How Dallas Mavericks Replace Shawn Marion on Defense
Perhaps a little uncharacteristically, the Dallas Mavericks decided to invest in youth this summer. Team owner Mark Cuban slammed an offer sheet worth in excess of $45 million on a club table in front of Chandler Parsons, and the 25-year-old's arrival indirectly ended Shawn Marion's tenure with the team. Marion was known for doing the dirty work defensively, and Dallas will need to find ways to fill that void.
Despite his age and diminishing role offensively, Marion was one of the most important cogs for Dallas over the last couple of years. The veteran forward is part of a very limited crop of players who can competently defend four positions. Finding a specimen who is able to hang with the speed of point guards, muscle up power forwards in the post and match up well with everyone in between is a rare manifestation in the NBA today.
If you elude the eye test and simply look at statistics, Marion's case is misleading. The Mavericks allowed a worse offensive rating with Marion on the floor last season, but he also spent most of that time bereft of a secondary elite defender. Most of those minutes were also played with the starting unit, which shows just how much he was needed, as they could've been a complete disaster without him. His individual numbers are almost irrelevant to study, considering the fact that Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle generally threw his defensive ace at the best opposing player.
Here are a couple of defensive possessions featuring Marion:
Even though he is in his mid-thirties, Marion's lateral movement isn't sluggish. When he is defending guards in pick-and-rolls, he naturally has a speed disadvantage, but he also boasts a great ability to recover and uses his height advantage to bother shots in those matchups.
In the first clip, Gordon Hayward gets nowhere trying to back Marion down in the post, and even though he gets to the rim with a quick crossover, Marion's ability to recover and beat guys to the spot is on full display.
The second clip shows more of the same. Even though Marion surrenders an athleticism advantage to Parsons, he never takes his eyes off the ball and doesn't even need to jump to poke it out of his opponent's hands.
Marion spent five seasons mastering Carlisle's zone defense, and you can see an example of that in the third clip of the montage. He steps in to ensure the Milwaukee Bucks cannot pass to the rolling big man (although the double-team on the point guard makes it impossible). As soon as the Bucks start swinging the ball, Marion stays ahead of the pass and runs over to John Henson, getting in prime position to bother him, before the ball even reaches Milwaukee's big man.
Now that we've taken a quick look at what Dallas will miss, the question that remains is: How can they fill the gap?
Chandler Parsons
With great power comes great responsibility, or so goes a popular saying. If the saying is adapted to the NBA, money equates to power. Parsons will be Dallas' best-paid player, and he will absorb the lion's share of Marion's minutes this year. He is a significant upgrade over Marion offensively, but the small forward job also comes with its defensive duties.
Parsons is coming out of a system with the Houston Rockets, where he spent the first three seasons of his NBA career, in which defense was simply an afterthought. While he, unlike his former teammate James Harden, wasn't the punchline of a lot of jokes targeted at Houston for their lackluster defense, Parsons isn't exactly known for being a defensive stopper, either.
The 25-year-old has already stated that he is ready to lock in defensively this season, and he does have the physical tools to defend his position. He is long and closes out on shooters well, but has a tendency to gamble a little too much trying to interrupt passing lanes.
According to Carlisle, he starts his training camps working on defense, and with just under a month to go until the regular season, it will be interesting to see if the veteran head coach can help Parsons clean up on those tendencies.
Parsons is also expected to get some playing time at the power forward position, for which he has prepared this summer. He has told the media about spending his summer bulking up, and his lanky build looks to be filling out nicely if the media photo shoots are of any indication. He didn't spend much time playing the position with the Rockets last season, and his biggest challenge will be guarding bigger guys in the post.
Al-Farouq Aminu
Aminu started 65 out of his 80 games with the New Orleans Pelicans last season. However, the team had practically no depth at the small forward position behind him, so his starting job was granted as a default. Even though he appears to have all the tools to be a great defender, his advanced statistics are relatively poor.
Looking at the film, it would seem that Aminu is more than capable of making up for his sub-par defensive instincts with his freakish athleticism and a little bit more focus.
In the article linked above, he talks about watching tape on the likes of Scottie Pippen and Bruce Bowen, and Aminu knows that the only way he will see playing time is if he puts in the effort on the defensive end. He has no outside shot and only really scores on cuts and in transition. He is a major liability in a half-court offense, and even though he rebounds extremely well for his position, he will need to develop into a defensive specialist to justify his playing time.
Aminu can certainly match the athleticism of any superstar in the league, as he shows in the play below, sticking with Paul George every step of the way before interrupting his pass:
With Parsons conceivably sliding into the power forward position in certain lineups, Aminu will have a golden opportunity to step in and do the dirty work defensively.
Ever since Chandler left Dallas three years ago, the team has lacked a legitimate rim protector. The Mavericks ranked 10th in points allowed in 2010-11 with Chandler and plummeted all the way down to 27th in 2012-13. They've since bounced back a little bit, and having a proven rim protector who knows Carlisle's defensive schemes will be very comforting.
Carlisle terrorized the Miami Heat in the 2010-11 NBA Finals with his zone defense, and Chandler was in the middle of it all. As long as all players know what to do and are solid in their rotations, Chandler will be able to make up for a lot of the blunders.
In general, a lot of guys are positively influenced by the excellent coaching of Carlisle, the professionalism of Dirk Nowitzki and the charm and level of involvement of team owner Cuban. Monta Ellis resurrected his career since joining the team, and both Aminu and Parsons are saying all the right things in the media as far as defense goes. Dallas' propensity to scheme around hiding weak defenders will also help the team transition into a new season, in which they will be deprived of one of the most versatile defenders in the league in Marion.
You can follow me on Twitter: @VytisLasaitis
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