Is Kiven Martin fools gold? at $11,100,005 the answer is YES.. and $12M next year then $12.9M the year after... (folks he is not going anywhere) YES!
There are several reasons actually but it seems you think it's as simple as a coach teaching or telling an NBA player to suddenly start playing defense. Looking at Ray Allen, you have Kevin Garnett helping to erase his mistakes on defense. You also have him not having to carry the offensive load once joining the Celtics, allowing him to give more effort on defense. And of course you have a scheme that emphasizes defense at the expense of easy offense. Only one of those things has to do with coaching, and it doesn't add more to the Win column, it just lowers the score.
I'm still confused as to how it took people so long to see who Martin really is. I don't believe it's causing the rest of the team to lose their defensive attitude...he is really that bad defensively. Defense is a team thing. Everyone must contribute in some way. Even McGrady would help on the boards while Battier was running all over the court to cover for him and he never had the same strength and size problems that Martin deals with. Kevin Martin's poor defense causes everyone to scramble when he gets burnt and there's no remedy for that. He puts a strain on the team's defensive integrity but no one else is trying any less. The bigger issue is how overvalued his offense is...or a pure scorer in general. His great personal scoring efficiency, as amazing as it is, isn't nearly as valuable as a good balance of playmaking, rebounding, and average scoring. I'm not too worried. Morey mentioned last season that the defensive will improve and that "it’s either going to be with this group or some other group because we’re not going to accept not being a top-10 defensive team."
their defense isn't all that terrible, thew job is to filter them where you want them to go, the problem is our front court is absolutely terrible, Hill is the only one whose any good at help defense, and he's a 4 being shoved in at the 5.
With Brooks out, Martin's the only guard or small forward who's been a consistent scoring threat from the outside. He needs a little help. Right now, I'm more worried that Budinger might be fool's gold. I hope his slump's the result of his injuries.
I was addressing those who keep pointing out Martin disappearing in the 4th and those that complain he's not our go to guy. His defensive liabilities are well documented and agreed upon. But, has anyone noticed that his shooting % is up from 41.7% last year to 46.2% this year? His pts/g is up nearly 3 pts (20.6-23.4). Up 6% on 3's (33.3%-39.1%)?
True, and I am worried about CBud too....but he did it all of last year, so he has a good history. Martin however has stunk on defense for years..... I am simply asking the question is the guy overated, and maybe not as good as his numbers show him to be? DD
Many of Martins liabilities DONT show up as numbers. So its entirely possible he IS as good as his numbers
Got to love it when banned posters sign up for new accounts, and chase folks around without actually participating in the thread. Mayhaps that is why they were banned in the first place? DD
