Kevin Martin's value

If you were going to trade Martin, the time would have been before his contract extension, which would have enabled you to package his young inexpensive talent with one or more of the bloated contracts.

That being said, I am amazed by those who already judge this kid as nothing more than a side kick when he only has one season under his belt as a starter, and that was under a coach that had seemingly little faith in him. Martin carved out quite the niche for himself last season in spite of beginning it as no better than the fourth option on offense (after the big three of Bibby, Artest and Miller). Martin shoots for a high percentage and gets to the line more than anyone the Kings have ever had at this young age. While he may ultimately wind up a #2 guy, I can't find any reason to categorically dismiss the possibility of him becoming the next Ray Allen or Michael Redd. And does anyone devalue Rip Hamilton for his timely yet team like contributions?

I say that you have to give SpeedRacer (copyright TZ, 2006) at least this year to grow, followed by the opportunity to lead once Bibby and Artest are jettisoned. By that time you will also have a better feel for what Cisco and Hawes (and maybe even Douby) will bring to the table, at which time you use all of your new found cap space to either build around Martin or bring in the new #1 guy to whom Martin will play side kick.

I think there are three key ingredients to Kevin becoming a #1 type of player. First of all, he needs to demand the ball despite his youth and low-key demeanor. On the court Kevin needs to act like a guy who wants the ball every possession and especially when it counts. Secondly - and I think almost as importantly - he needs to become a much better ball-handler. Right now, he is excellent (dare I say Peja-like) without the ball.  However, in my opinion, now that teams are really going to focus on him, he's going to have to be better one-on-one and when double teamed. And that will mean becoming a better, more confident ball-handler with improved court vision. Lastly, Kevin must develop physically.  In seems, though, that he is working on this each and every year and that he will continue to grow stronger as he works his body and matures.

As far as trading Kevin goes there's another problem. For the next 2 years he's a BYC player. That means that you find to a team that can take his total salary while only giving half of what it's worth back. Good luck with that.

Even LeBron battles this issue: When he passes he should be shooting the ball and when he's shooting the ball he's selfish. C-Webb either seemingly shot too much or passed too much, depending on one's opinion.

Money talks in today's NBA. I don't see how Martin could "demand" the ball from the three guys that the team was built around, especially when the team had invested over $30 million in Artest/Bibby/Miller vs. the approximately $1.5 million spent on Martin. The front office has made it clear that Martin is a big part of this team's future. It would stand to reason that the coaching staff would follow suit and put Martin into the situation where he can "demand" the ball.

No offense, but all those proposals were horrible

MARTIN & Miller to Memphis for Gasol & Lowry
I'd rather wait for Brad's contract to expire and wait for Hawes to take over. Not a bad deal though but not at the expense of Martin

MARTIN & Miller to Indy for O'Neal
So what happens when JO's contract expires? Do we start from scratch again?

MARTIN & Shareef, Williams, Douby to Indy for O'Neal & Armstrong
Horrible

MARTIN & Douby to Seattle for Wilcox, West, Wilkins
I thought the last one was horrible. This is worst. Those are three mediocre players. At least Martin is a borderline All-Star

MARTIN & Douby to Orlando for Hedo, Arroyo, Redick.
No way

I've read in a Chicago forum that they think Martin's contract is fair and they expect Gordon to get the same or around 5 mil more (of course Deng would get more than both of them). If some people think that he's value is just about the same as Gordon, then why in the world would you trade for players like Hedo, Arroyo, Wilkins, Wilcox, etc.?

While I'm obviously biased to think anyone wanting to trade Martin at this point is crazy, I just wanted to note it's almost impossible to trade base-year comp players... and Kev's now a base-year comp player. The salary cap/trade rules on these players are incredible convoluted and difficult.

One could argue who the best young scoring guard is in the NBA right now, but the list wouldn't be much deeper than Ben Gordon and SPEED. Gordon shoots the 3 better, but Martin shoots at a higher overall FG% and gets to the line more as well. So I agree with TZ, it would be crazy to even think about or discuss trading SPEED.