One former Phoenix Suns star has opened up about how he helped shape the modern NBA game as we know it — and it wasn’t Steve Nash or Charles Barkley.
Earlier this month, 4-time All-Star Shawn Marion was in Las Vegas for the National Basketball Retired Players Association’s 2023 Summer Getaway. In an interview with Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Marion had an interesting answer when asked about what he held most pride in throughout his 16-year NBA career.
“I can honestly say I changed the game,” Marion told Gordon. “I was a big part of changing the game, what we’re watching right now. Small ball. Positionless basketball. It was challenging, of course. I wasn’t on board with it at first. I’m 6-foot-7, 230 pounds. You’ve got me guarding 7-footers. That wasn’t an easy adjustment. But I did it. We did it. It is what it is now. It’s what everybody’s doing now.”
The 7-seconds-or-less Suns of the mid-aughts were widely regarded as being ahead of their time. Apart from the fast-paced offense that then-head coach Mike D’Antoni installed, it was Marion’s versatility that helped Phoenix thrive while utilizing their novel small-ball lineups.
With his ideal combination of length and agility, Marion was effectively able to defend all five positions for the Suns while being a plus offensive player. It’s the type of skill set that would be handsomely rewarded in today’s NBA.
Seven years after Marion left Phoenix, Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors turned small ball en vogue during their 2015 title season. It’s a winning recipe that several teams have tried to recreate since then.
Players like Marion and Green are among the pioneers in a positionless basketball movement that’s continuing to evolve to this day.
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