Taking a Pass on Donyell Marshall

by Steve Weinman on Aug 22, 2008 12:00 AM EDT in NBA Articles

A Daily Babble Production

As many of our readers have noted over the last couple of days, the nameless folks over in Oklahoma City waived forward Donyell Marshall this week.

Because Marshall is a veteran player with a solid character record, and because he has a fair bit of playoff experience and was recently part of a team that went to the Finals, he understandably has received some buzz as a possible acquisition for the Celtics.

But while the initial intrigue is understandable, actually signing him would not be. The Celtics' roster certainly has some questions at this point, but Donyell Marshall doesn't answer many of them.

Read More..All of Steve's daily posts can be found in the CelticsBlog: NBA blog. Check him out!

The biggest question marks - and for the less optimistic, needs - the Celts have right now are centered on the back-up small forward spot and the bigs off the bench. Sadly, Marshall splits the middle and adds help in neither spot.

At 6-foot-9 and 218 pounds, Marshall is an undersized power forward. As verified by the invaluable folks over at 82games.com, he has played almost exclusively power forward over the last couple of seasons in particular. He doesn't have the size, strength or the style to really bang around as a center, which makes him relatively unnecessary as far as the front line is concerned. The Celtics already have two young bigs on the shorter side in Leon Powe and the Infuriated Infant, and both are only expected to develop further and thus see more minutes this season. Having Marshall as a reserve four then doesn't seem all that useful, and it definitely wouldn't make sense to bring him in with the expectation that he will take minutes in the pivot.

As far as providing help at the three is concerned, memory is not serving well this morning, so I'm not sure exactly how capable Donyell Marshall ever was as a defender on the wings. What seems considerably more evident - and pertinent - is that the current 35-year-old Donyell Marshall is not going to provide what the Celts need at the three defensively. He hasn't played consistent minutes at the three at any point in the last few years, his quickness has all but completely eroded, and his teams have been worse defensively with him on the court than off it in recent seasons. Not inspiring stuff there.

On the offensive end, Marshall's modus operandi for most of his career has been that he adds outside shooting. In each of his last four seasons, more than half of his field-goal attempts have come from behind the arc. The problem is that since the first year of that run, he has been consistently poor from deep. After shooting 41.6 percent from deep in 2003-04, Marshall has shot 32.4, 35.1 and 28.3 percent from distance in the three following seasons. He is only a 34.8 percent long-range shooter for his career, and his true shooting is a not-so-mind-blowing 51.5 percent. The guy isn't all that efficient, and it appears that his biggest offensive asset has deserted him over the past few seasons.

Donyell Marshall does have a reputation as a good locker room guy, and there is no doubt nothing wrong with having another veteran presence around, but this one isn't the guy to bring in for this Celtics team. He isn't an interior player offensively, doesn't shoot the ball that well anymore and wouldn't provide much help for the Celtics on either end of the floor at the three or the five. Maintaining patience and looking for another player to help fill the roster space seems like the way to go here.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

One good reason why he shouldn’t be playing for us: his ex teammate (as if we haven’t heard it enough) Donny Marshall who shares a strikingly similar name will go on and on about stories and memories he had with him ages ago as if any of us care. Just like he did with Ray Allen and him. ROFL. Like Ray Allen even recognized him as anything beyond a role player on an already stacked UCONN team. Donny Marshall is a joke and a fraud. Donyell Marshall is old and if his three pointers aren’t going in, he’s useless. I hate Don Marshalls.

by TradeProposalDude on Aug 22, 2008 12:39 AM EDT reply actions

TradeProposalDude, unfair comment on Donny Marshall, he provides good analysis and insight, whether or not he was a successful nba player.
As for Donyell I’m going to disagree with you Steve. I don’t really care if he cant play defense. What do we have Tony Allen, Giddens, and Bill Walker (if he’s signed) for? Theyre all counted on primarily for defense at this stage in their careers and they can all guard small forwards (yes Allen’s a little small but he’s up to the task.) In my mind, if there is someone out there with better 3 point shooting skills than donyell marshall then we should by all means go for it. But If not, I see no reason why he can’t help us. He’s big, I expect his 3 point percentage to rise in our system, and he will know his role. Posey has not always been an excellent 3 point shooter, and for a while Marshall was consistently a 3 point threat. Not to mention when he was on the Raptors and they hit an absurd amount of threes against us a couple years ago. He can provide experience and clutch shooting when necessary. Let’s see if anyone else pops up on the radar first, but I think its in the celtics best interest to keep him in mind.

by Slick on Aug 22, 2008 1:15 AM EDT reply actions

Good assessment, Steve. I loved Donyell at UConn; one of my favorite all-time college players. I don’t see that he appreciably helps us win this year, though.

One comment, though: where do you draw the line for average vs. above-average vs. good for true shooting percentage? I’m not in love with the TS% stat anyway (I prefer eFG%), but I’m curious where you see things in terms of breaking down efficiency.

Also, I’m not sure that 34.8% from three is that bad. Certainly, the numbers that dip substantially below that figure aren’t acceptable, and Marshall seems to be trending in that direction. However, I’m somebody who is of the mind that 33.3% from 3PT = 50.0% from 2PT, in terms of points scored. Certainly, hitting roughly 35% of ones three pointers doesn’t put a shooter into an elite category, but to me it’s certainly an efficient method of scoring.

by Roy_Hobbs on Aug 22, 2008 1:27 AM EDT reply actions

What is this? A Cream Puff sighting? Let me make it very clear to any of you that have any shadows of doubt in your mind: HOT BUTTER DONNIE IS COMPLETELY WORTHLESS AT THIS POINT OF HIS CAREER. Take it from a Cavaliers fan who was amped about his signing just three summers ago as a guy who could open up the floor for LeBron James and be a nice piece to come off a deep bench.

But Cream Puff let me down. He bricked way too many wide open 3s. The Cavs didn’t pay him $22 million to shoot 32 percent from downtown. And the pathetic part is that first year was his most productive. After that, calling him “garbage” would be giving him too much credit. He was always Charmin-soft, couldn’t defend a toddler, and was a below-average rebounder. So he was pretty much of no use.

When I heard that Cream Puff was one of the guys who was exported in that February trade, I jumped for joy (but not nearly as high as I jumped when I found out that Laura was out, as well). That may as well have been Christmas or Hanukah (or Diwali, for me) or whatever…Cream Puff and Laura out of Cleveland ON THE SAME DAY! I must have accumulated some crazy good karma that week.

Trust me…don’t go near this guy unless it’s for one year at the league minimum. Even then he might be taking up a roster spot that somebody else with a pulse could be using.

by Amar Panchmatia on Aug 22, 2008 1:47 AM EDT reply actions

i’ll put it this way:

who would you prefer, Brian Scalabrine or Donyell Marshall?

why don’t we waive Scal and sign Marshall?

Scal has a championship ring and can tell his kids about “the ride”, but it’s time for him to move on if he is blocking the way for someone who can help the Celtics.

I’ll continue this discussion on the Celtics Mailing List if you’re interested:

http://www.igtc.com/pipermail/celtics/2008-August/date.html

by patterson.adam on Aug 22, 2008 2:14 AM EDT reply actions

Scalabrine is better than Marshall

Donyell’s days as a serviceable NBA player are over. Maybe he can manage to get the 14th spot on some roster as a veteran elder statesman or something …. but he shouldn’t touch anyone’s rotation. Not the Sonics or the Bobcats, nevermind a contender or defending Champs.

by Who on Aug 22, 2008 2:43 AM EDT reply actions

i’ll put it this way:

who would you prefer, Brian Scalabrine or Donyell Marshall? [/quote]

Brian Scalabrine.

[quote]why don’t we waive Scal and sign Marshall? [/quote]

Pay Scal’s contract plus whatever Marshall would get to have a worse roster?

[quote]However, I’m somebody who is of the mind that 33.3% from 3PT = 50.0% from 2PT, in terms of points scored.

I assume you were a JOB fan ;). You are right to stress “in terms of points scored”. Because, all things considered, 33.3% from 3PT doesn’t equate to 50.0% from 2PT.

by cordobes on Aug 22, 2008 4:43 AM EDT reply actions

This is a quality write-up Steve. It sums up my thoughts exactly. I see Marshall as a good locker-room guy, and a decent player, but as you rightly said he would bring nothing to this team at all.

by celticmaestro on Aug 22, 2008 5:51 AM EDT reply actions

please no donyell-he’s immobile and he gets in the way of bbd and powe and he’s no 3. no defense. i go up and down on donnie. at times he talks too much and at times he’s spot on- that’s not really bad.

by nazzbo on Aug 22, 2008 8:03 AM EDT reply actions

I haven’t looked at their roster but Indiana would probably be the best location for Marshall. His ability to pull defenses out of the middle with his three point shot fits very well with Jim O’Brien’s philosophy. I don’t believe he could add anything here.

by BleedinGreen417 on Aug 22, 2008 10:16 AM EDT reply actions

He may very well be done. Probably is, but what would it hurt to invite him to camp for a look? If the guy can give 10-12 mpg in the frontcourt and hit an open jumper. Play smart team D and be a good teammate, then he certainly isnt worthless for on year at the minimum. 8)

by billysan on Aug 22, 2008 10:54 AM EDT reply actions