Actually? I'm not at all convinced at this point in time that trading Martin is even worth discussing. Sorry to burst your bubble and all that but I think there's a definite place for him on this team and I think it will work out quite nicely.
it
may work out quite nicely, but that doesn't mean its not worth discussing...
i think the kings' brass is really fond of the idea of starting both evans and martin, but reality gets in the way of desire often in the nba. i'm certainly not ready to write the combo off, because they've only played a few games together. but i'm also not convinced that martin can play effectively alongside tyreke, given their seemingly incongruent styles. and if it comes down to choosing between one or the other, i know that i'm going to land on the side of evans. 'reke's a better rebounder and a better passer, and he appears to exhibit more effort on the defensive side of the ball. more importantly, he's already displayed more
effectiveness on that side of the ball than i can remember seeing from kevin martin in a long time...
kevin's attractiveness as a player has always been in his offensive efficiency, but his shooting hasn't been terribly efficient since '07. in fact, its been in steady decline since '06, when he shot 48% from the field. he's still beastly in his ability to get to the line, and he can frustrate any back court defense in the league when he's hot. he's an exceptional scorer who definitely has a place on a winning team in this league, but chemistry can be an issue for one-dimensional players who require the ball to be effective if there's another player who demands ball control on the same team...
but, again, 'reke and martin haven't played much together, so maybe it works out fine. we'll see in a couple of months. but, if the team manages to [miraculously] play .500 ball in his absence, the front office is going to have to strongly consider martin as a potentially valuable trading chip. people aren't saying much about the sacramento kings right now because, 4-game win streak or not, this was still the worst team in the league last season. any noise they make across the league in the next six or seven weeks is invariably going to bring martin's value on this new-look team into question. but maybe they go on a 2-8 stretch in their next ten games, thus reaffirming martin's value to the team. who knows? regardless, i think its definitely worth talking about...