I'm not a fan of Kenyon Martin's. He's severely overpaid and overrated. That said... He's better than anything we have now at PF and the Nuggets don't want him. I think the Rockets should take a look. KMart has his warts. Questionable attitude, underdeveloped offensive game, a tendency to be sidelined by nagging injuries. However, it wasn't that long ago that lot of us would have loved to have him on this team. Martin's a good defender at his position (albeit overrated), he's similar to Stromile offensively (except with infinitely greater intensity), and he's a decent rebounder (though his rebounding has terrible last year). He also brings a certain level of nastiness that this team has been lacking. Look, I know his contract is ridiculous. I know this. But it's also a reality that this team is probably never going to have any cap space in the next 5 years. If Les is willing to pay the luxury tax (and he may not be), adding Martin might be a good move. If they trade Miller, the Nuggets will need a PG. Rafer might make sense. Apparently Juwan built up some good will with the organization when he played there in 02-03. And at the least, Sura's contract is 3 years shorter than Martin's. So let's assume that the Nuggets would trade Martin for Rafer, Juwan, and Sura (maybe some picks would get included too). That would leave our 15-man roster looking like this: Luther Head / Washington or JL3 Tracy McGrady Shane Battier / Ryan Bowen / Steve Novak Kenyon Martin / Chuck Hayes / Maciej Lampe Yao Ming / Dikembe Mutombo Sign Mike James to the MLE. Send the $4.2M TE to NJ for Jeff McInnis, and let him fight it out with Luther for the role as 1st guard off the bench. If Cato will sign for the minimum, bring him in for insurance (I think Deke may be done). Pray that Chuck Hayes is improving as much as everyone says. Maybe bring Frahm back. That leaves us with this: Mike James / Jeff McInnis / Washington or JL3 Tracy McGrady / Luther Head / Frahm Shane Battier / Ryan Bowen / Steve Novak Kenyon Martin / Chuck Hayes / Maciej Lampe Yao Ming / Dikembe Mutombo / Kelvin Cato I think it would work. I know it would be a huge gamble, but to me, that looks like a decent lineup, albeit with a very thin bench. Maybe the Nuggets would want more for Martin. Maybe Les is unwilling to field a team with one of the league's 5 highest payrolls. But if the Nuggets ARE willing to trade Martin for our guys, and if Les IS willing to open his wallet to get him, I think it would be something worth considering. Thoughts? *braces self for the inevitable barrage of "HELL no" posts*
Well his knees are supposedly shot. Denver was talking this year like he might not even last 2 more years in the league. Considering what's happened with T-Mac, his physical would have to be extremely thorough and extensive, if he was okay........... well I don't see where the Rockets have any assets at all to get him.
Yeah, it's a valid point. According to the team training staff and Martin's agent he should be 100% by September, but you really never know. Apparently his problems last year came from him playing when he should have been resting and getting anti-inflammatory shots. If a trade goes through and he fails his physical, he can always be shipped back
When was that? Because it couldn't possibly have been after he signed that ridiculous $80 million contract. Martin is a 25% upgrade of a guy we just tossed out the door as trade fodder, his knees are shot, and it looks like he's been allergic to rebounding since he signed that fat contract. What else is there to say? Oh yeah. Hell no!
Martin doesn't seem too popular on this board and I'm sure most people here would not want him and one of the classic reasons would be the "3 max contracts"........ personally, if the Rockets could get him for Alston and Juwan, then sign James.......... I would do it, and I never really understood that 3 max contracts taboo anyway. It really makes no sense mathematically that having 3 max contracts would cause any problems, as long as the 3 guys get it done and are healthy. What's killing teams is contracts like Juwan's. If Martin was healthy and we pulled off that trade and signed james and T-mac and Yao are healthy, the Rockets might as well schedule the parade now. However I just don't see any way you get Martin for Juwan and Alston, someone would easily come up with better players and less years on contracts and beat that offer.
He's overpaid, and his knees do seem to be a big question mark. However in all seriousness IF I stress IF he's healthy, he's a hell of a lot better than you just posted. His problem is mental, but when healthy he's way better than anything the Rockets have had at PF in years.
I don't think his stock has fallen so much that they'll trade him basically straight up for Alston (Howard has negative value of course). I think we may be going into the season as is with the PF position and just hope Hayes steps up, and Battier and Novak can fill in some. If need be, make a push for someone by the deadline. Also, why in the name of Serge Zwikker do you have Lampe still on the roster?
No thanks...Kenyon Martin is Stromile Swift 2.0...I wouldn't part with Rafer Alston so fast either. He's the only pure point guard the team has. He hadnt spent enough time on the floor with McGrady last season. He'll get alot more open looks when TMac/Yao attract double teams.
See I have to disagree, Martin has a very nasty mean streak and when he's healthy he plays with a severe aggression and attitude. He's nothing at all like Swift, Swift has more talent but Martin's attitude on the court is a lot more intense. You would never see Yao getting punked by PF's again with Martin there.
WRONG His basketball IQ defensively is off the charts. His problems in the past have been from him being too intense on the court. He is the "bulldog" type that JVG would love. His drawbacks are his contract and his knee. IMO, Houston needs to make a splash after what happened in the draft. You cant pull the "win now" card unless you're actually trying to win a TITLE NOW. You dont win titles by being scared to take risks.
I agree people have been down on Martin ever since that like 3-17 game in the Finals against Duncan, then he got that big contract and then had attitude problems and knee issues. But people forget that if healthy what type of player he can be, because up until that last game against Duncan he was an absolute beast in that series. He's a PF with Sura's mean streak and nastiness, he plays as aggressive as anyone and dunks even meaner than Amare, and he does have a lot of intensity on the defensive end. I think it's all a moot argument though because: Even if he is back 100 percent even then 1. Rockets are way too cheap to pay him. 2. Rockets don't have the pieces to deal for him.
Martin is signed through 2010 @ 10 mil plus. I am no fan of players that have contracts that will last longer than they will. I would rather have Hayes starting at the 4.
Apart from salaries and knees, Kenyon Martin flourishes in an up tempo game. If you put him into a walk it up half-court Van Gundy offense, he'll give you nothing more than Stro numbers.
if Martin is healthy he will give you much much more than Swift even in a half court. It's just hating to say otherwise. He's got weaknesses and issues certainly but he's way better than Swift.
trading anyone on our roster for kenyon martin would be triple the worst thing the rockets have ever done.
By trading away Gay & Swift Rockets IMHO made a clear sign they're gonna steer clear of players with question marks around them from now on. And Kenyon Martin is definitely a guy who fits that description as well, whether it's his knee's or his attitude. Other than that, I'm with GATER regarding Martin being an uptempo player. Alston might be the PG to pair Martin with, but not in our system.
$12-16 million a year for a player with bad knees coming off of a season where he averaged 12 pts/6 boards? He's a shell of the former player he used to be while playing in a Jason Kidd driven, up-tempo offense where he could run the floor like crazy which masked his very limited offensive game. As a poster mentioned already, he would be practically useless in a slow, JVG half court offense. To add even more cause for concern, he doesn't look like half of the defender or rebounder he used to be as a Net. Besides, weren't the Nuggets like 19-6 this season without him anyways?
How about Howard for Martin straight up. Salaries match (real gm) and the stats are eeriely similar. Denver does it to get two years less of a bad contract. Rockets are screwed if the knee does not hold up.
