Marion leaving would be painful

September 26, 2007 by Mike Olbinski

I will admit this right now. If Shawn Marion gets traded before the season starts, there will be some serious pain felt over here. Especially with the way things have gone down.

Sean Deveney’s article quotes Marion as saying “I wanted to retire a Phoenix Sun,” he said. “That would be nice. I think everyone would like to play their whole career for the team that drafted them. But sometimes it comes to the point where you just have to take that step and move on. It’s like a bad marriage. It doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, both people should just move on.”

I was right there when the Kevin Garnett rumors started, hoping the Suns would trade Marion. I wanted it to happen and I didn’t give it a second thought.

But now that Marion looks like he’ll truly be gone, it feels as though I’m losing a best friend. And it’s not like he’s just moving away. He’s leaving because all his buddies who used to cheer him on suddenly wanted him replaced with this even BETTER player. That got him stewing. And now he can’t go back home.

And it’s not like he had nothing to do with it. A friend who talks about how good he is and how underappreciated he feels all the time, despite me having his jersey and his bobblehead sitting at my desk, can disenchant fans and the people who run his team.

There is fault on all sides here. What kind of friends does Marion have who give him bad advice? Marion was in a good situation here and if he had known and played within his role, everything would have been fine. But athletes have egos and some people feed them and feed them until they swell too big for their current team. Must move on to show the world what I can do.

And if that place is the L.A. Lakers, ugh. Playing for the most hated team of Phoenix fans will be hard to swallow. Picturing Marion in that sickly yellow color, trying to figure out how a triangle works, ruins my day.

The saying goes “parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Try watching your favorite player for the last seven years go to your most despised rival.

No, there is only parting.

[tags]shawn marion,sporting news,phoenix suns,los angeles lakers,trade,nba,basketball[/tags]

Posted in phoenix suns