Martin was brought in to be an efficient scorer, draw fouls and to complement Yao's low post game. Martin's lack of perimeter defense was a known, but at the time of the trade the Rockets had other perimeter defense options and the promise of enterior defense to cover for Martin's lack of perimeter defense. Fast forward to now... Yao's gone, along with his low post offense and his defensive presence. And who provides the perimeter defense (Battier? Lee?)? Yet, Martin contributes exactly what he was brought in to contribute (efficient scoring, gets to the line). The question for those unhappy with Martin... who would you replace him with? Iggy? Perhaps. And perhaps having more of an attacking offense and less jump shooting may be a positive. But there were many who thought Lee was a possible alternative to Martin... how is that working out?
I think the injuries have been the main reason for the struggles. Losing Kyle down the stretch last season, Martin still getting over injuries when he was traded here, and then Yao/Brooks this season. My thinking on Martin was he was brought in for his offense. Never once has he been touted as a good defender. He is known for his efficiency on the offensive end and because of his ability to draw fouls, it was going to be a good compliment for Yao. Losing Yao/Deke has been the biggest struggle on the defensive end since the playoffs two seasons ago. Hayes is good one on one but struggles on help defense and weak side rebounding. The taller guys just use their length to get the loose balls over his head. Yao/Deke gave the D a better chance in getting those missed shots and being a better help defender. Another reason for the Defensive decline has been Battier. He's not the same defender that he was two years ago. And Budinger has gotten better on the defensive end too but he's no where near what Ariza and Artest brought to the SF position either.
U must do defense althouth u can score; Defense is everyone's job. Maybe U couldn't be a denfensive specialist, but u must do ur denfense job
OK, I am fully on board with that idea. Would have gone that route instead of the pointless flirtation with Bosh or the to-date minimal return we got with Lee (admittedly too early to be that down on Lee). Iggy as a Ariza and Battier replacement would complement Martin. And if we could have gotten Iggy and Damelbert in one fell swoop?
I'm okay with what we have in Kevin Martin. He has his downsides but his upsides of being able to draw fouls and possibly change player rotations early in the game can have a great effect on the strategy of the game. He is not a great defender but I like what Addelman did last night and brought Courtney Lee in for extended minutes. Lee held Ellis in check to keep the Warriors from challenging in the fourth. Kevin Martin is a situational player. If he can do his thing in the first and the third quarters and get players in foul trouble, score his 25 points on 9 shots then we can have Courtney Lee in when we have the lead going into the fourth. I think Adelman finally has his rotations figured out. If you were expecting him to be a player that carries the offense like a Tmac I think you had the wrong expectations of how Kevin Martin helps this team win.
He should play the passing lanes more; even bad defenders can do that. He's below his career average.
Martian is da best scorer in tha league. Most scorers only help one team score, Martian helps both teams score lots of buckets.
I don't think Martin once to be here. He's a "Whatever" type of man. All you do is look at that house that he got foreclosed. Perfect home in a good part of California and for the price you can't beat it in this type of economy. Martin is worst than TMac IMO....
Everybody agrees that Kevin Martin would a great role player in team with a superstart but right now he is the best player we have.. We should keep giving him the ball every chance we get.. Does Chris Bosh play defense? Does Carmello Anthony play defense? Stoudemire? I agree that his flow is his defense but give the guy a break. He is the only rocket consitently scoring besides the BEAST Scola..
The 'sturdy defense' part was not meant to be attributed to Carmelo really. Its supposed to mean a player performing well on the court doing what he needs to do DESPITE having image problems. Its a followup teasing to DaDakota comments from before the season, him saying Carmelo's immaturity is too risky to take a chance on. That not only would we be paying forth MAX dollars handcuffing ourselves to someone who's overrated as a franchise player, he's unfit as a leader because of his knuckleheadedness. It was right after the Carmelo Twitter scandal where he offered a bounty to pay someone to hit Kat Stacks lol. So understandably Carmelo was being slaughtered. I said players still don't care THAT much about that or the "Stop Snitchin" type stuff, that its a distraction but not "poison". He VEHEMENTLY disagreed with that. I'm just saying the dream vision of a team full of intelligent, scrappy hard working model citizens who's lives and attitudes reflect their discipline style is certainly nice. But at least CONSIDER signing a contract with the more talented devil who's proven more than the good guys you WANT to root for.
It's hilariously ironic that the same people who want Bosh and Anthony are talking about Martin's lack of defense. Hilarious.
