Marion Is Possibly the Missing Piece Cavs Need

Over the weekend, Sean Deveney ran through the major free agent disappointments of this season. Shawn Marion wasn’t on there, because while he changed teams, it happened back in 2007-08, and came as a result of a trade. Yet Marion’s been fairly quiet, and most people figured he’d have to tear it up, and reprise all the multi-positional craziness that made him such a force in Phoenix, for the Heat to make any noise this year. He hasn’t, his contract’s up this summer, and voila, one of the league’s most versatile players becomes trade bait.↵
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↵But hark! While Miami is incapable of harnessing Marion’s powers -- I’d almost say that he needs to define the system, rather than fit into it -- plenty of other teams would love a shot at him. Especially when, as with Iverson, it’s essentially a one-year rental. Except ironically, Marion could give a team a better shot at a championship this year, provided he goes somewhere where his versatility and up-tempo game can figure prominently in that team’s identity.↵
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Enter the Cavs, who are really, really not messing around when it comes to either winning this year or showing LeBron they care. From Adrian Wojnarowski:
↵↵⇥For the Heat, Szczerbiak has a $13 million expiring contract, and Varejao has a player’s option on $6.2 million. He’ll likely opt out. This leaves Miami with a chance to negotiate a new contract with Varejao, or let him lapse and allow the Heat even more cap space for the summer. Still, Cleveland is 20-4 and hesitant to mess with the chemistry. Nevertheless, the Cavs are trying desperately to win a championship with James prior to 2010 free agency.↵↵This piece has a lot of other “do they dare” talk which frankly, seems a bit silly to me. Wally isn’t a winner. I hate that cliche, but here it applies. Varejao plays hard, doing the dirty work around LeBron and Big Z. He sells a lot of funny wigs. Marion? He’s like that, but skilled, better defensively, more of a threat offensively, and makes a team deadly in transition. What’s more, it’s only one year. Varejao has been a good soldier, but the Matrix is still a star at what he does -- things no one else in the league can, or more importantly, will, do.↵
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↵If the front office is trying to send a message to LeBron, standing pat is not the answer. Boston and Los Angeles are juggernauts; despite the Cavs excellent start, to really get on that level, it’s going to take a bold move. And no bold move comes without risk.↵