Shawn Marion Isn't on One of the Two NBA All-Defensive Teams and That's a Damn Shame

I'm not sure what these "voters" were watching. Maybe just passing through their TV and caught a few SportsCenter highlights. Maybe they read a few articles in Sports Illustrated. I don't know. I do know if they watched more than a handful of Dallas Maverick games, they would know Shawn Marion was more than worthy enough for making one of the NBA's All-Defensive teams.

But he didn't. In fact, he only got three votes. Which was only two more than Carlos Boozer.

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OK, I'm back. Just had to go ram my face into a brick wall for five minutes.

Marion deserved a spot on one of those teams and it isn't even that close. Marion was versitile all year, guarding four different positions in any given game. This is proved by MySynergySports as Marion never gave up a field goal percentage higher than 38.2 in any situatuion. That includes isolations, pick and roll ball handler, post-ups, pick and roll roll man, spot-ups, off screens and hand offs. Nothing higher than 38.2 percent field goal percentage, against Marion.

He also defended the big stars well. Kevin Durant shot 44 percent against the Mavericks this year (with also two miserable games in their playoff series) all with Marion guarding him. Durant's field-goal percentage against the Mavericks was his worst percentage against any team he faced at least four times this season.

Chris Paul, who most writers thought should have finished second in MVP voting, averaged 12 points per game on 36.4 percent shooting. That 12 points per game was Paul's lowest scoring average against a Western Conference opponent this season. Mainly due to Marion.

Kobe Bryant averaged 19.7 points per game on 40 percent shooting against Dallas this season, about eight points lower than his season average.

But Marion wasn't just doing it against the stars. The Dallas defense lost its anchor when Tyson Chandler went to the Knicks. But the Mavericks actually improved on defense this year. By about three points on their defensive efficiency according to hoopdata.com. (Yes, scoring was down across the board this year, but still, it's impressive). A lot of that can be credited to Marion, who always made the right rotation and always guarded whoever Rick Carlisle needed him too. And he also played with rather lousy centers in Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi and Brandan Wright.

In reality, the Mavericks failed this year because of an offense that could never find a groove. But the national perception was no Chandler = no defense. In fact, Dallas might have missed Chandler more on the offensive end this season than on the defensive, but that's another story for another time.

Shawn Marion deserved a spot on one of those two defensive teams. It's a damn shame.

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