Report: Shawn Marion Hip A Problem; MRI Scheduled
When the Cleveland Cavaliers signed small forward Shawn Marion for the veteran’s minimum this off-season it seemed like a steal. Marion would backup LeBron James, as well as play the small ball power forward spot. He has always been an excellent defender, slasher and open court player. He had developed a decent corner three point shot and was a veteran head for the team.
Instead we have gotten very little out of Marion and he seems mostly broken down. The drop off from Marion last year, where he was starting often and could get up and down the floor well, to this year was staggering. Last year he averaged over 31 minutes a game, he is down to 20 this season. Points are cut in half, down to 4.9, while his rebounds have went from 6.5 a game to 3.5.
In the month of February he has only played 39 total minutes. We may have found out why all of this is true:
Shawn Marion said he is not traveling to Detroit, will instead return to Cleveland for an MRI on his ailing hip.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) February 22, 2015
Reports are that Marion’s hip has been giving him trouble for sometime. Hopefully, much like happened with LeBron James’ back, Marion can take some time off and get the kind of therapy he needs to play again this season. Since the Cavs haven’t been using him much it will not impact the team’s current chemistry.
Instead the hope would be that Marion can come back by the start of April. At that point the Cavs will be pushing for their playoff seeding and needing to round into shape. If Marion can take a little over a month off to get himself right, he would still have two weeks of games with the Cavs and he would give the Cavs the one thing they are sorely missing: a backup small forward.
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If Marion can come back to even his last year’s form the Cavs will be able to go 10 deep, with a solid backup at every position. Matthew Dellavedova has done a good job in his role as the Cavs backup to Kyrie Irving. Iman Shumpert has excelled as the energy, defense and 3 point shooting backup to J.R. Smith. Kendrick Perkins, newly signed, will backup Timofey Mozgov and give the Cavs more brute force downlow and allow Tristan Thompson to move to the backup power forward spot. Marion behind James is the final key to the puzzle.
The good news for the Cavaliers is tha0,t come playoff time, they won’t have to rely on their backups for big minutes but will have a great set in case of foul trouble or to limit the Cavs stars players minutes in early rounds. The drop off is big from starters to the backups, but only as much as the Cavs starters are playing great. The Cavs backup 5 could likely beat a few teams starters in the NBA.
Do you think Shawn Marion can return to last year’s form if he gets a month off?