I would agree if Greg Popovich was coaching this team. And, actually, that is a smart approach to handling great players like Ginobili. Rick Adelman, on the other hand, hasn't been preserving his stars like Pop. He played Yao 37.2 minutes his first season here knowing he had gone down with major injuries the two years prior to that. C-Webb and Clyde played 35+ minutes most years as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the organization had a hand in Yao only playing 33.6 minutes a couple years ago either. Also, it's not just the amount of time he plays it's when he plays. Manu ALWAYS plays in crunch time. Let's not ignore the numerous games Adelman has decided to sit Martin for most of the 4th quarter.
First of all I never said anywhere that Martin is the same caliber player as any of those guys. The reason I said he was being preserved was not because he was Adelman's "star" player, but because of his checkered injury history. The only one that was similar in that respect was Yao, and even his minutes were cut after his 3rd straight season of injuries. Also none of those players had a legit starter playing behind him like Martin. Manu plays the crunch time because that is his role, he is their closer. Martin struggles in crunch time because creating off the dribble is one of his weaknesses. I mean... this is stuff that I'm sure is pretty well known and have been gone over. Is being a lesser player than Manu some kind of indictment against Martin? If Martin had the ability of a closer, do you think we could've gotten him for a backup PF? Is there anything that I am saying that you actually disagree with? Or do you think Martin is LESS than a role player?
I love K-Mart, he is an elite shooter and probably the best player on o.r team but I don't pretend that he is clutch or a superstar.... AB was clutch tonight, sure he was terrible early but he was hitting shot after shot while Martin was spectating, one open 3 doesn't make him clutch, he just did what he does best...hit the open shots.
He is better than I thought. Certainly on the same level as Joe Johnson at least if not better. A superstar? Maybe he is if he has that Superstar next to him who they both feed off each other and take each other to the playoffs more often?
He isn't a superstar, but he has hit some big shots for us this year. The problem with Rockets fans in general is they sway wildly with their critiques of Rockets players....Brooks is terrible and has zero court vision, Kevin Martin is unclutch and it a role player, Lowry is the next Steve Nash, etc etc. All I ask is for some objectivity.
You put the real Yao Ming next to him or real Tmac or we had gotten Amare Stoudemire? He might be in the allstar game discussion right now. Its all perspective on who he plays with. Right now he playing better with us than Sacramento because he has better teammates and a better coach.
*Waits for the next time this thread is bumped after Martin scores 6 points in the second half and gets labeled a clutch superstar and credited for the win while guys like Hill and AB gets ignored*
You want objectivity? K-Mart is an elite scorer and shooter K-Mart has a great 1st step K-Mart is great at flopping and drawing fouls K-Mart is a poor 1 on 1 defender K-Mart spectates during crunch time (eg. camping the 3 point line and waiting for the open shot instead of getting the ball and trying to create) K-Mart hesitates late game K-Mart has never led a team to the playoffs Thread title: Superstar Kevin Martin? /facepalm
I am talking about the guy who keeps bumping the thread and goes something along the lines of "Superstar Martin!" when Hill single-handedly shutdown Cousins and won us the game late and goes "Clutch!!!" when AB scored what 13 points in the final quarter while Martin was spectating. And yes, Bud needs to find his stroke in the D-League.
Jordan Hill wasnt getting minutes and we were losing of course. He got more playing time like he should have at the begining of the season and we start to win. Been pushing for his playing time and people pushed against it. Kevin Martin is a good player who could be lethal with a Superstar next to him.
