Kevin Martin's Defense

[Kingster]

I'd like to hear what others have to say on this subject. These are my observations.

1) He has the ability to stay in front of probably 50-60% of the point guards in this league, which says a lot about his quickness.

2) I haven't seen a guard take this many charges in a year other than for quite a while.

3) I don't think his defense has been as good at the end of the season as at the beginning. There have been fewer charges, for example, at the end of the season than at the beginning.

4) His defense definitely seems to suffer when his offense is down. You can tell from his facial expressions that he is much more wrapped up in the offensive end than the defensive end.

5) If he's playing the ball, and he gets beat, he never follows the guy to the basket who just beat him. He gives up on the play. (The opposite is Artest: he never gives up on the guy who just beat him; Price will also not give up on the play). With his speed, if he put his mind to it, I think he could catch up to just about any player in the league who beats him.

6) I've seen him repeatedly run at the offensive player with his arms down, not with a hand up in the guy's face. It reminds me of a kid playing around, doing the exact opposite of what he should be doing. He doesn't look to me that he's taking defense seriously when he does that.

7) Help defense. Frankly, I haven't paid enough attention to this area of his game as his on-the-ball defense, but my impression is that it hasn't been that great. I don't remember him coming from the weak side to take a charge or get a block very often.

To sum it up, he's ok defensively now, but he has the potential to be much, much better if he puts his mind to it.

 

[Gary]

I don't think he will ever be called a "bad defender" but his defense isn't that good either... He does have the potential though. Out of college people praised his defense and quickness calling him the best SG in the draft.

Give him a couple years to become the complete package. His PPG will probally go down a bit as I don't see him being a primary scorer, but his defense will get better. He is a piece to the puzzle of winning a championship.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I agree with most of your points entirely and will just ad this. I think as Kevin Martin grows more into his now very slender body (assuming he will) his defensive ability which is more than adequate will likely improve. His remarkable quickness and the fact he's known for loving to prove all doubters wrong will always be there. Now if we could just get Francisco Garcia more of his offensive skill set plus transfer a bit of Garcia's defensive havoc intensity to #23 - that's a Kings tandem worth watching for years to come. BTW, I'm not big on NBA nick-names but "K-Mart" seems rather boring since there's already one on Denver's roster. Let them have their "blue light special" cuz we don't need a "purple light special" in Sactown - considering our Martin is certainly better compared as a retail product to classy Nordstrom's that that silly cheap discounter he's tagged with

 

[venom_7]

I call him K-Money or K$

 

[Kingzrool]

I call him K-Money or K$

I do not think that he likes that one, it is too pimpin' for Kev. I imagine a big 'ol gold medallion: "K$".

He has been Kev for a long time, IMO that suits him best. Agreed that KMart is a whack nickname.

 

[Kingster]

I agree with most of your points entirely and will just ad this. I think as Kevin Martin grows more into his now very slender body (assuming he will) his defensive ability which is more than adequate will likely improve. His remarkable quickness and the fact he's known for loving to prove all doubters wrong will always be there. Now if we could just get Francisco Garcia more of his offensive skill set plus transfer a bit of Garcia's defensive havoc intensity to #23 - that's a Kings tandem worth watching for years to come. BTW, I'm not big on NBA nick-names but "K-Mart" seems rather boring since there's already one on Denver's roster. Let them have their "blue light special" cuz we don't need a "purple light special" in Sactown - considering our Martin is certainly better compared as a retail product to classy Nordstrom's that that silly cheap discounter he's tagged with

Maybe it's unrealistic, but the backcourt I'd really like to see is Garcia playing the point and Kevin the SG on offense, with the roles reversed on defense. If Garcia can just continue to get better with his offensive decisions, maybe it could happen.