You can pull out anybody's poorer games and wonder the same thing. Kobe shot .390 against Chicago. Gee, I wonder if Kobe can do well against good defenses? OK, sure Kobe can. How do we know? Because he's succeeded many times and failed sometimes. Martin was only in one playoff series his Sophomore year and did well. But that was one series. We'll have to wait and see.
From one thread to another. If i didn't know any better, i'd think they were talking about a superstar.
I'm amazed at how many people don't think Kevin Martin is more than a role player. No...he's not Lebron, or any of the top-tier players, but dude bring serious offense, and he gets the the line and shoots a high percentage. No way I let a guy like this get away, unless it's a big-time deal.
According to prior posts KM is actually under utilized, with his TS% at ridiculous levels he should be the first, 2nd, and 3rd options before any other guys on the court. At 60+% efficiency he is literally the most efficient (i.e. best) scorer in the NBA in non-clutch situations, so as long as its not the 4rth quarter your offensive playbook should be give it Kevin Martin and get out of the way. In situations where you don't want KM to score or draw a foul he shouldn't be playing in the first place. This is kinda' like saying if Hayes isn't defending he becomes a low efficiency player. I understand players should be as complete as possible but with the way he's converting right I'd really rather KM should make passing his last option.
Quoting so you people that think stats mean something can respond. Kevin Martin is a better offensive player than Kevin Durant.
Martin may not get many assists, but I wouldn't say he's all that bad when he doesn't shoot. At the very least, Martin doesn't dribble the air out of the ball or consume too much shot clock before moving the ball on-- good skills to have in the offense that Adelman prefers to run. He also does a good job cutting and spacing the floor when he doesn't have the ball, which creates space for other people to operate/shoot. He's no Steve Nash or Tracy McGrady for sure (and it would be good to have one of these guys in an offense with Martin since they do (or did) what Martin doesn't-), but he does help the rest of the offense in his own way.
He is leading the league in FT made while shooting near 45% from 3 on over 5 attempts. All while playing barely over 30 minutes a game. While your criticism of his defense is merited, I think what you are really selling short is the effectiveness, and really uniqueness of Martin's offensive game. If it was really just cherry picking off of slack defenses, you'd think that more players would be able to pull it off. No he can't create off the dribble, which means his effectiveness goes down in the fourth. Yes, we still need a closer to win in the playoffs. But at the same time, we can still appreciate Martin's contributions. And he does contribute.
Although Martin may be the most efficient scorer in the league, he is not the answer to our 4th quarter problems, against the elite teams in the league, we need a player who is strong with the ball and can effectively create shots for himself (i have seen Martin turn the ball over alot in these situations), no knock on KMart, i love his game, hes just a volume scorer, perfect 2nd option if you will.
The term "superstar" gets thrown around far too often in sports these days. there is no way kmart should be considered a superstar. that term is reserved for guys like kobe, wade, lebron, and paul. you cant put kmart in the same class as those guys.
