the shot from a bit further out than he use to, can’t beat teams by dunking on them all the time, unless your like a young Shaq, Amare is big, strong, and agile, but not as big and strong as Dieasl. I bet Amare could have been a lot better coming out of college, he could have learned all that basic in his first year of school, oh well, can’t pass up on joining the league.
September 26th, 2007 at 3:17 am
triple threat says:
I voted for starbury for the best NY PG, I almost forgot Action Jackson gets a lot of love from New York. He did help lead the Knicks into a lot of playoff battles. Starbury is still the man, best New York point guard of all time.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:02 am
Lucky Lester says:
Best point guard? Point? Can you have a name like Starbury and be the best point guard? I just don’t know, Jackson did what a point guard has to do, but Marbury definitely put up some big numbers in his prime, which I’m assuming is long gone, considering his level of play last season.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:56 am
db.one says:
Matrix… what a SQUIRREL! Seems like he can’t wait to go and lose with Kobe out there in La-La Land. Cut him loose! I’ll laugh my way thru the 4-game sweep if they met in the Finals. Assuming they make it.
Odom in PHX would be allright, I guess.
Not so sure about AK’s heart so I hope they pass on that.
Still, it’d be easier to forget him as he fades in to oblivion out in Utah. Probably closer to what he deserves.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Bron42 says:
first off, lets get it straight, no here has actually heard marion complain. its all rumors as of now. People just jumpin for stuff on a slow summer.
That aside, the guy has reason to beef. While he isn’t the dominante guy on a nba contender he is easily their most well rounded and bread and butter guy. On a shakey suns team that already doesn’t play defense, i’d bet ou 60 mill the suns drop down a few notches if they let marion bounce and dont get either AK (who is a watered down marion) or josh howard in return. Sure hes the highest paid but while everyone else is offerin to wash nash’s balls, alot of nashs high lights and “game saving shots” are rebounded and tipped out to him by marion. Also considering nash couldnt gaurd a pile of leaves, marion guards every teams best player and still hustles on the other end so its not like hes just a one dimensional specialist. Yet nash still gets all the credit, marion still isn’t considered for all defensive team. so he has a reason to feel edgy IF in fact he does. and for the guy sayin hes just a regular season player, last i checked his stats didn’t fall off in the playoffs either. Sure he isn’t averagin 30 a game during them but hes not suddenly rockin a 5 ppg stat either. Playoffs are a team effort so they ALL have to step up, or maybe nash can not have guys like tony parker and deron williams put 30 on him lol
September 26th, 2007 at 9:29 am
DOC says:
Marion bitchin he got a squad and he paid the most just fall back and ball before you go to a corny ass team.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:52 am
kyung2 says:
obviously when they mean best pg in new york, they aren’t talking about college or nba players…
September 26th, 2007 at 10:04 am
alex says:
Marion’s just getting what he deserves right now. He’s not worth 20M per year, and he won’t produce the same numbers in a different system on a different team. He’s got no post play, no handles, or iso moves. His abilities are maximized with the Suns system of play
September 26th, 2007 at 10:07 am
triple threat says:
Like I said, Marion needs to step it up more often. If he wants that $60 million over 3 years, Marion needs to step up and not have one great game and the next two games just be average. As for Nash, I don’t even want to go there, everyone should know he should be the highest paid player on the team right now. Well, I hope Marion gets what he wants and that is a lot of money, and I hope its on a team where they see how valuable he is, when the losses start to pile up.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Saku 39 says:
I thought Raja Bell guarded Kobe?
I would think 12-15 mil would be market value for Marion but then again Rashard Lewis did get paid. Agreed that Nash gets a little too much love and credit but you can’t deny the team plays much better with him in the game and he does hit clutch shots. I would have no problem if Nash was the highest paid on the team.
Tough call on the NYC PGs but surprised that Chibbs got so few votes. He was the man in high school.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Rob says:
Big Nasty also won 6th man…i believe in 02. He was a good guy around the community of sac, i still remember when he dropped 40 back in ‘98…seemed like he put up about 40 shots to get there haha, but it was a great moment for the kings back then. Kings fans will miss Big Nasty.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:49 am
focalmatic says:
I will forever remember Corliss Williamson for getting Marvis Frazier’ed by Derrick Coleman in the mid nineties. He wasn’t big nasty that night!
September 26th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Kudabeen says:
Wasn’t Marion just as productive before the current Suns system was in place and Nash was there? He would get the same type of numbers in any system that doesn’t have more than one solid Big. He is the type that has his hands all over the game. I don’t think he should be beefing about money, but I know for a fact that he has done multiple interviews beefing about not getting his due on the team for what he does. He was on TNT saying that he doesn’t feel like he is appreciated the way he deserves to be. Looking at the info presented (#1 in pay, 2 in shots, All-Star, etc) I think it’s either a personality flaw or he just isn’t at liberty to discuss in detail what’s happening behind the scenes that makes him feel slighted. It really can’t be money. I’d want an extension done ASAP too, but he can’t be riffin’ about wanting extra dough. I think he desires to be the unquestioned leader on a team. Anyone remeber that TNT interview? (it was in an Article too, possibly DIME!) Where he was talking like he would rather be in Kobe position leading his own struggling team, rather than being seen as a cog in Suns offensive machine.
I wonder how often does guys like Shaq, Kobe, Melo, Bron and the like drop tips to GMs to check certain guys out that they know have game…
September 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Jules says:
There was an article about Matrix in the ESPN mag a few months back, he basically said he would be happy being The Man on a crappy team if it meant he got paid/was recognized as The Man of that team.
So it really isn’t all about winning for him. It’s about numbers: his stats and his pocketbook.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Celts Fan says:
the difference between a title team and a really good team w/ all the talent in the world and no rings is comments like that. Did Scottie Pippen ever say that shit? How about James Worthy? Kevin McHale? Manu? He’s already making a ton of $. Shut up and play. This is a perfect example of everything that’s wrong in sports…
September 26th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Amar says:
mark jackson easily, he used to step it up bigtime in big games, have any of those fools really done anything in the NBA except get paid? starbury couldn’t be a team player with KG running with him, and he knocked off the spurs w/o an injured duncan one year. kenny anderson made derek fisher look like a high FG% guy. rod strickland should have been one of the best ever, but never got it done. kenny was so good a rookie was outplaying him in the west playoffs.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Amar says:
that 2nd kenny is the jet, and also mark jackson is 2nd all time in assists.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Bron42 says:
ya, like i’ve said before, people need to drop the idea that Matrix was created by nash and this run and gun suns team. Marion had these kinds of stats before nash was even on the team…back when no passin marbury was there with crippled penny hardaway running the 2 spot. Plain and simple the guy is consistent. As much hype as everyone gives nash, he hasnt really upgraded any team yet we give him ALL the credit 24/7. The mavs went from a playoff team with nash, to going to the finals without him. THe suns went from a second round team without nash to a second round team with nash..but ya, your right, hes the best PG ever. Then again there is the jason kidd guy too. People also said joe johnson would suck once he left the suns and nash but last I checked, his stats stayed around the same if not got better. Send marion to the heat for anyone not named wade. All I’m sayin is while marion might not have the kobe skillset, he plays a BIG role in how the suns system works and does deserve his shine/credit. I mean come on, as ugly as his from is, for him to still produce is just crazy lol but he does it and plays however the suns want him to if it helps them win.
P.s: raja bell request to guard kobe because of his experience against him before on the sixers, not because marion wouldn’t guard him or anything.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
rob stewart says:
Grant Hill and Lamar Ododm are good replacements for a disgruntled and problem bringing Shawn Marion. Hopefully they can get Jordan Farmer, Turiaf, or even Brian Cook out of the deal.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
triple threat says:
Yeah, I like the rest of the NY Point Guards, but too me Starbury is the man. Mark Jackson was the man that ran show in the MSG. Hopefully Starbury has enough in him to help carry a talented New York Knicks team to the playoffs and hopefully deep into the playoffs this year. They have so much talent its crazy. Mark Jackson had a lot of talent around him, pretty much his whole career, maybe except T-dot. Marbury had nobodies on his teams in the previous years, Keith Van Horn and the other J-dub who decided to kill his limo driver lol. Kerry Kittles was the only decent player he had on the team. K-mart was injuried, I’m sure those 2 could have hit it off will. Starbury wasn’t lucky enough to catch guys on a team that were health at the time. Now he has a chance, but he is past his prime. He did have chance with the KG, man I still think about how deadly those 2 guys could have been. Maybe Marbury’s number would have been a consistant 20ppg 10apg. For majority of his career he averaged 20ppg 8apg only the Big O accomplished that, now thats nice company and in my opionion that’s worth been mentioned the best NY Point Guard ever to grace the NBA hardwood. Street I don’t know, there too many great point guards, Marbury would be one of the best, but there are a lot guys were good enough make it to the NBA, but decided not to.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Goose says:
All i know is, Shawn Marion practices at University of Illinois-Chicago in the PEB(physical education building) and he is probably one of the cooler NBA players I met. Last year I talked to Larry Hughes and he was a punk.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Lucky Lester says:
Good enough to make it to the NBA but “decided” not to? That’s an interesting idea, I’d love to believe it, but I have a feeling that “decided” is more like “couldn’t take the next step, couldn’t handle the pressure, wouldn’t practice that jumper enough, couldn’t stay out of trouble, didn’t want to change their lifestyle, afraid of change, poor choices, bad influences, too much loyalty” - but the idea of someone deciding to pass up the NBA for, I don’t know, some playground awes - I just don’t buy it.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Triple Threat says:
Yeah, Lucky lesters, They had some pretty dangerous players who played the PG position, that never wanted to play in the NBA. Here’s quote from some dude, that must know a thing or two about street ball legends. Richard “Pee Wee” Kirkland tore up Rucker Park. His arch-nemesis was Nate “Tiny” Archibald. Offered a contract by the Chicago Bulls, Pee Wee rejected it, reportedly saying, “Hey, I could make more money in a couple of days on the street.” There was others too, Pee Wee was just one of them and he was a Point Guard.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Bron42 says:
to consider marbury the top guard when he hasnt done CRAP is kinda crazy…and ya, guys like pee wee, the destroyer, etc…their streetball legends..doesn’t mean they wouldna been jack in th elague. Thats just the like guys who say their goin over seas instead of makin minimum in the nba.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Triple Threat says:
Yeah, your right, how I can I say marbury is the king of Point Guards of New York lol. And your comparing Pee Wee with the destroyer, now thats wrong. Pee Wee was the shit, just because you think street ball is about And 1 or ball for real, doesn’t mean their was street legends who took the game serious. I guess Dr J and other nba players made up bullshit stories of how Pee Wee could have been one of the top players in the league, my bad. Like Pee Wee said, he was making more cake than on the ball court. The drug trade was a lot bigger than -b-ball at the time. Another street legend,The Hook was deadly too, Hook was J-Kidd and The Gloves old rival, its too bad hook got caught in the street BS and ended up in Jail. Hook was a 5′9 point guard who can throw it down with the best of them.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Bron42 says:
lol i kno your not tryin to enlighten me about street ball like its only played in your back yard. I’ve played at rucker so I know all the stories and what not so don’t gas your self with the history lesson. Cuz ya, theres guys who can ball, just like kareem used to say the goat was the best person to never play in the nba. So if you actually read i was pretty much agreeing with you that some guys would rather play in different places and make mad money ineast of makin the minimum in the league. so save the seminars on street ball hollowed ground. That bein said not every “street ball legend” would hold their own in the nba. its a select few. And you even bring up hook and talk about dunkin like just because he was 5′9 jumpin over cars means he would of ruled the league. I mean skip has been mr.streetball since he was 16 and in the league hes doin what? plus the league has changed since pee wee’s day. it aint the charles oakly rough housin, tough as nails ballin. So again, street ball and nba are completellllllly different.
And since ur the same one gasin up marbury and how marion isn’t worth it..marbury already makes the 20 millions a season that marion is askin for, and your gonna tell me marbury is a bigger part in his team than marion is?
September 26th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Andy Buckets says:
Bron,
You can’t compare Steph to The Matrix. If you make Shawn Marion the focal point of ANY team they wouldn’t do shit. Yeah, Steph hasn’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs but he’s led teams there. Steph helped K.G. and Amare to their first ever playoff appearances.
How easily we forget what Steph did in the league. He averages a little less than 20 and 8 for his career and last season, yeah he only averaged 16 and 5 but that was on a team with a bunch of offensive players like J. Crawford and E. City.
No one can deny that Marion benefits from playing with Nash, Barbosa, and STAT. He isn’t a franchise player and he will never be. That isn’t a bad thing either…let’s not forget that Steph was.
p.s. I have played at Rucker also and there are plenty on those guys that in their prime would put major WORK in,in the L.
Junie Sanders, Mike Campbell, Corey Williams, Duane Woodward, ect…
September 26th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Saku 39 says:
I’m pretty sure that a lot of the playground guys from back in the day (Goat, Pee Wee, etc.) could have been stars but I’d be skeptical about some of the current guys. GE and Homicide are nice but are tweeners and if you aren’t a star in the NBA you better fill a role. How else did Chris Dudley or Rick Brunson stay in the L so long?
As an aside, if you ever meet The Destroyer or Fly Williams now you would never think these guys were some of the best ballers of their day.
September 27th, 2007 at 12:26 am
triple threat says:
I never said, marbury is worth 20 million dollars a year. I said Marion wasn’t. I’m comparing Marions contract with his talents, not another player. And it would be sweet if they had more rough play in the NBA, don’t ask me why, I just think it would be a lot better game to watch. I would also like to point out, I respect what Dr J and other nba legends had to say about street basketball legends. I never been to rucker, probably never will be, but you hear legend stories of guys who have played there and could have made it. I know alot of people enjoy them kind of stories, but if you play and you consider yourself a ball player, you love those stories abit more than a fan would, that’s just my opinion though. Oh as for Hook, since you know alot I’m guessing you know he could do more than jump. And I never said he will rule the league, but with the way Bay Area and the rest Cali state talk about hook, sounds like he could have dominated for a few years, not rule it though. As for skip, I’m glad he made it to the league, now he’s sitting pretty with his multi-million dollar contract.
September 27th, 2007 at 12:54 am
Bron42 says:
nice street ballers don’t mean they would kill in the league. plain and simple. their games don’t always translate. Just look at homicide.Put buckets on ron artest but cant even make a summer league now.
Also, like i’ve said time after time again…nash didn’t suddenly upgrade marions stats. his stats have been about the same for his career. Pre-nash, when marbury was the pg, matrix was already killing. So stop givin nash credit like the suns were the hawks before he came along. And as for marbury…what has he done? killed every team he has gone to. Timberwolves, Nets, Suns, Knicks..name one team that he legitly carried. I mean the nets trade marbury for kidd, suddeny their in the finals. Knicks get marbury “the hometown hero savior of the knicks” bam, worst team in the league. but hes worth 20 million and matrix isn’t? You say matrix isn’t a franchise player, well hate to break it to you but neither is marbury. He gets hype and is treated like one but has yet to turn any franchise around. Like i said, people once thought joe johnson was only a product of nash, now hes a all star. So how can you say matrix would suddenly fall off without nash when EVERYONE nash has played with, was just as good when he left. dirk, josh howard, marion and stat before he got there. Marbury hasn’t proven shit other than he can get alot of money and then get average stats while his team sucks.
hook was nice but theres TONS of nice guys who don’t make the league. Look at KGs old teammate who was supposedly BETTER than KG.
September 27th, 2007 at 2:39 am
Lucky Lester says:
Thanks for the Pee Wee lesson.. Seriously, from the sounds of it, that guy is exactly what you’re talking about right now. But I have to believe that most of what I said originally is still true. There are decisions one has to make to get himself to the right spot and make it in the league - some guys won’t give up smoking week every day and putting their body through the grind that would keep them healthy day in and day out. Just like not every talented guy to walk on to an NBA court turned into a start. There are plenty of fizzled talents out there. I’m sure many played on the playgrounds of New York or anywhere else in the world. But that’s what I’m saying, its not just talent that leads you to the league. Pee Wee seems like he had it, from the way people talk about him, so maybe he’s the one. I’m sure there are more.
Once again, thanks for the responses.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
whatsdadealyo says:
It seems that these prominent street ballers are not cut out to be the role players of any team. Role players don’t highlight but support. Correct me if Im wrong lots of brick and motor players in NBA but few stars. Can streetballers adapt their games for the league by infusing their play with a great dose of humility.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Htown Rockets says:
Celtic fan said it best Marion and Starbury represent exactly what is wrong with sports and the NBA. Marion plays with 2 of the best players in the NBA and he is complaining about money and getting his feelings hurt? If he was the man on a sucky team he would be complaining to management about not having anyone around him. Even thought he is majorly over rated he should feel prideful in the fact that he was a possible trade for Kevin Garrnet. He is a perfect example of way stats don’t always tell the story. Any one catch the fact that he can’t create his own shot and he wants to leave the team of one of the best point guards the league has ever seen. There is no I in TEAM! Honestly what a dumb but.