Basketball New Zealand

April 15, 2009

Will McClaran, Hornets.com
In his ninth season in the NBA, Sean Marks is having a blast.

“This is by far the most fun year I’ve had in the NBA,” Marks says. “I’ve had a wonderful time in New Orleans. The organization is great, the team is great, and we’ve got a good group of guys.”

Coming into this season, Marks had appeared in 127 career NBA games, scored a total of 391 career points and grabbed 251 rebounds while playing 1,154 minutes. This season, Marks is not far from surpassing his entire career tally in points, and has set single-season career-highs in games played, minutes, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

“It’s very nice to be out here now and contributing on the court,” he says of his significantly larger role with the Hornets.

The former California Golden Bear was drafted 44th overall in 1998 by New York, but his rights were traded to Toronto. Marks did not see action in a game until March 16, 1999, when the Raptors hosted New Jersey.

Marks made history that night by becoming the first native of New Zealand to appear in an NBA game. After that footnote in NBA history, not much was said about the 6-foot-10 center. After playing in just 13 games over two seasons, Marks headed across the pond to play one season for CSK Wrocaw, a professional team in Poland. He later played for Miami, San Antonio and Phoenix, where he only appeared in 22 games from 2006-08.

With the lack of time on the court in games, Marks became what is known as a practice player.

“Basically I was just another body in practice to go up against guys like Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Amar’e Stouremire, and hopefully tried to make those guys better for when they took to the court for the games,” he said.

“I pushed them in practice, but in turn it was beneficial for me because by playing against guys of that caliber it allowed me to work on things and improve my game as well. But there was definitely a lack of game time, that’s for sure.”

Marks’ relationship began with New Orleans when the Kiwi signed with the Hornets on August 28, 2008.

“Coming into the season, I was thinking (being a practice player) was going to be the role I would have, but you never know what can happen and things can change so quickly throughout the year with an injury here or there.”

The 250-pound big man was stung by the injury bug during training camp. Marks was hampered with a calf strain that sidelined him for the entire preseason and the first 13 games of the regular season.

“I missed the first couple of months with an injury, and that was hard to overcome, but Coach Scott told me I was going to have an opportunity here, and he has confidence in me,” Marks says. “I have really appreciated that.”

Marks got that opportunity for the first time in a Nov. 27 victory at Denver, playing six minutes and scoring his first two points as a Hornet. From there, it has gone nowhere but up for Marks, especially in his numbers.

He started his first game since 2001-02 in a thrilling January 19 victory over Indiana. Since then, Marks has been in the starting lineup on a handful of other occasions, playing a key role after Tyson Chandler went down with an ankle sprain.

During the Hornets’ month without one-half of the Crescent City Connection, Marks shined most brightly in two games against Minnesota. In a Jan. 23 matchup at the Target Center, Sean scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. At that time both were season-highs from the 33-year-old, but that would soon change when the Hornets hosted the Timberwolves at the New Orleans Arena on February 8.

In 24 minutes off the bench, Marks scored a career-high 18 points and tied his season-high with seven rebounds. During the fourth quarter, Marks scored five points in the final 1:13 of the game, including a go-ahead dunk with seven seconds remaining to give the Hornets a 97-96 lead. The Hornets walked off the court that night with a 101-97 victory, thanks largely to a former practice player.

“I’m sure a lot of people are saying one of those Minnesota games was my ‘turning point’ so to speak, but I think it’s always a work in progress,” Marks says. “I think that I’m constantly trying to get better out there, getting a rhythm down, and finding my niche out there. I’m no longer backing David (West) up. I’m backing Tyson (Chandler) up so it’s a different role for me, playing the five spot. So I’m still getting used to that.”

Not only does Marks believe that playing against some of the league’s best post players in practice has made him better, but it’s his teammates now who help him thrive at the Hive.

“I’m playing with guys like Chris Paul and David West who make the people around them better. Chris is such a good player, I’m always worried about getting in his way [laughs] so working with him and communicating with him to see where he wants me in the court has definitely benefited me because he’s such a great leader. He really gets everyone else involved on the offensive end.”

After being in the professional ranks for a decade, Marks has played with many of the league’s greats, such as Duncan, O’Neal and Steve Nash, but Marks holds the Hornets’ CP3 to a very high standard.

“He’s definitely up there on the list of guys I’ve played with. The one thing that surprised me from the get-go here is the unbelievable leader that he is, both on and off the court, especially with his young age.

“It’s just amazing to me at such a young age how he puts the team, the entire organization, and the whole city of New Orleans on his shoulders. It’s such a rare attribute for somebody to have especially at his age, so I think that is something that we can all learn from, not just basketball-wise, but how he conducts himself.”

Some may think that becoming a rotation player after nine years in the league may be the primary goal Marks would like to attain in his professional basketball career, but there are bigger things that the New Zealander has planned.

“I was lucky to win a championship with San Antonio and then people are like ‘Oh yeah, you’re set, you’re done. You have your championship,’ but I disagree with them.”

Marks, along with current Hornets teammate Devin Brown, was a member of the Spurs team that won the 2005 NBA championship, defeating Detroit in seven games.

“By winning one it makes you that much hungrier to win more because it’s a funny feeling. It’s not something you can be satisfied with, winning one. It’s like you know the feeling and you know what it takes to get there and to accomplish something like that, and to do it with a group of guys that you get along with is such a special sort of feeling, and it’s somewhere that I want to be again, and I want to win a championship, and hopefully it’s here.”

Along with everyone else on the roster, Marks has become part of the city, and from the start fell in love with the Big Easy.

“I really love this city. I think it’s fantastic. I’ve met a lot of good people here outside of basketball which is nice to really get to meet some real New Orleanians, or whatever the proper term is for the locals,” he says, laughing. “But it’s been great to meet the people here and see what the city is all about.”

Marks believes that his goals, along with the rest of his teammates’, are not too far out of reach.

“Hopefully it’s this year (that we win a championship). We have a great group of guys and hopefully we’re clicking and playing good basketball at the right time.”

If the Hornets do hoist a banner to the top of the New Orleans Arena this year, rest assured that Sean Marks will not be just a practice player along for the ride.