Does Shawn Marion get underlooked by the casual NBA watchers?

[NBAplayoffs2001]

The guy has been a very solid players for about 10 years. Man deserves more respect IMO.

[Optimus Prime]

He's not LeBron.

So yes.

[oarabbus]

Absolutely

Prime Matrix was a madman. Better than PG????

[G-train]

The guy has been a very solid players for about 10 years. Man deserves more respect IMO.

smh

[Beastmode88]

He's not LeBron.

So yes.

He beat Lebron. :lol :lol

[fpliii]

Underlooked by coaches too. Never made an All-Defensive team. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

[oarabbus]

Underlooked by coaches too. Never made an All-Defensive team. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

WTF :biggums:

[MP.Trey]

Underlooked by coaches too. Never made an All-Defensive team. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm
Yeah that's ridiculous knowing how good of a defender Prime Marion was.

[SCdac]

Yes, he does (in terms of his career as a whole). Many new fans probably don't even know his nickname or why he got it. In the mid 2000s he was criticized so much for "not creating all his own shots" and having an ugly jumper that he actually became underrated imo. Played on some weak teams for a minute before landing in Dallas and becoming a solid big piece to a championship team (especially when Caron Butler went down). Dude owned Lebron and him and Chandler combined for alot of rebounds.

[i cant dunk]

top 3 rebounder of all time for his position, absolute beast and underrated as ****

[Meticode]

The Matrix was a great player, but when you'd watch him take that jump shot you'd go blind and say, "I'm not watching that shit again if I don't have to."

[coin24]

Greater than prime bran

[joeyjoejoe]

Yea for sure, was a beast in his prime, with the mavs he was huge not just for shutting lebron down, he was 2 or 3 most important player behind dirk and maybe chandler

[OncePerMonth]

Absolutely. Casual watchers wouldn't know that he was a big reason for LeBron's struggles in 2011.

[DirkNowitzki41]

shawn marion may be the most underrated player of all-time. i cant believe he has never made an all-defense team in his career, what a joke.

[moe94]

People don't appreciate how nutty 22/12/2/2/2 really is.

[Milbuck]

Dude has a legit argument for GOAT, but no one will give a shit. He's going down as the Mikan of his era.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Well he's borderline HOF material.

[Doctor K]

I think he is a HOF

[tpols]

Underlooked by coaches too. Never made an All-Defensive team. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

yea.. if you look at all advanced defensive stats he was the best perimeter defender of the entire 2000s.

[COnDEMnED]

The guy has been a very solid players for about 10 years. Man deserves more respect IMO.
Most posters on this site were in early grade school when he was playing for the Suns. The guy is no slouch, but if they haven't seen him in his prime, they most likely wouldn't know.

[andremiller07]

He's a hall of famer in my book

[Milbuck]

On a serious note..that draft in general has a bunch of historically underrated players.

Obviously Matrix and his ridiculous stats a few years, and his defensive versatility..

Elton Brand putting up 20/10/3/2/1 on 56% TS over 9 seasons, with a peak of 25/10/3/3/1 on 58% TS

AK47 one of the most versatile players we've seen...people don't realize he averaged over 3 blocks a game over 3 seasons..

Andre Miller was a 16/4/8/1 guy over 9 seasons..

Jason Terry is just 38 3-pointers away from being 3rd on the all-time 3PT list behind Reggie and Ray.

Ginobili is praised right now, but he's gonna be underrated as hell historically as years go by..being a 6th man, never winning FMVP while TD and TP did, never dominating statistically because of the situation he was in...people are gonna sleep on him in the all time discussion despite him being one of the most competitive and naturally skilled players ever.

Then you have guys like Baron Davis, Stevie Franchise, Wally Szczerbiak, Rip Hamilton...all 20 point scorers that are most likely gonna end up forgotten. Maybe not Francis, for his off court crap.

[bizil]

Hell ya The Matrix is underrated by the casuals! At his peak, u are talking a guy who was the best rebounding SF in the L, capable of guarding PG-PF, was among the premier freak athletes in the L, and would get u 19-22 points a night. And he also has great longevity in terms of being effective and retaining his athletic ability. And he got a ring on Dallas while being a key cog in it all. I think he's a top 20 caliber SF of all time.

When his career is over, he's gonna have over 18,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. I don't know many SF's who have put those kind of numbers up. I would reckon under 5 SF's EVER have that combo of points and boards. I reckon Baylor and Dr. J (if u count ABA) may be the only SF's to do that. Marion played bigger than his size but yet was agile enough to defend PG's too. I think Marion gets in the HOF somewhere down the road. And it's a TRAVESTY he never made at least one All Defensive Team!

[bizil]

On a serious note..that draft in general has a bunch of historically underrated players.

Obviously Matrix and his ridiculous stats a few years, and his defensive versatility..

Elton Brand putting up 20/10/3/2/1 on 56% TS over 9 seasons, with a peak of 25/10/3/3/1 on 58% TS

AK47 one of the most versatile players we've seen...people don't realize he averaged over 3 blocks a game over 3 seasons..

Andre Miller was a 16/4/8/1 guy over 9 seasons..

Jason Terry is just 38 3-pointers away from being 3rd on the all-time 3PT list behind Reggie and Ray.

Ginobili is praised right now, but he's gonna be underrated as hell historically as years go by..being a 6th man, never winning FMVP while TD and TP did, never dominating statistically because of the situation he was in...people are gonna sleep on him in the all time discussion despite him being one of the most competitive and naturally skilled players ever.

Then you have guys like Baron Davis, Stevie Franchise, Wally Szczerbiak, Rip Hamilton...all 20 point scorers that are most likely gonna end up forgotten. Maybe not Francis, for his off court crap.

Great post! I think Baron and Franchise were forerunners athletically to guys like Rose and Westbrook. All are around 6'3 and 190-200 pounds. I think Baron was a better floor general though than those guys and a better shooter as well. Injuries for sure stopped Baron and Franchise from potential HOF shit. I think Manu skill for skill is indeed one of the best SG's ever. He could to it all on both sides and could play or defend PG, SG, and SF. His main issue was health, but he's a lock to make the HOF.

I also think Brand fell victim hard to the injuries. I think he was potential HOF status if it wasn't for injuries too. He had a tremendous inside-outside game and was a beast on the block despite being somewhat undersized. For his career,he's still right around 17,000 points and 9,000 boards despite the injuries!

[StephHamann]

Marion will be remembered though, ugliest shoot of all time :lol

Look at this beast!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBFRtz8WYY4

[HylianNightmare]

Of course he does. Casual man fans don't know anyone but kobe and bron

[livingby3's]

I dreaded the day Suns trade him for old ass Shaq

[HomieWeMajor]

1st ballot HOF when it's all said and done

[masonanddixon]

Underlooked by coaches too. Never made an All-Defensive team. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

Thats what blows my mind. Considering he's about 10000x the defender that lebron is.

[JohnnySic]

Of course he does. Casual man fans don't know anyone but kobe and bron
It took until page 2 to get the right answer.

[Taller than CP3]

He is this generation's Scottie Pippen

[steve]

Great post! I think Baron and Franchise were forerunners athletically to guys like Rose and Westbrook. All are around 6'3 and 190-200 pounds. I think Baron was a better floor general though than those guys and a better shooter as well. Injuries for sure stopped Baron and Franchise from potential HOF shit. I think Manu skill for skill is indeed one of the best SG's ever. He could to it all on both sides and could play or defend PG, SG, and SF. His main issue was health, but he's a lock to make the HOF.

I also think Brand fell victim hard to the injuries. I think he was potential HOF status if it wasn't for injuries too. He had a tremendous inside-outside game and was a beast on the block despite being somewhat undersized. For his career,he's still right around 17,000 points and 9,000 boards despite the injuries!

Brand definitely did. He probably won't make the Hall but he was well on his way before he destroyed his knee. He's one of the most solid, consistent performers and was never really appreciated for that (mainly because only on one good team during his prime).

Baron Davis was always kind of his own worst enemy. He'd take too many dumb shots or just completely ignore fundamental things but there were times when he'd put it all together and look amazing. The problem was he never quite did that enough.

Steve Francis is a player I always feel gets a short shift. He was never going to be a pure point guard and suffers from it in people's perception of him. It didn't help that he wasn't able to stay healthy for people to finally come around to him. His second season though is a lot more spectacular than anyone realizes. 20/7/6.5 on 45/40 shooting and getting that Rockets team to 45 wins. Both Baron and Francis could've been better players with more outside the box thinking coaches.

Yeah, Manu's one of the five or ten best shooting guards of all-time but isn't quite appreciated because of things like "starts" and his minutes played being low. He's one of the most accomplishment basketball players ever though.

Kirilenko's another player from that draft that people don't talk about enough mainly because he got buried on a Jazz team that didn't know how to utilize him after they got more talent. It's just weird because there wasn't a more unique and effective player in the league between '03 and '06.

Also I think Artest (aka Metta World Peace aka The Panda's Friend) needs mention because he definitely belongs with these guys. Before he went off the rails during/after the brawl he was probably the most intimidating defender I'd ever seen. It seems like he was finally putting it all together in '05 and then we all know what happened.

And Lamar Odom is a player that's going to get overlooked as the player who road Kobe and Pau's coattails to two titles but a lot like Horace Grant in the Bulls first threepeat (and Kukoc in the second) his ability to hold everything together on offense and being perfect for the triangle is a large reason why those Lakers teams were so good.

But back to Marion, he's definitely a Hall of Famer to me although I think it's going to take forever for him to get in (if he ever does) because he did a lot of things that even insiders overlooked or didn't appreciate fully. He couldn't really create his own shot (except when he'd randomly pull out his floater) but just an incredibly versatile defender and filled in everywhere his teams needed to make everything work so much better. That Nash/Stoudemire/Marion trio is never going to fully be appreciated and Marion in particular is going to end up as the Bobby Dandridge/Bobby Jones of his generation.

[Big#50]

Def overlooked. But he was not the hest perimeter defender of his era. Bowen and Artest were better.