Here's another statistical oddity. There was a link to this from TrueHoop. It's a discussion of scoring efficiency from a
Hornets blog. Scroll down to the "Scoring Support" section where there's a list of what they call "class A scorers" based on scoring efficiency. #3 on the list, after Dwight Howard and Shaq, is Kevin Martin.
Not anything we don't already know, but it is interesting to look at just how skewed the numbers are.
If you follow this logic, it means that we would already be well on our way to fielding a championship team if we just had one dominant post-player to pair with Kevin. Sucks we missed out on Blake Griffin then. Of course, that's to say nothing for defense.
But actually, what's more interesting to me -- and the reason I revived this topic in the first place -- is how different the perception is of Kevin Martin by fans of the Kings and fans of other NBA teams. We're the fans who get to watch Kevin the most, and so many of us are not all that impressed. He's even getting mentioned as trade-bait for expiring Cleveland contracts right now. But if you're a fan of the Hornets and you're trying to figure out how to improve your team next year, you look at the numbers and Kevin Martin's name pops out as you as the Holy Grail of perimeter scorers.
It could be that assembling a collection of scorers is not the best way to win NBA championships. And watching Kevin play every day it becomes hard to ignore that his ultra-efficient scoring often comes at the cost of laissez-faire defense. But defense isn't the whole story. The numbers say you'd rather have Martin playing alongside Shaq than Kobe Bryant, but does reality bear that out? We've never seen Kevin paired up with a dominant inside scorer, so it's just speculation right now. I don't think anyone here would pick Martin over Kobe if you needed a last second shot though. Are Kevin's scoring numbers meaningless points because they don't come at the most critical point in the game?
It also occured to me that reputations are won and lost primarily in the playoffs. Part of the reason Kobe's legend is what it is today is because he was thrust into the NBA playoff spotlight from day one. If he instead played for a nowhere franchise like the Charlotte Hornets, would he be labled as the perpetual choker that TMac has been because he couldn't carry his team to wins in the playoffs? Kobe hasn't actually proven very much since Shaq left town except that he can score a lot of points if he takes almost all of his team's shots. Watching Lebron's buzzer beating three pointer against Orlando reminded me of how Mike Bibby became a top PG in the league primarily because he turned it on in the playoffs and hit shots when they mattered. Lots of guys can score in the NBA, it's scoring in the playoffs in the fourth quarter to turn a game for your team that turns ordinary players into stars. If Kevin Martin played for the LA Lakers would he already be an All-Star?
Getting back to the defense a bit, I don't think we'd be nearly as down on Kevin as we currently are if we had an average collection of defensive players around him. Leading scorers are often allowed to save energy on the defensive end. LA played Bryant on Billups not Melo even when Melo was torching them in games 1 and 2 and Billups was mostly ineffective. Cleveland had Varejao and West guarding Hedo in the fourth quarter even though everyone knows he's the biggest scoring threat late in the game. Lebron was the only guy with the size and strength to guard Hedo properly but Mike Brown didn't ask him to do it because he had to work so hard on the offensive end. Perhaps Kevin's inattention to defense isn't as big of a liability as it appears. Perimeter scorers that efficient are much rarer a commodity than defensive role players who are only average scorers. True two-way superstars are rarer still.
