Top 50: Kevin Martin #23

[KF10]

Kevin Martin is unique, most will agree. His funky wind-up, his throwback hairstyle, his extensively modest persona, his assortment of runners, floaters, jukes, jives, step-backs and cross-overs. But in a much more basic sense, his combination of slashing and shooting prowess is absolutely unmatched in the NBA.

Only two players in the history of the NBA have been potent enough off the dribble and from behind the arc to average eight FTs a game and shoot 40% from three: Michael Jordan and Kevin Martin. The purple #23 even went one better last season, averaging nine FTs a game while nailing 40% of his bombs.

Guys like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are extremely good off the dribble. They finish a lot, they find teammates, they draw fouls. But neither can shoot reliably from behind the arc. In this aspect of versatility, only Manu Ginobili and Kobe Bryant can offer the same sort of flexible potency ... and even then, Martin's more efficient in both sectors than both guys.

Scoff if you will, but this cat is clearly one of the best offensive weapons in the NBA.

For the past three years, Martin has seen his offensive role expand. In 2005-06, as a part-time starter in place of Bonzi Wells, Martin served an "energy" role extremely well: on the floor with Mike Bibby and Brad Miller, Martin got clean for the backdoor pass frequently, and worked as a one-man fast break (aka "cherry picker") occasionally. In '06-07, Martin took a featured role despite the best intentions of Bibby, Ron Artest and Eric Musselman, who at times seemed to shut him out. Due to his unnerving efficiency, Martin became the team's leading scorer despite taking less shots than Bibby or Artest.

Last season ... well, before a rough groin injury in December, Martin sat in the top-5 in the league in scoring ... despite coming behind Artest on the pecking order (still). Reggie Theus limited Martin's minutes quite a bit late in the season, understandable amid a losing season. Martin slipped under the 24-ppg mark for the season ... which still left him No. 7 in the league in scoring, despite the lower minutes. Only one guard (Kobe) scored more per-minute.

So Martin uses a bunch of offense (finally) and scores a lot. So do a lot of guys, what's the big deal?

In each of those seasons -- the "energy guy" season, the starter season, the focal point season -- Martin had a True Shooting percentage over 60%. For perspective: Tracy McGrady has never had a TS% higher than 56.4%. Allen Iverson's peak was 56.7%. Kobe's high: 58%. Wade's high: 58.3%. LeBron: 56.8%.

Almost no high volume scorers (especially perimeter players) shoot this efficiently so much as once in their career. Martin has done it three straight seasons. Amare Stoudemire has joined Martin in the "20/60 club" the last two seasons: 20 points a game, 60% True shooting. The last player to do it two straight seasons? Reggie Miller, 1995-97. This is a rare feat, left to only to most potent, efficient scorers in the land.

Not to diminish Amare's achievement -- you'll see him higher on this list -- but Martin didn't have a Nash setting the table, or a deathcab offense keeping the opposing defense off-kilter, or a creative genius manning the controls (sorry, Reggie). Martin did this with a point guard (Beno Udrih) who hadn't played in two years or started an alley-oop in 13 years (estimate), a frontcourt that wouldn't scare a marshmallow and a "sidekick" (Artest) who thinks he belongs in the MVP race and shoots, dribbles and leads as such.

Kevin Martin has done all the things I wrote above in really anti-optimal conditions. Imagine how could he'll be if the roster around him develops?

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/09/16/nba- ... o-23/#cont

Would you agree with this ranking for Martin? Well, without a doubt Martin IS an elite scorer/shooter in the NBA. Martin's efficiency is near or at the top in the NBA for perimeter players. Above LeBron/Wade/Kobe in certain areas of offense...His efficiency/offense gets overlooked throughout RealGM due to Sacramento's status...

So again, is the ranking appropriate for Kevin?

[sacking101]

Kevin is definetly becoming more known with this and more about him on espn.com ext.. So to get to this topic yea he is in my opinion in the top 25 players in the league. This next year with everyone gone I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the top 5 in scoring. Fantasy wise he's way up there in all around stats.

[SacKingZZZ]

I just can't wait to see Kevin take that next step. I think he will.

[PaKwAn]

Can't wait for the season to start and see kevin and the young group of guys we have on the team. Hopefully kevin gets injury free this season.....

[Cruel_Ruin]

I'd feel better about the ranking if it wasn't done by Sactown Royalty's Tom Ziller. The piece just reeks of homerism, to be honest.

[KF10]

The information doesn't seems homerism. They were accurate.. But the ranking is a bit to high IMO. I see the ranking as a projection ranking for Martin. If Martin improves and etc in the season...the ranking is fine..

[Joseph17]

Imo, Martin will be the 3rd leading scorer of the NBA next year. The third leading scorer of the NBA is usually one of the NBA's elite players. Here's a list of players that I think are better than him in no order.
1. Lebron
2. Kobe
3. Amare
4. Wade
5. Dirk
6. Bosh
7. Yao
8. Baron
9. Elton Brand
10. Boozer
11. Paul
12. Dwight
13. Pierce
14. Nash
15. Duncan
16. Gasol
17. Deron
18. KG
Mcgrady is also better than him when healthy. The only problem is that he's never healthy. I'd have Martin at 19.

[Cruel_Ruin]

1. Lebron
2. Kobe
3. Amare
4. Wade
5. Dirk
6. Bosh
7. Yao
8. Baron
9. Elton Brand
10. Boozer
11. Paul
12. Dwight
13. Pierce
14. Nash
15. Duncan
16. Gasol
17. Deron
18. KG
19. McGrady
20. Joe Johnson
21. Billups
22. Melo
23. Iverson
24. Al Jefferson
25. VC
26. Roy
27. Ginobli
28. T. Parker
29. Arenas
30. Butler
31. Artest
32. Marion

I added a few more to your list. Then, you have debateables like Iggy, Ellis (well not so much anymore), Hedo, LaMarcus Aldridge, David West and Josh Smith. This is going off of last year's performance, of course. It's a different story if you're projecting for next season, because who knows how much more well-rounded Martin will become? I know for a fact that his assists will go up because he's going to have the ball a lot more, but what will that do to his efficiency? Will his defense improve? Too many questions at this point.

[Joseph17]

AI, Melo, and Arenas are the only people from that list that might be as good as him. I think Martin is better than everyone else you mentioned. We'll see if he proves me right this year. He proved me right last year. Everyone on the Rockets forum laughed at me when I said that Martin is as good as McGrady (unhealthy). Their statistics ended up being about even.

[ShaY]

AI, Melo, and Arenas are the only people from that list that might be as good as him. I think Martin is better than everyone else you mentioned. We'll see if he proves me right this year. He proved me right last year. Everyone on the Rockets forum laughed at me when I said that Martin is as good as McGrady (unhealthy). Their statistics ended up being about even.

It's not about stats , Martin's stats are better but Mcgrady is clearly better , even unhealthy.
Replace Martin with Mcgrady on the Rockets , do you really think we will be the same?

Mcgrady attracts so much attention , without him guys like Alston , Battier , Scola , Landry will never get open shots.

When Yao went down we were something like 9th in the western confrence , T-Mac lead us to the 4th best record in the West and to have homecourt in the playoffs.

We were able to win 2 games againt the Jazz without Yao and Alston also missed 2.5 games , we were able to do that because of Mcgrady.

Seriously do you really believe if Martin was on the Rockets insted of Mcgrady we would have done the same things?

Yes Martin's stats are great , better than Mcgrady's but Mcgrady's impact on the game is much larger.

And no disrespect to Martin , he is a great player that will only get better.

[Joseph17]

It depends on what team you're talking about. On a team like the Rockets, Martin wouldn't have done the same things that McGrady was able to do because he's not a great ball handler and not a great passer either. On a team that has a pass first point guard like Nash, Martin would be more effective than McGrady because he plays primarily off the ball. That's why I keep saying that Livingston would complement Martin perfectly. Martin would also be more effective than McGrady in a run and gun system imo.

[SacKingZZZ]

Comparing players like Martin and TMac is impossible to do. They are just so different. Who's better? I don't know, TMac certainly has shown more with the ball in his hands, but then again, maybe TMac might be more effective if he played more like Kevin Martin? I think Adelman even mentioned last year how he would like TMac to start playing the game away from the ball.

People say Kevin can maybe pump out 28 ppg next year. Well, my question is, is that necessarily the best thing for the team and maybe even Kevin himself? Maybe Kevin is far more effective as a low volume shooter??? I don't know, we should find out in do time.

[ShaY]

It depends on what team you're talking about. On a team like the Rockets, Martin wouldn't have done the same things that McGrady was able to do because he's not a great ball handler and not a great passer either. On a team that has a pass first point guard like Nash, Martin would be more effective than McGrady because he plays primarily off the ball. That's why I keep saying that Livingston would complement Martin perfectly. Martin would also be more effective than McGrady in a run and gun system imo.

Martin will be more efficient next to Nash and in a run and gun offense I agree but on ANY team , Mcgrady will get you more wins than Martin , even if Martin will shoot more efficiently in all areas like he does.

Mcgrady's impact on a game is much greater , thats just my opinion I don't want to argue too much because I really respect Martin as a player , Mcgrady is just better imo.

[a-rod]

Martin will be more efficient next to Nash and in a run and gun offense I agree but on ANY team , Mcgrady will get you more wins than Martin , even if Martin will shoot more efficiently in all areas like he does.

Mcgrady's impact on a game is much greater , thats just my opinion I don't want to argue too much because I really respect Martin as a player , Mcgrady is just better imo.

I value your opinion, because its fair and objective, and its not blinded by homerism, rather seems balanced and objective, and i totally agree, T-Mac is one of the best unrecognized players in the NBA today! hes underrated playmaker and defender, He deserves more credit and he will go down in history as one of the most talented players of all time, yeah injury have slowed him down (athletically), but he still gets it done, because he always been a fundamentally sound player.

[ShaY]

Martin will be more efficient next to Nash and in a run and gun offense I agree but on ANY team , Mcgrady will get you more wins than Martin , even if Martin will shoot more efficiently in all areas like he does.

Mcgrady's impact on a game is much greater , thats just my opinion I don't want to argue too much because I really respect Martin as a player , Mcgrady is just better imo.

I value your opinion, because its fair and objective, and its not blinded by homerism, rather seems balanced and objective, and i totally agree, T-Mac is one of the best unrecognized players in the NBA today! hes underrated playmaker and defender, He deserves more credit and he will go down in history as one of the most talented players of all time, yeah injury have slowed him down (athletically), but he still gets it done, because he always been a fundamentally sound player.

Thanks.
T-Mac not what he used to be but he is still the top wing in the NBA after Kobe , Wade ,and Lebron.
Even though he is not very efficient.
He still gets things done and without him we don't have a chance.

He is inefficient now because of the other teams defense focuses on him so much , because we rely on him to do almost everything and because of injuries.

Marting is great , I think he will be a top 5 scorer next year and will do it very efficiently.
Wish your team the best and I hope Donte will pan out because he has a ton of potential.

[realfung]

I think K-Mart is definitely top 30 in NBA.
But to say he is better than T-Mac, Shawn Marion, and such...
I think this will only happen in Kings forum...

[OGSactownballer]

I really think that you guys are making an incorrect comparison here. The first thing that you have to look at is position. Despite the fact that TMac PLAYS at the 2, he has come to being more a true 3 in the course of his career. Martin is and always will be a true 2 and cannot compare with some of the small forward skills (greater rebounding and back to the basket ability) that the bigger TMac has in his arsenal. On the flip side, even uninjured, Martin's speed is in another realm from TMac's and much more true to the 2 position.

Then there is the injury factor. Despite a few minor things like last year's groin injury, Martin has proven to be pretty durable thus far in his career DESPITE being very thin. TMac has spent a SIGNIFICANT portion of his career out due to debilitating injury (back) and you CANNOT just ignore this in overall player comparisons. The same arguments went against Webber in his prime that he often played no more than 60 games in a season due to injury and therefore was second classed against the other elite 4's he played against. I personally attribute this to guys who came into the league early and begin to break down at a younger age due to the grind on their bodies starting at a younger age (and also usually being required to play more minutes earlier as lotto picks on crappy teams).

[Inc]

Martin at 23 here, but doesn't even make the top 10 SGs in another ranking... So one of these rankings are very wrong, and I think it's this one.