While Martin may be a stick, Battier can cover the harder of the SG or SF position on a nightly basis and give Martin the easier matchup. Lee may start some, Martin gets injured a bit too. DD
Salary has to be brought into the argument...there's a reason why kmart makes like 11 mill a year. He's worth that much. It's not so much that we hate or dislike Lee, but that kmart is a much better fit and more important in this offense. You're arguing like Lee is this man child or something, he's not far from being a stick himself. He's a better defender, but the relationships martin has on the court with the other players is too great to pass up.
This. Considering that Kevin Martin will likely be the Rockets' leading scorer next season (as he was during his 24-game tenure with the team last season), I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Rick Adelman would prefer to have Martin (who also is notoriously good at getting other teams into foul trouble early in quarters) in the starting lineup. As DD said, Martin has his fair share of injuries; so Lee will likely get the starts in Martin's absence. Courtney's a heck of a player. But he's no Kevin Martin.
And then the next year he took a step back as a starter for the worst team in the league. I'd say it's still a question how good he really is.
If we get Melo and hold on to Martin in the process I agree with you about Courtney Lee starting. Kevin Martin would me great in the Ginobilli role off the bench. K-Mart probably would be less likely to get injured again too off the bench. Martin and Melo together starting is a bad fit. Who would guard the opposing teams best player?! That said, with our current roster Lee is better coming off the bench teaming w/ Chase and Martin and Battier work better together in the starting lineup.
Why? Martin is one step below an All Star. lee is one step above a role player. You wouldn't have Chuck Hayes startover Scola. If you want a more defensive minded backcourt then replace Lowry over Brooks. But Martin brings a pure shooting guard that will get wide open looks all day long with Yao on the court. Lee is a great backup. And will definitely see games where he gets starter minutes. But we need martin and Yao on the floor together.
Its like arguing starting Hill and bringing Scola off the bench because he has size to defend... You start your best players PERIOD. What a long off season.
Martin might be a stick but he is going to give you 20+ ppg on 11 shots a game and get the other team in foul trouble. Lee as a starter will only contribute 10-12 ppg on the same 11 shots.
Not unless you are talking about using him like the Spurs have in the past with Ginobili. Martin draws fouls, something Lee does not. It would be nice to get into the penalty early in quarters with what is a good free throw shooting team for the most part.
No way. Martin is one heck of an overlooked and under rated scorer in this bbs. He is a legit all star who can score almost at will. His defense was pretty good early on in his NBA career so we'll see how that goes this coming season. I have a feeling that, with Battier barking orders and organizing the defense, Martin will do very well defensively. With Lee coming off the bench, the Rockets are pretty solid in the sg position.
Both Spurs and Lakers have something else to say when they bring Manu and Odom off the bench. You start who ever make your team more balanced and better overall. I'm not saying bench Martin is the right thing to do, but it's no big deal if that's a better fit for the team.
You mean besides the fact that Martin >> Lee? Sam was only better than Kenny with the knowledge of 20/20 hindsight. Smith was more productive or at worst equal to Cassell in the previous 2 seasons, while being the veteran. But knowing Kenny's sharp decline that year, I think it's not unreasonable to suggest perhaps Cassell should have started instead. But even then, the difference between Cassell and Smith circa 95-96 is nowhere near the difference between Lee and Martin.
Haha, whats funnier is people's responses lol but martin has to start over lee, he is a better player at the moment
