Friday, April 22, 2005 | 10:16 a.m.
PHOENIX -- Where they aren't, he is, mostly because he can be and no one else can.
In the lane, on the break, on the glass, down the court, on his man, on your man -- Shawn Marion plays universal remote, controlling every facet of the game at his leisure, in slashes and bounds.
"I do everything," Marion said. "Ain't no limitations to my game. I can score, play defense, rebound, steal, pass -- do it all."
The only place that Marion isn't on an unseasonably warm March evening in downtown Phoenix is on the court at America West Arena. There is still plenty of talent wearing Suns uniforms, but all is not right for Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson with "The Matrix" in street clothes on the sideline.
Think Neo could dodge bullets and save the world with his knee swollen like a grapefruit after colliding with Bruce Bowen two days earlier? Neither can Marion, who stood packed with ice and wearing slippers at the morning shootaround. And even this team of scoring incarnate needs its quiet superhero to perform at full function.
Yao Ming grabbed 22 rebounds without the 6-foot-7 Marion and his pogo stick leaps to bother him. The Rockets won, 127-107, outscoring the depleted Suns by 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Few teams did anything of the sort against Phoenix this year, as the Suns completed the third-biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history. An anachronism from an era thought dead 20 years ago, the Suns played a freewheeling, fast-breaking style that netted 110.4 points per game en route to the league's best record at 62-20. They open the playoffs Saturday against Memphis.
Marion did not change to help the Suns. Rather, the team formed around him. In his sixth year in Phoenix, Marion is the longest-tenured member of the team and Suns general manager Bryan Colangelo looks smarter by the day for choosing first to pay Marion and then to keep him amidst waves of change.
"I'm a leader," Marion said. "I'm always going to be a leader of this team because I always lead by example."
One of the Suns' many wins came in Houston, a month after Marion's knee bruise. With Marion back on the court to score 23 points and grab 18 rebounds in a 91-78 victory. Yao had 10 fewer rebounds that night and the Suns were not outrebounded as they were in Phoenix.
Plenty is said and written about the impact of point guard Nash, whose acquisition through free agency undoubtedly sparked the offense. He may win the MVP award. It's impossible to ignore Stoudemire's raw dominance of the game to the tune of 26 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He is a lock for at least the All-NBA second team.
They don't make awards for everything Marion does, though, and they don't make Marion either.
"There's not any player like him in the league," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Or in the world."
Rebel Roots
Those in Las Vegas six years ago witnessed the genesis of Marion in his one season at UNLV. He averaged 18.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.9 blocks per night for the Rebels as they advanced to the National Invitation Tournament.
Marion first indicated he would return to UNLV for his senior season, but declared for the NBA draft about a month later in the wake of rumblings that the Rebels were about to undergo a major NCAA investigation, which they did.
Marion said last month he never intended to play a senior year at UNLV, something he said former Rebels coach Bill Bayno knew when Marion arrived from Vincennes (Ind.) Junior College.
"They knew I was going to come in one year and go," Marion said.
His arrival in Phoenix was not quite fated, though. Colangelo said he took significant criticism for not selecting Duke star Corey Maggette with the ninth overall pick, but Marion's unassuming nature and otherworldly physical skills won over Colangelo.
It's hard for anyone to argue now, even though Maggette averaged 22.2 points and six rebounds for the Los Angeles Clippers this year. The Suns are built on a unique chemistry that requires Marion's basketball humility -- no task is too big, no chore is too small.
"It all jells together because we all do our special things on the court," Stoudemire said. "The things that Shawn does are unique. He's one of the fastest players in the league. He catches opposing players off-guard with his quickness."
Marion's stat line bulges. He finished third in the league in rebounds per game at 11.3 and fourth in steals per game at 2.01, a rare dual feat allowed by his intuitive feel for the glass and that quickness. His 19.6 points per game placed in the top 25 in the NBA and Marion's 53 double-doubles rank second among all players.
He earned his second All-Star selection, a vindication for a player who craves respect, but not attention.
"It's big," Marion said of the All-Star nod. "They know who's going out there and doing the most good."
On and Off
Colangelo raves about Marion as a person as much as for his basketball ability. A child of a 14-year-old mother who grew up very poor in the Chicago area, Marion is friendly but distant, and does not seek spotlight in any part of his life.
On the court, he is a dependable force. Since his second year, Marion has not played fewer than 79 games. His 38.8 minutes per game ranked ninth in the league this year. The 20-point loss to Houston was the only game that Marion missed in 2004-05.
He only recently joined Nike's stable of athletes, which could raise his marketing profile, and much of his charitable work never sees media daylight. Marion bought a house in Las Vegas for his mother, Elaine, after he was drafted, and she still lives here today.
Marion signed a $79 million contract extension in 2002, keeping him in Phoenix through the 2008-09 season. Talk around the league questioned if Marion was worth the money, but the Suns had no choice but to pay their cornerstone piece.
"Given where the franchise was at the time, it was important that we reached out to the fans in such a way that we were committed to winning," Colangelo said.
When he signed the deal, Marion was 24. Money would never again be an object.
"Just basically, to a certain degree, not wanting for nothing," Marion said. "More not needing anything."
Rumors this summer suggested that Marion might have to uproot his good Phoenix life, as Colangelo overhauled a team bad enough to claim the seventh pick in the draft. The heart-and-soul pitch went to signing Nash, and the Suns overwhelmed him with a six-year, $66 million contract. They then added shooting guard Quentin Richardson at a cost of $45 million over six years.
As the owner of the Suns' other huge contract, Marion immediately became trade fodder, most notably as the team angled to pluck Tracy McGrady from Orlando. Many published reports cited a Phoenix bid to the Magic that included Marion, but Colangelo said it was "never a thought process" to trade Marion.
"I can tell you that was something I never wanted to pursue as general manager of this team," Colangelo said. "All along, we realized his value to this team."
Value Added
No one -- not Colangelo, not D'Antoni, not any of Marion's teammates -- could sum up Marion's game in a small package. They talk of his ability to play off others, how plays are never called for him.
They bring up his second jump, which allows him to grab rebounds others may miss with bad timing. His instincts, his hands, even his funky jump shot gets a shout. But there is never a comparison made to this or that player or a mention of one skill that overrides the rest.
Really, Marion is Derek Jeter in a tank top and shorts: those who watch him regularly get a better sense of his worth to the team, which goes beyond the stat sheet -- even if it's an impressive stat sheet.
"Shawn is one of those guys who is underrated because if you haven't coached him, you don't understand the value of him," D'Antoni said.
What he allows D'Antoni to do is play a very small lineup with Nash at the point, Richardson and Joe Johnson in the backcourt, and Marion and Stoudemire in the frontcourt. Marion plays a lot at small forward now, able to keep up with quicker players. He spends time at the four, able to rebound with anyone.
D'Antoni's starting lineup is just the five best players on the roster, and that's a luxury many NBA coaches don't have.
"I think that the strength of Shawn is that he's better playing off everybody," D'Antoni said. "The limelight's not directly on him. But if he doesn't perform, we don't win."
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