Offseason Wishlist - Matrix offensively reloaded

Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Offseason Wishlist - Matrix offensively reloaded

Shawn Marion is willing to sacrifice anything to win a championship.

In his first season with the Dallas Mavericks, the four-time All-Star sacrificed his own scoring numbers to concentrate on being the team's defensive stopper. Now the Mavericks want to figure out a way to get the high-flyer known as "The Matrix" more involved on the offensive end.

For his career, the 11-year veteran is a 17.2-point scorer. But his emergence as the Mavericks' lock-down defender in the 2009-10 season overshadowed his prior offensive prowess. Meanwhile, the squad benefited greatly from Marion's ability to hold some of the NBA's top scorers to mediocre nights.

"(Marion) sacrificed so much of his game this year to be one of the best defenders, to get rebounds, to be a screener and a movement-maker," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "Every week I tell him how important he is to us and how much as a coach I appreciate what he's done this year. He is the guy who's made the biggest adjustment of any of the new guys we got."

While Marion's scoring average dipped to 12.0 points a contest this season, as did his rebounding from a 9.6-board average to 6.4, he did relish the role of shutting down the best perimeter scorers that the league has to offer. He also battled through nagging injuries to start in all 75 games that he appeared in, giving the Mavs a defensive-oriented star on the court nightly.

"I want to win, man. At the end of the day, you've got to make sacrifices to win," Marion explained. "Whatever it takes for me to do to help this team win, that's what I'm going to do. I want to win a championship. That's what it's about."

His teammates also observed No. 0's sacrifice and it's positively infecting the entire team.

"Obviously, we all have to make sacrifices on a good team," forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "We all know (Marion) can get a lot bigger numbers than what he's scoring. Ultimately, if you want to win the championship, the whole team has to make sacrifices."

But now the Mavs head into the offseason looking to utilize Marion's athleticism in a more effective way.

The former UNLV standout proved that he is still capable of going for huge scoring numbers, while also cleaning the glass with the best of them. Evidence of that came when Marion produced a 29-point, 14-rebound performance against Minnesota on March 8, in a 125-112 road win.

The team will try to duplicate nights like that more often next year. And after averaging just 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in six games, as the Mavs fell in their first-round playoff series against San Antonio, Marion intends to come into next season more assertive.

"You just have to come back hungrier. You get a taste of certain things, and you just want to go out there and do it," Marion said.

For all of your news on the Dallas Mavericks this offseason, visit Mavs.com. Follow Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/EarlKSneed.