Rate Kevin Martin's defense thru the first 5 games

crimmy88 · Feb 28, 2010

MambaJoe said:

Why do you guys talk about his defense so much. LIke the Rockets said over and over again, they brought Kevin Martin here for his offense. He's not here to play defense. Do you guys want us to get another Shane Battier type player? Even if his defense great and his offense sucks, you guys would complain about how much he sucks on offense.

So no more talking about his defense. His role on this team is just to score. Not waste much of his energy on defense. That's why we have Shane and Ariza. The Rockets use Battier and Ariza to play defense so Martin can focus his energy to score.

Von Wafer sucks at defense and his offensive skills is not anywhere near half of Martins offense and you guys never seem to complain about him.
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its because wafer is a flashy highflyer. everyone likes highflyers lolz

jopatmc · Feb 28, 2010

I love the way Martin gambles in the passing lanes. His gambling is calculated gambles, taking into account, time and score and the advantage that is gained if he misses the pass and leaks out for the easy convert getback. That all plays into the mind of the best gambler. Kevin Martin's iq is off the charts. There was a play last night where he gambled out top to steal the pass and missed it, but he was perfectly postioned that if the opponent had made the shot, we could've ducked out of bounds and fired it downcourt for the get back. Incidentally, the shooter missed and we wound up with man advantage. Martin forced the shot by gambling and everything was in our favor going the other way.

I cringe at the thouht of Martin trying to D up Kobe one on one. But on the other side of the coin, Martin is not stupid enough to get involved in that. He's going to play off Kobe and give him the long jumper, he's going to play him tight coming down and make Kobe expend energy by running Martin off a couple screens, and then he is going to give him the long jumper.

When we get Yao back and we add another eraser like Bosh or some tall big man that is a shot blocker, then Martin will funnel his man into that defensive wall and we'll be fine.

tmacROX1 · Feb 28, 2010

id give him a C+ or a B-. i think he has done OK at the defensive end he averages about a steal per game i think. the players against him in SG position havent gotten good numbers,well except for granger but he didnt play much against granger.

yearning · Feb 28, 2010

Mathloom said:

To answer your question, let's look at Ryan Bowen.

No matter how much effort he exerts on offense, he will be horriffic.

But his level of effort had, in fact, made him a decent defender.

What I'm trying to say is that defense is far more dependant on effort than offense. Before you state the obvious, I am aware that defense is not exclusively limited to effort and that offense is partially dependent on effort.

But in the grand scheme of things, Defense is probably 60% effort and 40% skill, whereas offense is 60% skill and 40% effort. The numbers wilol be adjusted up and down and you may not agree with them.

But just to put my overall thought into one sentence... More people believe that good defense is a better indicator of effort than those who believe offense is a better or equal indicator.

Therefore, someone like Shane Battier is highly valued. He apparently does everything well, and can hit 3's on offense, which also makes scoring easier for others (spacing). Now I'm not a big fan of Battier myself, but you get the idea.

In reality, we need both. We need one guy who can defens and score a little. Another guy who can score and defend a little. Ariza and Martin may be just that. Brooks, however, has to be sent to the bench IMO in favor of Lowry. We need Brooks to have offensive freedom, plus we need Lowry's playmaking, foul-drawing and defensive skills in the line-up when Martin is playing. Brooks' ability to penetrate and sink 3's is negated by Martin's presence, and can be called upon in case we want to use two penetrators.

I think Yao, person X, Ariza, Martin and Lowry will be a good defensive team that can score at will.
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Nice post, couldn't agree more.

Yetti · Feb 28, 2010

Kevin Martin is an offensive player- Shooting Guard- When Morey & Les
decided to get him for our team they knew that his defense was on the weak side. He is a specialist player who puts points on the board.

shaggylambda · Feb 28, 2010

I say B-. He is able to stay in front of his man. He stays on his feet and doesn't get drawn into the air by pump fakes. It appears as though he does put effort in fighting through screens.

He plays passing lanes well. He doesn't rotate well. His help defence is very weak. He doesn't have the mentality of sliding over to help his teamates on defence.
Over all, I am saticefied at his defence. We didn't bring him in to stop Kobe. We brought him in to hopefully make Kobe work a little harder on D. We brought him in to space the floor and give Yao another 3 pt threat on the perimeter.

DaDakota · Feb 28, 2010

A+

He just needs help down low...once he funnels his man to the post.

DD

thelasik · Feb 28, 2010

Need an "incomplete" option. I want to rate him after all the other guys are back and healthy.

Tiger23 · Feb 28, 2010

no worse than knne-mac scub

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Rate Kevin Martin's defense thru the first 5 games

Grade Kevin Martin's defense

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B

C

D

F

crimmy88 Member

jopatmc Contributing Member

tmacROX1 Member

yearning Rookie

Yetti Contributing Member

shaggylambda Member

DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

thelasik Contributing Member

Tiger23 Member

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