Your fantasy draft - and you've got pick #6

You've come up with pick number six and think to yourself, "What the frank am I supposed to do with this?" Well, Frank, you could pick a guy who a year or 2 ago might have been top 2. Matrix. Marion, Shawn. Big guy, used to be on the Suns. He fills up the stat sheet, but not so much last year. Also, he is no longer playing with Steve Nash. In fact, his point guard this year in Miami is aptly named "Not-Steve Nash" (I think he went to UCSB). Corresponding Brady Bunch emotion: Bobby and Greg get locked in Sam the Butcher's meat locker - all because Bobby tried to act cool and big, complaining the whole episode about being little. Then they got out because he was small enough to fit through the window in the door. The lesson is - know your damn place! Shawn, you put up great numbers across the board, but you aren't going to be the one to lead the team and have the ball in your hands at the end. Leave that to guys like D-Wade. But keep putting up the numbers.


PPG - 15.7
3PG - 1.1
RPG - 10.4
APG - 2.2
SPG - 2.0
BPG - 1.4
TOPG - 1.4
FGAPG - 12.7
FG% - 50.8%
FTAPG - 2.4
FT% - 70.7%

07-08 was not the best year for Shawn, and his numbers the last part of the season weren't anything to write home about - he was barely top 50 with the Heat when healthy. His percentages, scoring, threes, and blocks were down, rebounding was up. The lack of Nash factor was huge. Miami's point guard situation isn't any better, but maybe with everyone healthy and not being a D-leaguer should work out better for them. And the big thing for Marion this year is summed up in 2 little words - contract year. Fantasy-wise, the Heat team poses a number of questions: is Wade healthy? What kind of numbers will he put up? How does Marion do? Are there enough touches for Wade, Marion, Beasley, Haslem? (The answer for are there enough balls for Chris Quinn and Daequan Cook - no.) I'd like to think this roster shakes out a little better as November approaches. Taking Marion means you'll have a lot of questions the first few months of the year, maybe too many to warrant a pick this high at #6. The thing is, you aren't going to find defensive numbers like his anywhere else. The key now is, who do you take at #15 and #26?

My first inclination - be the anti-Steve Kerr and put Marion and Nash back together again. Marion is low TO, Nash high TO; Marion high steals, Nash, low steals. Marion low assists, Nash high assists. It's a nice little dovetail. You're going to need a scorer soon, so target points in round 3. A bit of a reach, but you could go Jose Calderon - if you were recapping the draft as you would chess moves, there would be an exclamation point after that (preferably not a question mark). The case could be made for Calderon: plenty of assists, low turnovers, more steals. The scoring volume is not there as it is for Nash, especially with threes. But now that you know he has the full allotment of Toronto PG minutes; that could make the difference. While this would be a reach at 15, you can't imagine he would be there at 26. How bad do you want him on your team? Oh, and Boom Dizzle, now a Clip, wouldn't be too bad of a pick here. Of course if it were between him and a big, I'd go big. Maybe Bosh or Brand slips to here? I can't imagine it, but picks 11-14 are going to be really interesting in your draft, as there are a lot of talented people out there who are just below the first round level.

So Marion is one way to go - and right now I have him penciled in at #6. You could make the case for who I have at #7 to go higher. This guy....