The Hammer
All-Star
Insider is free for now. Here's some nice stuff on Martin and Salmons.
the link
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...olumnist=hollinger_john&page=Surprises-071113
Early-season play features many surprises
By John Hollinger
ESPN Insider
(Archive)
Updated: November 13, 2007
People ask me the same questions every year at this time: What's surprised you? What's happened so far that you didn't expect?
This can be a harder question than it seems. Over any six- or seven-game period, almost every player and team in the league will perform at least slightly better or slightly worse than expected, just due to normal random variation.
That said, some early trends are worth noting. Inevitably, some players and teams have done so much better or worse than we expected that it has raised a number of eyebrows around the league. Today I want to take a closer look at those players and teams and see what they're doing differently.
Let's begin with the usual disclaimer: It's early. Real early. We're only two weeks into the season, and there is still a lot of basketball left to be played. So the teams and players below aren't necessarily destined to continue down this path.
But we've had enough games that these players and teams bear watching over the coming weeks and months. Either they'll continue surprising/disappointing us, or they'll revert back to their usual production and we'll forget this two-week blip ever happened.
We'll start with the good news before we move to the bad:
SURPRISES
Kevin Martin, Kings
Here's why Sacramento's five-year, $55 million extension for Martin made sense: He keeps improving. Few players have been as diligent about constantly upgrading their arsenal, and the result is that Martin has gone from being an end-of-the-bench scrub as a rookie to one of the league's most dangerous scorers three years later.
Martin is third in the league in scoring right now, right behind Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady even though he only averages 16.4 field goal attempts per game, well below Bryant's 21.0 and McGrady's 21.9. The key is efficiency: Martin's true shooting percentage is 62.0, which if he keeps it up would mark the third straight year he finished with a TS% above 60 -- a flabbergasting feat for a guy who scores in the high 20s, especially one on a team as devoid of help as his Kings are. He's become both a deadly outside shooter and a free-throw magnet, and unlike a lot of big-time scorers, he never takes a bad shot.
John Salmons, Kings
He's playing in anonymity in Sacramento, but fantasy owners are building statues of this guy because of how well he's played while Ron Artest and Mike Bibby are out. He's also making an early bid for the Most Improved trophy. In five NBA seasons he never averaged more than 8.5 points per game, but so far he's pumping in 20.7 a contest , thanks in part to a massive increase in free-throw attempts.
He may see his minutes and shots decline precipitously once Sacramento's other two stars return, but in the early going he's been a revelation who has helped take some of the heat off Martin.
ETC., ETC., ETC......
the link
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...olumnist=hollinger_john&page=Surprises-071113
Early-season play features many surprises
By John Hollinger
ESPN Insider
(Archive)
Updated: November 13, 2007
People ask me the same questions every year at this time: What's surprised you? What's happened so far that you didn't expect?
This can be a harder question than it seems. Over any six- or seven-game period, almost every player and team in the league will perform at least slightly better or slightly worse than expected, just due to normal random variation.
That said, some early trends are worth noting. Inevitably, some players and teams have done so much better or worse than we expected that it has raised a number of eyebrows around the league. Today I want to take a closer look at those players and teams and see what they're doing differently.
Let's begin with the usual disclaimer: It's early. Real early. We're only two weeks into the season, and there is still a lot of basketball left to be played. So the teams and players below aren't necessarily destined to continue down this path.
But we've had enough games that these players and teams bear watching over the coming weeks and months. Either they'll continue surprising/disappointing us, or they'll revert back to their usual production and we'll forget this two-week blip ever happened.
We'll start with the good news before we move to the bad:
SURPRISES
Kevin Martin, Kings
Here's why Sacramento's five-year, $55 million extension for Martin made sense: He keeps improving. Few players have been as diligent about constantly upgrading their arsenal, and the result is that Martin has gone from being an end-of-the-bench scrub as a rookie to one of the league's most dangerous scorers three years later.
Martin is third in the league in scoring right now, right behind Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady even though he only averages 16.4 field goal attempts per game, well below Bryant's 21.0 and McGrady's 21.9. The key is efficiency: Martin's true shooting percentage is 62.0, which if he keeps it up would mark the third straight year he finished with a TS% above 60 -- a flabbergasting feat for a guy who scores in the high 20s, especially one on a team as devoid of help as his Kings are. He's become both a deadly outside shooter and a free-throw magnet, and unlike a lot of big-time scorers, he never takes a bad shot.
John Salmons, Kings
He's playing in anonymity in Sacramento, but fantasy owners are building statues of this guy because of how well he's played while Ron Artest and Mike Bibby are out. He's also making an early bid for the Most Improved trophy. In five NBA seasons he never averaged more than 8.5 points per game, but so far he's pumping in 20.7 a contest , thanks in part to a massive increase in free-throw attempts.
He may see his minutes and shots decline precipitously once Sacramento's other two stars return, but in the early going he's been a revelation who has helped take some of the heat off Martin.
ETC., ETC., ETC......
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