LMM
Starter
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12118085p-12988722c.html
The simple life: A day with Kings rookie Kevin Martin
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A small-town guy discovers the perks and pitfalls of the NBA
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, January 23, 2005
Kevin Martin feels at home.
Not so much in Sacramento, really. Like the Kings rookie himself, that's still a work in progress. The 500-plus miles from his hometown in Ohio to his college in North Carolina was an adjustment, but moving to California was like hopping planets.
No, Martin's comfort zone is in the fast lane on Interstate 80.
Point A is the Sacramento airport, where Martin has just picked up an old Western Carolina teammate who's in town for a week-long visit. Point B is Martin's downtown apartment, his temporary space before the new 3,200-square-foot house in Natomas becomes home. The space between is covered by his black Cadillac CTS that is streaking beneath a cloudy sky.
Of course, Martin's $50,000 ride is packed with all the goodies - a global position satellite system, the make-your-ears-bleed stereo, DVD players on the back of both front seats, a sunroof and a small basketball that hangs from the rear-view mirror.
Martin, a 21-year-old guard whose 6-foot-7, 185-pound frame is covered head to toe in red-and-black Air Jordan apparel, is doing his best Jeff Gordon impression behind the wheel. He sits way back in the leather seats, the local R&B radio station playing on his sound system. Eighty-five mph. No seatbelt. No fear.
Adventure to pleasure to sheer luxury.
He can only hope his NBA career takes the same route.
The day has just begun, not that Martin can remember what day it is, anyway. As problems go, he doesn't have many, but this has been one for a while. Martin has lost all sense of calendar and clock, remembering the times of Kings practices and games but not much else in his version of the simple life.
He thought a Thursday was a Monday on a recent East Coast road trip, and he will forget this is Wednesday three times before Thursday comes around. It has been that way since he became the Kings' first-round pick last June and signed a three-year contract for nearly $3 million, perhaps because he believed this time would never come.
Martin was, in truth, that 90-pound weakling people always hear about, at least as a freshman at Zanesville High School in Ohio. He "ballooned" into a 6-4, 150-pound slasher as a senior, right about the time the town of 25,586 began to wonder if Martin could be its first NBA product. His family didn't figure on Martin becoming a pro basketball player, considering there weren't athletes in their tree, and neither parent stands taller than 5-10.
When Martin came out of high school, his list of interested colleges was short, leaving him to choose from four small Division I programs. Western Carolina it was, its place in hoops history as obscure as the school: The Catamounts' all-time leading scorer, Henry Logan, was the first African American to play for a white school in the South, and Ronnie Carr made the first three-pointer in NCAA history.
Martin's three seasons were like nothing Western Carolina had seen. He averaged 23.3 points overall, finishing second in the nation as a junior at 24.9 points before leaving school early. His one-man show was the off-Broadway sort, with an average home crowd of 1,653 in Martin's final season in an arena built for 7,826. Western Carolina wins weren't abundant (the Southern Conference team was 34-50 during the Martin era), but Martin always came up big against top-flight opponents.
His signature effort came during a victory over Arkansas last season, when Martin had 26 of his 33 points in the second half and overtime. It was just the second time Western Carolina had defeated a Southeastern Conference team in its previous 30 tries.
"Every play we ran went through Kevin, and every team we played knew we went through Kevin, and they couldn't stop it," said Mike Cawoo, the Catamounts' assistant athletic director.
Said Terrence Woodyard, Martin's best friend and a senior on the current team: "We all agreed we had to get the ball in Kevin's hands. You get the ball in his hands, you get a bucket. Nobody had to be convinced."
The convincing came later, from the first day Martin joined the Kings and the rookie jumped on the purple-and-white roller coaster. Martin began his love affair with Sacramento fans during the preseason, when he started in six of eight games and the question of what to call him arose. "K-Mart," as he had been known, is the nickname of Denver Nuggets star Kenyon Martin, so Kevin Martin's new tag of "Special K" surfaced, as did a Web site in his honor.
Once the regular season began, Martin's minutes dwindled to minuscule levels for nearly two months until a season-ending wrist injury to Bobby Jackson reopened the door. And Martin has welcomed the opportunity, embracing his role as a jolt of energy and scoring ability off the bench.
Kings coach Rick Adelman said he is pleased with Martin but looking for even more.
"The only problem Kevin has is a tendency to float and not be aggressive in what he needs to do," Adelman said. "We knew we had a guy who is very alive, very athletic, but he just needs to learn how to play hard all the time."
Away from Arco Arena, sans the white jersey and flashing bulbs, Martin doesn't have a shortage of playing time. He plays video games on his PlayStation 2 and sleeps until long after sunrise - just as he did in college, when he swears that's how he grew three more inches. Sometimes, Martin will brave the adoring crowds of Kings fans at Arden Fair mall, joining teammates Maurice Evans and Erik Daniels on a shopping excursion.
Martin's addictions are harmless, mainly card games and cell phones. And while he can't wait to visit the Palms Casino in Las Vegas with the Maloof brothers during the offseason, a partying playboy he isn't, going to bars and clubs only occasionally.
At least one of Martin's three cell phones is always in hand, a telling sign that Cell Phones Anonymous might be calling next. But Martin rarely answers his phone, preferring to text message his way through the day as he dares all distractions. He plays a prank on his cousin at Western Carolina while weaving through traffic, sending an anonymous message intended to spook him: "I've seen you around campus with my girl, and I'm going to find you."
"He's just like any other rookie: young, having fun and living out his dreams right now," said Daniels, a fellow rookie. "We watch a lot of TV, listen to music, go out a little bit, just try to find our way around Sacramento."
Right now, however, Martin - who spent the morning and night shooting on his own at the Kings' practice facility - is looking to challenge his visitor on a cyber court. [/font]
The simple life: A day with Kings rookie Kevin Martin
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A small-town guy discovers the perks and pitfalls of the NBA
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, January 23, 2005
Kevin Martin feels at home.
Not so much in Sacramento, really. Like the Kings rookie himself, that's still a work in progress. The 500-plus miles from his hometown in Ohio to his college in North Carolina was an adjustment, but moving to California was like hopping planets.
No, Martin's comfort zone is in the fast lane on Interstate 80.
Point A is the Sacramento airport, where Martin has just picked up an old Western Carolina teammate who's in town for a week-long visit. Point B is Martin's downtown apartment, his temporary space before the new 3,200-square-foot house in Natomas becomes home. The space between is covered by his black Cadillac CTS that is streaking beneath a cloudy sky.
Of course, Martin's $50,000 ride is packed with all the goodies - a global position satellite system, the make-your-ears-bleed stereo, DVD players on the back of both front seats, a sunroof and a small basketball that hangs from the rear-view mirror.
Martin, a 21-year-old guard whose 6-foot-7, 185-pound frame is covered head to toe in red-and-black Air Jordan apparel, is doing his best Jeff Gordon impression behind the wheel. He sits way back in the leather seats, the local R&B radio station playing on his sound system. Eighty-five mph. No seatbelt. No fear.
Adventure to pleasure to sheer luxury.
He can only hope his NBA career takes the same route.
The day has just begun, not that Martin can remember what day it is, anyway. As problems go, he doesn't have many, but this has been one for a while. Martin has lost all sense of calendar and clock, remembering the times of Kings practices and games but not much else in his version of the simple life.
He thought a Thursday was a Monday on a recent East Coast road trip, and he will forget this is Wednesday three times before Thursday comes around. It has been that way since he became the Kings' first-round pick last June and signed a three-year contract for nearly $3 million, perhaps because he believed this time would never come.
Martin was, in truth, that 90-pound weakling people always hear about, at least as a freshman at Zanesville High School in Ohio. He "ballooned" into a 6-4, 150-pound slasher as a senior, right about the time the town of 25,586 began to wonder if Martin could be its first NBA product. His family didn't figure on Martin becoming a pro basketball player, considering there weren't athletes in their tree, and neither parent stands taller than 5-10.
When Martin came out of high school, his list of interested colleges was short, leaving him to choose from four small Division I programs. Western Carolina it was, its place in hoops history as obscure as the school: The Catamounts' all-time leading scorer, Henry Logan, was the first African American to play for a white school in the South, and Ronnie Carr made the first three-pointer in NCAA history.
Martin's three seasons were like nothing Western Carolina had seen. He averaged 23.3 points overall, finishing second in the nation as a junior at 24.9 points before leaving school early. His one-man show was the off-Broadway sort, with an average home crowd of 1,653 in Martin's final season in an arena built for 7,826. Western Carolina wins weren't abundant (the Southern Conference team was 34-50 during the Martin era), but Martin always came up big against top-flight opponents.
His signature effort came during a victory over Arkansas last season, when Martin had 26 of his 33 points in the second half and overtime. It was just the second time Western Carolina had defeated a Southeastern Conference team in its previous 30 tries.
"Every play we ran went through Kevin, and every team we played knew we went through Kevin, and they couldn't stop it," said Mike Cawoo, the Catamounts' assistant athletic director.
Said Terrence Woodyard, Martin's best friend and a senior on the current team: "We all agreed we had to get the ball in Kevin's hands. You get the ball in his hands, you get a bucket. Nobody had to be convinced."
The convincing came later, from the first day Martin joined the Kings and the rookie jumped on the purple-and-white roller coaster. Martin began his love affair with Sacramento fans during the preseason, when he started in six of eight games and the question of what to call him arose. "K-Mart," as he had been known, is the nickname of Denver Nuggets star Kenyon Martin, so Kevin Martin's new tag of "Special K" surfaced, as did a Web site in his honor.
Once the regular season began, Martin's minutes dwindled to minuscule levels for nearly two months until a season-ending wrist injury to Bobby Jackson reopened the door. And Martin has welcomed the opportunity, embracing his role as a jolt of energy and scoring ability off the bench.
Kings coach Rick Adelman said he is pleased with Martin but looking for even more.
"The only problem Kevin has is a tendency to float and not be aggressive in what he needs to do," Adelman said. "We knew we had a guy who is very alive, very athletic, but he just needs to learn how to play hard all the time."
Away from Arco Arena, sans the white jersey and flashing bulbs, Martin doesn't have a shortage of playing time. He plays video games on his PlayStation 2 and sleeps until long after sunrise - just as he did in college, when he swears that's how he grew three more inches. Sometimes, Martin will brave the adoring crowds of Kings fans at Arden Fair mall, joining teammates Maurice Evans and Erik Daniels on a shopping excursion.
Martin's addictions are harmless, mainly card games and cell phones. And while he can't wait to visit the Palms Casino in Las Vegas with the Maloof brothers during the offseason, a partying playboy he isn't, going to bars and clubs only occasionally.
At least one of Martin's three cell phones is always in hand, a telling sign that Cell Phones Anonymous might be calling next. But Martin rarely answers his phone, preferring to text message his way through the day as he dares all distractions. He plays a prank on his cousin at Western Carolina while weaving through traffic, sending an anonymous message intended to spook him: "I've seen you around campus with my girl, and I'm going to find you."
"He's just like any other rookie: young, having fun and living out his dreams right now," said Daniels, a fellow rookie. "We watch a lot of TV, listen to music, go out a little bit, just try to find our way around Sacramento."
Right now, however, Martin - who spent the morning and night shooting on his own at the Kings' practice facility - is looking to challenge his visitor on a cyber court. [/font]
I have a lead foot myself, but he really needs to wear that seat belt! I even got an e-mail from someone asking me to pass that info on to you
But by all means..please tell him to wear a belt. 
