So Long, Farewell

It's very strange looking at the Suns lineup and not seeing Shawn Marion's name penciled in at the 3 or as has been the case since Coach D arrived, the 4. It's almost surreal checking out his Matrix 31 website and seeing him in a Suns uniform, knowing that we'll almost certainly never see him in purple and orange again.

I was planning on writing up a nice post with memories of big games and memories of Marion but something happened...not much came to mind.

On the surface one would think this is an indictment of Marion's game and does nothing but point out his shortcomings. I would argue just the opposite.

What makes Shawn Marion a great player is his overall consistency and all-around team play. My memory is admittedly fuzzy and not the best, but again, no one big shot jumps out as defining Marion's Suns career. His rebound and kickout to Tim Thomas is about the closest I can come to a play that sums up his Suns career.

When you stop to think of it, the play does summarize Marion's Suns career rather well. Let's face it, Marion's shooting form is unique at best, hideous at worst, so his game-winning opportunities have always been few and far between. Instead, the little things are why he certainly belongs and should be in the Suns' Ring of Honor upon his retirement.

I know of no other player who has the ability to bang with Lamar Odom down low one night but then match Tony Parker's quickness the very next. I know of no other player with a couple of tightly wound pogo sticks for leggs. Steve Kerr took care of one weakness on this team by adding The Big Saguaro...he now needs to fill not one, but two holes, with the departure of Marion. Defense and rebounding.

It's also important to look at the Suns' teams Marion played on. Clearly, he was most affective (and also asked to do the most) under Coach D, but the guy played for four different coaches and three different point guards in his time with the Suns. That's quite a bit of turnover in coaching and personnel but he's always been the constant, throwing down dunks, racking up the rebounds and playing the passing lanes.

For a walk down memory lane, click the links on Coach D's predecessors below. It's the squads from the years they were around.

Coaches:
-Danny Ainge
-Scott Skiles
-Frank Johnson
-Mike D'Antoni

Point guards:
-Jason Kidd
-Stephon Marbury
-Steve Nash

We've all heard this could be the end of an era for the Suns, as :07 or less basketball is being ditched in favor for the large and lumbering, loquacious one, (hooray alliteration) but that couldn't be any more incorrect. This is partly correct but we certainly do not know what the future holds for this team.

A different era ended when Marion was sent off to Miami. Nearly a decade of Suns basketball and again, the one constant was Marion. Jerry and Bryan Colangelo are now both gone, Backcourt 2000 was an abject failure, KJ made a cameo, Googs blew out a knee, Cliff Robinson was the man, etc.

So lets all forget the pouting that became apparent when Black Jesus and especially Nash arrived, and try not to think about that horrific shot that somehow went in 30% or some from 3-point land.

Let's recognize the guy for who is...one of the all-time great Phoenix Suns.

I count his name nine times. Nine times.