I was hoping Yao might come back last year, and was looking for one last run. This year, I think you have to take a much longer view, and by the team the Rox will be contending, Kevin will be well past his prime. Also, I think Courtney Lee is a much better defender, and while you lose the caginess of Kmart on drawing fouls, you gain in athleticism and defense, and selflessness. And this team needs to take some shots on getting a star player, the number 2 pick is a good shot, IMO. Sort of like how the Sonics traded Ray Allen for a high pick...same thing here. DD
Much as I laud Kevin for his level of play last year with us, we need to get that superstar or failing that, that high-potential rookie that can get us further than where we are now. This just goes to show how difficult it is to make player decisions in the NBA. We're taking a risk with letting Martin go, but it might be worth it.
who gave kmart the ability to lock down players when asked? ability to create his own shot off the dribble? ability to command a double-team presence?
trade martin now! we need a potential star player to embrace this team, even if we suck next year who cares it might be a short season anyway and we put ourselves in a good position to draft a great player next years draft.
I don't know what the rockets can get as a sell high on martin. People around the league know what he is and thats partly the reason he was traded for Landry. I don't think this is sell high, but I'd rather have a a guy like granger than martin. Its probably a lateral move, but with the emergence of George, the pacers might see martin for granger as a equal and fair trade. Martin is more effecient of a scorer, but Granger is better at everything else. If the playoffs have shown anything its that guys have to be able to defend their position without help. Granger can, martin cant at all.
I think you are exaggerating. Martin can stay in front of his man. I mean what is good man defense? Stay in front of your man and contest every shot. Sometimes Martin gambles for the steal and it pays off. It's everything else like taking charges, blocking shots, d. rebounds (he is usually running to the other side), and hustle plays in general. Martin's job isn't to do any of these things. It's to light up his man on offense, and guard him on the other side.
Martin doesnt do any of the things you described. He get posted up, stciks to screens and cant spell rebound because he's busy leaking out trying to get easy baskets. Combine that with lowry the starter being an average defender who sticks to screens and gets blown by and now you have a very subpar backcourt. To be even remotely decent on defense, the rockets need players who can at least gaurd their man. The rockets starteers have 1.5 players who cazn do that and thats hayes and lkowry as a half. The others cant and thats why they're a piss poor defense. Granger can replace martin offensiveloy and is a better defender. Lee is a better defender at the 2 and has starting experience. Granger for Martin makes sense for both teams .
I guess I would trade Martin for Granger, since Granger is the better player, but honestly I do not see the trade helping us too much. I would rather see us trade Martin for Paul George (rebuild!) or find a way to get Granger without trading Martin. Pacers seem to be looking for a PF since Hansbrough is more suited as an energy guy off of the bench. If Morey can find a way to trade for Granger based on package of Scola and picks, that would be a great, great move. I just do not really see the Martin for high pick situation happening based on the options I see. Timberwolves do not really like Darko as much as people here are saying; Kahn recently backtracked from those statements and said he wasn't sure Darko was their franchise center anymore. I think an offer from Suns of Gortat + Dudley/Childress is better than just Kevin Martin because they get much better defensively which is what they desperately need. That is just one example I see.
I agree to a vertain point in regards to rebuilding, but I think the rockets need to be in position to make a push for Willams and Howard. How do they do this? They have to get in the money game and maintain some talent. The trade after the granger trade i keep throwing out is the scola-maggette-kaman 3 way trade. Scola and miller to the Bucks,kaman to the rockets,maggette to the clippers. This trade really helps all 3 teams imo. The bucks get a productive post player and a backup center in Scola and Miller. The clipps get a backup 2/3 who can score off the bench in maggette. The rockets get a quality center who also expires after the season. Kaman is a good center when healthy. Lowry,Lee,Granger,Patterson,and Kaman as a starting 5 is a 50 win team and in the playoffs, but the beauty of the team is after the season they will have about 30m in cap room. They coulkd bring in both williams and howard and give them the chance to play together with granger also young enough to be in the mix with them. They could then trade lowry for value and dragic could be williams backup.
Martin for Granger is, as you mentioned already, a lateral move. The team needs to draft a perimeter defensive player. It would help to surround players like Martin with defensive players. Not come up with some unnecessary trade scenario that you only brought up because you like Granger as a player. Better yet, go and get T-Will off his twitter and have him defend the perimeter like he can. Rockets already have players in place. Just add 2 or 3 more decent role players and we are set.
It could be called a lateral move,but it makes the team better. Just for the record, the rockets are further away than a couple of role players.
Before i continue, good morning. Now, if you were watching the games they played this season, you would have noticed that the team was not as bad as everyone here made them out to be. We won a lot of good games against current and past playoff teams. I can count on 2 hands the amount of games that we were blown out this entire season. A couple of stops here, a couple of rebounds there and we would still be in the playoffs considering what we accomplished against teams like Boston( won both, blew out once ) and Memphis( won 3 out of 4 ). Not one superstar on the team. Add a defensive coach, a 5 with size/rebounding ability and another perimeter defensive 3. That's it. Although, i feel that Morey will shake things up anyway, i'm just saying he doesn't really have to.
The only reason I would trade Martin is to get younger since we're going in a new direction anyways. But wow Kmart is really underappreciated. The guy was an efficient scorer that played within the system and averaged less minutes than "superstars". By the way, some of the superstars that the board is in love with rarely play D,like Amare. I've noticed that a lot of us, me included,are disgusted with how the fuhrer was purged, but we still can't forget that the people evaluating player talent really do know what they're doing. They would make the right pick at no.2.
Let's not trade our best scorer/best shooter that's only 2nd to Kobe in points per minute and happens to be one of the most efficient, top foul drawing guard today in the NBA...
Ironic post considering your signature. T-Will won't see any playing time with both K-Mart and CLee here. Trade Scola for sure, trade Martin if the price is right. Get a defensive, board grabbing big and another solid all-around wing, start Lee and Patterson, and then let the team grow together under Casey/Frank for the next 3-4 years and see what happens.
Yes, personally I would trade Martin for Granger too. Granger is a good two-way player, however why will the pacers do that? If they trade Granger away they lose a good player and Martin doesn't really fit their rebuilding plans. Martin and Granger are two different animals, Martin is a specialist kinda' like Durant while Granger is more of an all around player like LBJ or Iggy. I don't see a problem with having the two of them play next to each other.
How is that ironic? They could just start Williams over Budinger since we're "rebuilding" anyway... I rather this team keep Kmart who's one of the best at what he does... I don't mind as much if the team traded Scola but him AND Martin! The team should just trade away their whole offense.
I was going to argue with you and talk about how stagnant most NBA offenses are (based on iso ball), but Martin's stats were just fine without Adelman in Sacramento, especially the 2007-09 period. I thought his PER would be best under Adelman, but that's not the case. So you may have a point.
