It was a few minutes after Rasheed Wallace’s introductory press conference and Paul Pierce was talking about the need to cut down on his minutes. It was no secret during the playoffs that Pierce was operating at something less than 100 percent. Whether he was injured – and Pierce swears he wasn’t – or just wiped out from logging more than 3,000 regular-season minutes (something he hadn’t done since the 2005-06 season), something had to be done about the Captain’s workload.
Enter Marquis Daniels, a swing man from Florida who made good as an undrafted free agent and brings with him the added bonus of being able to handle backcourt minutes. As a rookie with Dallas, mad scientist Don Nelson even used him at the point.
At 6-foot-6, Daniels is the kind of player who slips through the cracks because there is no obvious place for him. He possesses myriad skills, but none that stand out particularly. He can do a lot of things well, but nothing spectacularly. You get the picture.
But in the right situation on the right team, Marquis Daniels can be an important piece to the puzzle. He is reportedly about to land with the Celtics on either the bi-annual exception or as part of a sign-and-trade with the Pacers. With the Celtics, for 20 minutes a night, he can be more than just the guy who lets Pierce manage his minutes.
His story begins as a high school player in Orlando, where Daniels first caught the eye of Doc Rivers who just happened to be coaching the Magic at the time. As these things sometimes go, Daniels finished his prep career at Mt. Zion Academy, the adidas-funded school that appeared out of nowhere on the basketball map once a young Tracy McGrady materialized at Sonny Vaccaro’s ABCD camp and stole the show.
Daniels never reached McGrady’z zenith, but as a player with a guard’s handle and a forward’s body he was a top 100 recruit who played his college ball at Auburn and helped take the Tigers to the Sweet 16 as a senior. Never known as a basketball factory before or since, Charles Barkley notwithstanding, the Daniels-led Auburn squad took out Saint Joe’s in the NCAA Tournament (the year before the Hawks reached No. 1) and then Wake Forest and Josh Howard in the second round.
The road ended against Syracuse and Carmelo Anthony, but not before Daniels put up 27 points and nine rebounds and a mighty scare into the ‘Cuse, who were on their way to the national championship.
With a decorated career in the SEC behind him and a sociology degree in his back pocket, Daniels figured to go in the second round of the draft, but the night came and went without his name called. The draft is not the most hospitable place for so-called tweeners.
The draft might not be the best place for a player too small to be a “legitimate” small forward and without the shooting range of a shooting guard, but the NBA is full of players who fit into that indescribable box and make the most of their skill-set. Daniels went about making his mark with the Dallas Mavericks, much to the chagrin of Rivers, who according to reports at the time wanted him for the Magic.
He became a rotation player a quarter of the way through his first season and did enough to get named to the All-Rookie Second Team, quite a feat for an undrafted free agent. Though he played just 18 minutes a night, from a numbers perspective that was Daniels’ most efficient season.
After three seasons in Dallas, Daniels was traded to Indiana for Austin Croshere and he continued to do his thing as a reserve swing man, albeit a reserve swing man with an oversized contract. Last season he filled in capably as a starter for Danny Granger and he posted the best scoring and rebounding averages of his career (13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds), but the contract finally caught up to him and the Pacers elected to not pick up the option on the last year of his $7.5 million deal.
But scoring is not really Daniels’ game. He is not, for example, a particularly good shooter from long range and he was never really a good fit in Indiana coach Jim O’Brien’s system with its emphasis on volume 3-point shooting. Daniels has made just 24 percent of 3’s for his career, and where he does his damage is slashing to the basket and scoring inside.
According to 82games.com, Daniels took 59 percent of his shots last season from the outside where he put up a pedestrian .357 Effective Field Goal percentage (a stat which accounts for the difference between two and three-point shooting), but inside his EFG was .619, which is more in line with a back-to-the-basket big man.
In keeping with his quirky body of work, Daniels is not a post-up player, however. He does most of his business in the paint by slithering through the defense and pulling up for short jumpers and attacking the basket. In many ways that makes him a lot like Tony Allen, but Daniels’ turnover rate is much more in line with a player who understands his role, and the extra couple of inches on his frame allow him to legitimately guard small forwards.
In that way he fits in nicely with the Celtics’ revamped bench. With long-range bombers like Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace around him, Daniels should have ample room to do his thing and fall into a ready-made role.
But his real value is his versatility. He is more effective as a guard, but he held his own at small forward and is big enough and quick enough to handle big guards and forwards alike on the perimeter. The versatility will be welcome in Boston, since checking bigger guards in the second unit has been something of a problem for the Celtics in the past.
That’s all gravy, as it were, because primarily Marquis Daniels is the answer to the Pierce dilemma. He’s not James Posey, but he’s a heck of a lot better than what Rivers had in reserve last season when the coach was forced to use Ray Allen as the nominal three-man at times.
When Daniels officially comes on board it will give the Celtics 12 players on guaranteed contracts, give or take if there are bodies going back to the Pacers. That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room left for Danny Ainge to maneuver the roster (and there still appears to be a rather sizable hole at the backup point guard spot), but with House, Wallace and now Daniels, Ainge is building a bench manned by versatile veterans.
And yes, Pierce should be able to take his seat on the bench this season without Rivers having to resort to a tricked-out lineup to make up for the Captain’s absence.
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