ICMTM wrote:
Then he shouldn't be a professional athlete if he's that soft. I'll play the inverse here. I think Kevin Martin thinks he's better off without the team. Kevin Martin never wanted to fit in with the team. It wasn't going to work because of Kevin's attitude. I've seen it on many occasions on the sidelines and at games. Kevin and Kanye have something in common. It's called an ego.
I saw Kevin standing and cheering on his teammates pretty consistently. When he was injured, I saw him talking to guys, giving them advice. I don't think it's really in his personality to try to be a leader like I think he was when he was injured, but I think he was trying.
And just to be clear, if my theory is correct--that he came back worrying that he wasn't going to fit in, and that affected his play--that is most certainly Kevn's fault. But it's not a function of having a huge ego, and I certainly think it's a little extreme to say that it means that he "shouldn't be a professional athlete".
Or did he want out of here when he came back?
No, that would be carelessness. There's a difference between timidness and carelessness. I don't think Kevin was phoning it in out there--not by a long shot. He just clearly didn't seem to know when to do what. He didn't know when to attack, and when to stay back. There were many times when he was playing more unselfish basketball then ever--driving and kicking when in the past he would have forced up a bad shot.
IIRC, Kevin himself said that he felt the team was distracted by the trade rumors--I think that definitely implies that he himself was distracted by them. That's certainly his problem, but again, it's not distracting him because he's some kind of egomaniac.
mitchweber wrote:We should also keep in mind that Kevin was mostly looking like he was fitting in the last few games. In the last two games before the break, he was a seemless fit.
At this point I'm drawing two conclusions:
1. He is so affected by the people around him it affects his play
2. He didn't want to be here, and realized closer to the deadline he wasn't about to be dealt and started playing
To simplify it even further her either is an emotional soft player and has NO sack or he didn't want to be here. I feel it was the latter. Kevin's play was bad because he no longer wanted to be here. His actions CLEARLY say that.[/quote]
I'll say this much. Kevin said in an interview that he was told about the trade being a very real possibility about a week before it happened. I think at that point, he probably wanted out. I think he felt that others had probably given up on the situation, and I think he wanted out at that point, which would be understandable.
Before that, I don't think there is any indication at all that he wanted out. To put it more simply, I do think that for the most part, this was an issue of Kevin being mentally soft in terms of letting others affect his play. But I maintain that it had nothing to do with him getting a huge ego. He let others affect his play (whether it was his agent, popular opinion, whoever), and that's most certainly a personality flaw of his. But I don't think it means he won't succeed in the future--just that that is the reason it had to end here. Not because Kevin thought he was above the team, but because he just didn't feel like he was a part of it.
