If you have other reasons then give them. A cryptic statement about having your own reasons is not very convincing. "No offense" but if you cannot even state what your reasons are then how good can they be?
Second, it is not the best factor. Stats have to be put into context to make sense. Since you are a fellow Canadian I'll use a hockey example. Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards.
Lecavalier has typically scored between 60 and 80 points. Suddenly 2 years ago he put up 108 and last year put up 92, but this year he's back to normal, on pace for about 70-75. Why was he better those 2 years? Did he play better? No.
If you look up shift times and quality of opposition stats you can see that during those 2 years the Brad Richards line was the one put out against the oppositions best players because Richards is more responsible defensively. Since Richards left Lecavalier gets the top opponents again.
Further proof is that the year before that, when Lecavalier's line was still seeing the opponents best players was Richards best scoring year when he put up 91 points. Richards is still seeing the top opposition for Dallas, and playing in a much harder division in a conference where points are harder to come by, thus his scoring is down too. He is also still the same player he was, but is scoring less regardless.
In other words, basic stats do not give an accurate picture without context, no matter how much you think they show "current" form. Lecavalier scored more when up against softer opposition than he did against the best opposition. This was no indication of his "form", only who he is facing on the ice. Similarly, the factors behind the decline of Marion's numbers are VERY different than the factors behind the decline of O'Neal.
Context is much more important than raw short term numbers.