Building around Kevin Martin

The numbers don't lie, Kevin martin is an elite offensive player. However he is a unique player, one of a kind even, I don't think I've ever seen a player quite like him before.

1. He doesn't really have much physical advantages, sure he has a quick first step, but it is not elite. He's got good atheleticism but certainly nothing to write home about. Good height and wingspan, but certainly not freakish.

2. Has great offensive IQ, really thinks about his moves and his defender, he really is like battier on the offensive end, the reason he is able to get all these foul calls is that he is able to outthink his defender.

3. Does not really force anything, I rarely see him take a bad shot, this is I think is why people criticise him for disappearing in the 4th quarter. Guys like Kobe or Lebron, if the offense breaks down for whatever reason, they'll just take it on themselves and create something, even if it is a bad shot. Martin doesn't really do this, if the offense breaks down, he always tries to get the offense restarted by passing out, rarely will he force a shot.

4. Is not really a good iso player.

The problem is that rarely has there ever been an elite offensive player who is not a good isolation player, so to build around someone who needs a system to score rather than using his individual talents is quite complex.

Luckily there is a precedent for this, the indiana pacers of the 90s were quite successful building around a tall shooting guard who was an elite offensive player, could shoot 3s, flopped on offense to draw free throws, poor defensively, and also could not create in an isolation situation.

They laid out quite a good blueprint how to do this.

1. Must have elite passers at either the PG or SF positions. The pacers had Jalen Rose and Derrick Mckey and Mark Jackson all very good passers.

2. Stretch Big man to take advantage of the off ball movement of Reggie. Rik Smits, Austin Croshere.

3. Hard screeners and enforcers to protect Reggie and play tough defense. Dale Davis, Antonio Davis.

Now I think we have some pieces here already, Lowry and Battier are not as good as Rose and Jackson but adequate and certainly an upgrade defensively.

Scola plays the role of the stretch big and he certainly gets plenty of open jump shots in this system, he is also a better post presence than anything the Pacers had.

Where we are really lacking is the screeners and enforcers. Chuck Hayes is good but undersized, Miller is more of a Smits type, Jordan Hill is still quite a ways away and inconsistent. Patterson has potential.

If we can add two legit enforcers in the mold of dale and antonio davis, then I think we will be contenders.

 

I don't think that's a good argument, they were in the same conference as the Jordan Bulls, and when they made the finals they came up against Shaq Kobe Lakers.

In a different time different era, they would be champions.

 

We don't have an alternative, we have to build around him. What is the alternative other than to try to get pieces that make the team better?

 

They were the only team to take the 3 peat bulls to 7 games.

I think they deserve a lot more respect than that.

 

We don't have the pieces to get anyone better than Martin. If any superstars becomes available, there are multiple teams with better pieces than us to get them, see Thunder, Nets.

This should be quite clear given the Carmelo situation.

 

Exactly, we don't even have the pieces to get pseudo superstars let alone real superstars.