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Fine time for Martin to rise and shine
The guard's game came together when the team needed it most - after losing starter Bonzi Wells to an injury in December
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, March 3, 2006
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C1
CLEVELAND - It's 90 minutes before tipoff, meaning Pete Carril can only be in one place.
Kings bench, seated somewhere in the middle. It's "Coachie," as they call him, looking cushy.
Long before the game starts, the teacher sits and watches the student. With his eyes fixed on Kevin Martin, Carril sits in silence. You can almost hear the mind of a hoops legend grinding away inside. Carril picks his times to talk, calling Martin over to put a gentle arm on his shoulder and give the latest nugget of wisdom.
The routine has been the same since Martin arrived last season. The player, however, has changed.
From his courtside seat, Carril has seen every step of Martin's progression, this lanky and little-used rookie transforming into one of the league's top second-year players after stepping into the injured Bonzi Wells' starting position.
Carril has also seen the continued reformation of one of the strangest shooting strokes in the game, one that inspired so many coaches and scouts to deem Martin a bust before he even made it to Year 2. Perhaps most important of all, he has seen Martin's confidence grow.
"It all started two years ago when I coached the summer league," Carril said. "I could see so much quickness there, so much speed. The thing that was missing was, 'When to cut, where to cut, when to get in the way.' Now he's getting better at every one of them, and his confidence in his shot is growing. It's just a matter of time."
There has been chatter that this may be the last season for the 75-year-old coach, ending a 10-year stint with the Kings and a basketball existence that spans more than half a century for the legend from Princeton. And should that be the case, his impact on Martin could go down as his final assist to the game.
No question Martin's evolution has been a team effort, with Carril - nor anyone else - able or willing to take full credit.
First and foremost, though, there is Martin, who had to pull a U-turn of his own work ethic and mental approach before his statistics finally followed suit.
The entire Kings coaching staff has each poured hours upon hours into the player they drafted No. 26 overall in 2004.
Martin credits coach Rick Adelman for always making time to instruct him even when he was a non-factor come game time, and Martin only recently learned that assistant Elston Turner - who coached the most recent summer league team - sacrificed a week of vacation to work with the 23-year-old.
But last season, when Martin wasn't getting time in the games or during practice, it was Carril at his side.
Not until March of last season were the Kings healthy enough to fully include Martin in practices. As a result, he spent many days on the outside, working one on one with Carril or a teammate, rarely getting a chance for a full-speed NBA run.
"He's actually a rookie when you consider (that) fact," Carril said.
Martin's true rookie season ended on a bitter note, when he was left off the playoff roster when the Kings faced Seattle in the first round.
"I was down last year, especially toward the end," he said. "It was the end of the first year, like a month before the season's over, and I'm like, 'Dang, I haven't done (anything).' I went from being a star at Western (Carolina) and in high school, and that was the first time going through that."
Effective at times but always inconsistent in the first month-and-a-half of this season, Martin is now emblematic of the state of the Kings' franchise. Even in spite of the playoff push, the present is all about the future, the questions of how good they - and he - can be tied together by the same cause. When Wells tore his groin Dec. 19, an injury that he since re-injured and has forced him out of 30 games, Martin had to prove to himself and the Kings' fan-base that he could fill the role.
And while he admits the breakout has even surprised him, there is no time to enjoy the new reality. The Kings continue to trail in the playoff race, and the ankle injury suffered by Francisco García on Wednesday makes Martin more valuable.
In trying to explain his growth, Martin pointed to increased minutes as the biggest factor. It's an age-old concept, and a simple one. Knowing he can expect playing time every night means he can stop looking over his shoulder or waiting to be pulled after making mistakes.
Subsequently, the questions around have changed entirely. Most pressing is the one about how to use him when Wells returns. Wells was having a career year before going down, but Adelman said the same can't be expected when he's back.
"You've got to find out what kind of condition (Wells) is in," Adelman said. "He's missed a ton of games, and I don't know what kind of shape he's going to be in, or how much he can do, how long he can play.
"I think you have to look at what's best for the team, and where Bonzi can help us. If we start Bonzi, then Kevin's going to have to get out on the court. There's no doubt about that. But as far as who's going to start, I don't know what's best for the team right now. Those types of situations are never going to be easy."
Further down the line is the question of Wells' free agency. He has stated his desire to return, and Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie declined to discuss how Martin's play might affect the team's interest.
"You can call me in July about that," Petrie said.
To date, Petrie is calling Martin's growth a success story.
"I'm really, really proud of him," Petrie said. "It's gratifying because part of the (reason) you draft guys is because you believe in them, and you believe they're going to develop into good players. So you have to have faith. And then you just hope that they have as much faith in themselves as you do in them."
Carril has no lack of faith. And even if the future doesn't include him, he's already thinking of Martin's next step.
"I worry about (whether) he sees where he's going (on the court)," said Carril. "The upper level of players are all guys who see beyond what the ordinary guy sees. ... It's an extra dribble here, an extra dribble there, another step here, a certain kind of a pass. You see a guy that's open, and you see what he's going to do with it when he catches it; you see the defense that's guarding him. All that kind of a stuff is all part of the greatness of a player. And if he ever gets that, forget it."
Link
The guard's game came together when the team needed it most - after losing starter Bonzi Wells to an injury in December
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, March 3, 2006
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C1
CLEVELAND - It's 90 minutes before tipoff, meaning Pete Carril can only be in one place.
Kings bench, seated somewhere in the middle. It's "Coachie," as they call him, looking cushy.
Long before the game starts, the teacher sits and watches the student. With his eyes fixed on Kevin Martin, Carril sits in silence. You can almost hear the mind of a hoops legend grinding away inside. Carril picks his times to talk, calling Martin over to put a gentle arm on his shoulder and give the latest nugget of wisdom.
The routine has been the same since Martin arrived last season. The player, however, has changed.
From his courtside seat, Carril has seen every step of Martin's progression, this lanky and little-used rookie transforming into one of the league's top second-year players after stepping into the injured Bonzi Wells' starting position.
Carril has also seen the continued reformation of one of the strangest shooting strokes in the game, one that inspired so many coaches and scouts to deem Martin a bust before he even made it to Year 2. Perhaps most important of all, he has seen Martin's confidence grow.
"It all started two years ago when I coached the summer league," Carril said. "I could see so much quickness there, so much speed. The thing that was missing was, 'When to cut, where to cut, when to get in the way.' Now he's getting better at every one of them, and his confidence in his shot is growing. It's just a matter of time."
There has been chatter that this may be the last season for the 75-year-old coach, ending a 10-year stint with the Kings and a basketball existence that spans more than half a century for the legend from Princeton. And should that be the case, his impact on Martin could go down as his final assist to the game.
No question Martin's evolution has been a team effort, with Carril - nor anyone else - able or willing to take full credit.
First and foremost, though, there is Martin, who had to pull a U-turn of his own work ethic and mental approach before his statistics finally followed suit.
The entire Kings coaching staff has each poured hours upon hours into the player they drafted No. 26 overall in 2004.
Martin credits coach Rick Adelman for always making time to instruct him even when he was a non-factor come game time, and Martin only recently learned that assistant Elston Turner - who coached the most recent summer league team - sacrificed a week of vacation to work with the 23-year-old.
But last season, when Martin wasn't getting time in the games or during practice, it was Carril at his side.
Not until March of last season were the Kings healthy enough to fully include Martin in practices. As a result, he spent many days on the outside, working one on one with Carril or a teammate, rarely getting a chance for a full-speed NBA run.
"He's actually a rookie when you consider (that) fact," Carril said.
Martin's true rookie season ended on a bitter note, when he was left off the playoff roster when the Kings faced Seattle in the first round.
"I was down last year, especially toward the end," he said. "It was the end of the first year, like a month before the season's over, and I'm like, 'Dang, I haven't done (anything).' I went from being a star at Western (Carolina) and in high school, and that was the first time going through that."
Effective at times but always inconsistent in the first month-and-a-half of this season, Martin is now emblematic of the state of the Kings' franchise. Even in spite of the playoff push, the present is all about the future, the questions of how good they - and he - can be tied together by the same cause. When Wells tore his groin Dec. 19, an injury that he since re-injured and has forced him out of 30 games, Martin had to prove to himself and the Kings' fan-base that he could fill the role.
And while he admits the breakout has even surprised him, there is no time to enjoy the new reality. The Kings continue to trail in the playoff race, and the ankle injury suffered by Francisco García on Wednesday makes Martin more valuable.
In trying to explain his growth, Martin pointed to increased minutes as the biggest factor. It's an age-old concept, and a simple one. Knowing he can expect playing time every night means he can stop looking over his shoulder or waiting to be pulled after making mistakes.
Subsequently, the questions around have changed entirely. Most pressing is the one about how to use him when Wells returns. Wells was having a career year before going down, but Adelman said the same can't be expected when he's back.
"You've got to find out what kind of condition (Wells) is in," Adelman said. "He's missed a ton of games, and I don't know what kind of shape he's going to be in, or how much he can do, how long he can play.
"I think you have to look at what's best for the team, and where Bonzi can help us. If we start Bonzi, then Kevin's going to have to get out on the court. There's no doubt about that. But as far as who's going to start, I don't know what's best for the team right now. Those types of situations are never going to be easy."
Further down the line is the question of Wells' free agency. He has stated his desire to return, and Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie declined to discuss how Martin's play might affect the team's interest.
"You can call me in July about that," Petrie said.
To date, Petrie is calling Martin's growth a success story.
"I'm really, really proud of him," Petrie said. "It's gratifying because part of the (reason) you draft guys is because you believe in them, and you believe they're going to develop into good players. So you have to have faith. And then you just hope that they have as much faith in themselves as you do in them."
Carril has no lack of faith. And even if the future doesn't include him, he's already thinking of Martin's next step.
"I worry about (whether) he sees where he's going (on the court)," said Carril. "The upper level of players are all guys who see beyond what the ordinary guy sees. ... It's an extra dribble here, an extra dribble there, another step here, a certain kind of a pass. You see a guy that's open, and you see what he's going to do with it when he catches it; you see the defense that's guarding him. All that kind of a stuff is all part of the greatness of a player. And if he ever gets that, forget it."
Link
