Heypartner, another weekly update on Martin. :)

Here's a good indepth look at him, still waiting for Morris.

Kenyone Martin
By: John Thompson
Date: 01/07/2000

One of the strongest, most athletic, most feared, and most improved players in college basketball has to be Kenyon Martin. He and his Bearcat cohorts are vowing to make a name for themselves and doing it as well as anyone could.


Kenyon Martin
6-8, 230, Power Forward, Cincinnati, Senior
One of the most improved players in the country has to be Kenyon Martin. He was already one of the best raw-athletes in basketball, now he has become a true basketball player and is making headlines by the day. He continues to improve his fundamentals each year and still is able to put his tremendous athletic ability to good use.

As a high school player, Kenyon used his raw athleticism to get an advantage over his opponents, but as a freshman, it showed he lacked in many of the needed fundamentals of the game, especially on the offensive side. He understood the game, but the little things in basketball just had not caught up to his overly aggressive athleticism. It did not take long though for him to learn the necessary offensive concepts to play. As a sophomore, he scored in double figures often and averaged 9.9 points a game and this was while earning All-Defensive player of the year in Conference USA. He would go on to earn that title again as a junior and is likely to get it again as a senior.

In high school he averaged nearly 20 points a game, while pulling down over a dozen boards as well, but coaches around the country was thrilled about his 6.4 blocks a game and how he was able to excel in other sports as well. He was considered a top 50 player by most recruiting analysts and was recruited by nearly everyone.

As a freshman, he saw limited minutes starting only three times and appearing in only 22 games due to academic problems. He was cleared to play in January and from the minutes he did play, he showed that one day he would be an All-Conference player and many NBA scouts were already taking looks at him. He stood out when in the game, as he would jump over fellow post players for rebounds or blocking shots. He played with Danny Fortson and Ruben Patterson as a freshman, so no matter what his minutes were going to be limited.

Then when his sophomore year came around, he was looked upon as the starting center right away. He wasn't expected to score much though, but still managed to average just under 10 points a game. He became dominant defensively for the Bearcats. He recorded 83 blocks that year and averaged 8.9 rebounds a game.

As a junior, Martin, looked to score more, but with new teammate Pete Mickael, his rebounding was limited. Martin still showed the same athleticism and superior leaping ability, but just did not get touches on the offensive end much because such good scorers in Mickael and Melvin Levett surrounded him. He was looked upon more as the interior defensive stopper and did just that. Even though his statistics were not outstanding, he earned honorable mention All-America status, plus all conference awards.

This season he is back to his old self at rebounding and has improved in every aspect of his game, he is even a better defender in the post and is occasionally defending on the perimeter. His offensive game has really improved, he is scoring more with more variety, plus he is still shooting at a high percentage. He looks to even gotten stronger, while learning many of the little things needed to play the game.

Martin is almost a sure-fire lottery pick and most believe he will be the top power forward taken in the draft. With the fact that he improves in every aspect of his game each year, many teams are going to be drooling and the possible future that Martin has. Depending on how many underclassmen come out or who, he may even be the top pick as he is likely to be the first senior picked in the upcoming draft.


STRENGTHS - Tremendous leaper, great defensive player, good shot blocker, takes smart shots, above average rebounder, average shooter.

WEAKNESSES - Poor Free Throw shooter, sometimes gets in foul trouble, not a great offensive player, poor ball handler. Somewhat small to play power forward in the NBA.

KEY STATS - ('98-'99) 10.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 57.3% Field Goal, 56.2% Free Throw, 2.36 blocks, 1.12 steals,

('97-'98) 9.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 62.6% Field Goal, 47.6% Free Throw, 2.77 blocks, 1 steal,

('96-'97) 2.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1 block, 65% Field Goal, 31.3% Free Throw.

 

I would love to get Murphy but he ain't coming out this year.

Rocketspimp-I was more worried about poor free throw percentage. I don't want a shaq on the team. But at least he's constantly improving, that's good. Also I think Morris would be better selection but he also is going higher. Right now he have about a 5th pick about where Martin should go. We have to get into top 3 at least to get a shot at Morris.