For some reason, it has become all the rage to wildly overrate Marion while wildly disrespect Peja when general users are rating Sf's. Whenever somebody makes a 'top 5' list, you will usually see Marion at around 3 and you'd be hard pressed to see Peja on any top 5's whatsoever. How quickly that change has come...
But people are fickle, after the 2001 playoffs round 1 Kings vrs Suns, when Peja summarily busted Marions a$$, people were all for acknowledging that Peja was the better SF. Marion outplayed Peja in Game 1 of that series in what was both their breakout season's and first playoff tastes, but in game 2, 3, and 4, Peja scored 20+ while Marion scored no more than 14, including a series clinching 37/6 to Marion's 14/8 in Game 4.
It wasn't really until Peja's injured playoff stint this year when the disrespect came...
2001-2002 head to head
Game 1 114-88 Suns
Peja 29 2-8 0-1 2-2 0 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 6
Shawn38 10-20 0-0 1-2 6 7 13 2 1 3 1 2 21
Game 2 133-101 Kings
Peja 40 11-23 3-7 1-2 2 6 8 3 0 0 0 0 26
Shawn32 7-17 1-1 5-5 2 3 5 3 2 3 2 0 20
Game 3 118-112 Kings
Peja 40 10-16 3-5 2-2 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 0 25
Shawn43 6-19 0-0 2-5 4 4 8 4 4 0 2 1 14
Game 4 103-100 Kings
Peja 46 7-20 1-3 10-12 2 6 8 5 0 2 1 0 25
Shawn45 9-20 0-1 0-0 1 5 6 4 4 2 0 0 18
So as we can see, in every game except for game 1 when the entire team didn't show up and Peja had his 2nd worst outing of the year, most people would rather have Peja in that equation.
Shawn is the best rebounding SF in the game and a better rebounder than Peja, for that he should be given a lot of credit for.
Defensively, they are around the same. The stereotype that Peja doesn't play defense is one of the biggest myths currently floating around the fans of the association, he is a good defender (if you want to argue that, bring it, we will compare box scores). Marion is a lot quicker on the perimiter, while Peja is stronger.
Their offenses however, are not close. Marion is strictly a mid-range jumpshooter and open-court player without handles or any sense of individual offensive game. Whereas Peja could be 'the man', if he was ever on a team where he was the number 1 option. The only reason he averages only a shade over 21 to Marions shade over 19 is because he has the best teammates in the league offensively, if he were on that Suns team instead of Marion he would have averaged anywhere from 23 to 26 ppg a game last year (just as he averaged 23.7 a game without C-Webb this year).
But people are fickle, after the 2001 playoffs round 1 Kings vrs Suns, when Peja summarily busted Marions a$$, people were all for acknowledging that Peja was the better SF. Marion outplayed Peja in Game 1 of that series in what was both their breakout season's and first playoff tastes, but in game 2, 3, and 4, Peja scored 20+ while Marion scored no more than 14, including a series clinching 37/6 to Marion's 14/8 in Game 4.
It wasn't really until Peja's injured playoff stint this year when the disrespect came...
2001-2002 head to head
Game 1 114-88 Suns
Peja 29 2-8 0-1 2-2 0 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 6
Shawn38 10-20 0-0 1-2 6 7 13 2 1 3 1 2 21
Game 2 133-101 Kings
Peja 40 11-23 3-7 1-2 2 6 8 3 0 0 0 0 26
Shawn32 7-17 1-1 5-5 2 3 5 3 2 3 2 0 20
Game 3 118-112 Kings
Peja 40 10-16 3-5 2-2 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 0 25
Shawn43 6-19 0-0 2-5 4 4 8 4 4 0 2 1 14
Game 4 103-100 Kings
Peja 46 7-20 1-3 10-12 2 6 8 5 0 2 1 0 25
Shawn45 9-20 0-1 0-0 1 5 6 4 4 2 0 0 18
So as we can see, in every game except for game 1 when the entire team didn't show up and Peja had his 2nd worst outing of the year, most people would rather have Peja in that equation.
Shawn is the best rebounding SF in the game and a better rebounder than Peja, for that he should be given a lot of credit for.
Defensively, they are around the same. The stereotype that Peja doesn't play defense is one of the biggest myths currently floating around the fans of the association, he is a good defender (if you want to argue that, bring it, we will compare box scores). Marion is a lot quicker on the perimiter, while Peja is stronger.
Their offenses however, are not close. Marion is strictly a mid-range jumpshooter and open-court player without handles or any sense of individual offensive game. Whereas Peja could be 'the man', if he was ever on a team where he was the number 1 option. The only reason he averages only a shade over 21 to Marions shade over 19 is because he has the best teammates in the league offensively, if he were on that Suns team instead of Marion he would have averaged anywhere from 23 to 26 ppg a game last year (just as he averaged 23.7 a game without C-Webb this year).