Oh, I agree 100%. But are you saying we played well DESPITE Martin's increased PT? To me, it showed that the team can still excel with Martin playing big minutes, without the "adverse results".
He played 35 minutes after the break, and that's when we had the run Might want to check the facts first...
Which two way players can you get that's better than Kevin Martin? Getting two way players for the sake of them being two way is just stupid.
Iggy! I think 32.5 minutes is fine considering our deep bench. When we have Courtney Lee backing him up, it's not a big deal. Though I think his minutes will go up now that AB is gone and we'll see less of the 2 PG combo.
Kevin Martin is not an elite offensive player, he's an elite scorer. There is a difference. I don't think Adelman would have kept an elite offensive player off the court in favor of a player that was struggling. I think we all know Martin's a poor defender, that's obvious but Adelman benched him at times because when defenses tighten up on him and the refs stop calling touch fouls he can't make plays. That's not necessarily saying he isn't clutch, it's the nature of his style of play. When he was being defended similar to the first 3 quarters in the 4th, he did well. If he has space, he can shoot. If he has a lane, he can drive. He just isn't a good enough ball handler to be creative in traffic or find teammates while slashing to the basket. I think Adelman favored Brooks, even though he was also a poor defender and struggling with scoring, because he had the ability to make plays in those situations. This is usually the case with lazy defenders but Martin is unique in that he puts forth mediocre effort in defending quick athletes AND is too weak to defend bigger wings. So, if the coach takes him off the SG because he keeps losing him, he has a set of different problems defending the bigger/stronger SF.
I don't think the Rockets have the "assets" to trade for a top ten player, and there is no practical way to acquire that type of player other than to rebuild through the draft. We aren't LA, Miami, or NY, no superstar is going to be eager to come here even if their team is willing to trade him to us.
Sometimes you get players of need at other areas and clear the way for 2 way players already on your roster like Courtney Lee. DD
I didn't mean for this to turn into my old Martin thread... durvasa: You don't think Lowry/Shane was a good defensive pairing with Martin? Or after the trades we saw a lot of Lowry/Martin/Lee. With Lowry as the starting PG, the Rockets had defensive possibilities to limit Martin's weakness, but he still wasn't getting near the minutes he should IMO. If the Rockets are trying to get an all-star, playing someone of Martin's caliber all-star minutes would sure help. CXbby -- his minutes did spike after the deadline deals, though arguably I'd like to see him push closer to 38-40 minutes a night than the 35 he had. Of course, the Rockets could just feel that his body can't take that many minutes a night and decided to limit him. Or, Adelman was really struggling with the "good problem to have" depth issue we had. Lee and Budinger are good backups, but that doesn't mean you should cut into better players minutes (Martin) to find room for them, IMO.
IMO the bottom line on Rocket's defensive is the simple fact that if we draft, trade for, develop, or sign a large defensive oriented center everyone's defense will improve. Scola's defense will improve (remember when Yao was healthy and we made it into the second round). Bud's defense will improve. And KM's defense will improve.
What? He plays in the finals few minutes of every close game. His lost minutes are not coming at the end of games.
I thought it was a few if that much but most of the time he was out there. I guess it just seems like a lot because he was leading the team in scoring.
Wow so basically there are actually people delusional enough on this board to think that we are better off with Lee than Kevin Martin. Since Lee is such a "lockdown" defender it makes up for the offensive production of probably the most efficient player in the league in terms of scoring. Only on Clutchfans would people argue that your best player on your non-superstar team should get less minutes because he isn't an all-around star. Since you know there are all of 5 players that provide that in the league.
So for the people that said trade him because we need 2 way players , do you want Houston to trade Scola Budinger Thabeet
