Martin goes one-on-one to improve game

An in-depth, 2 page article was written by Sam Amick from the Sacramento Bee on how Martin has been improving his game over the summer. It also includes a wonderful video of Kevin during his practice sessions.

"Everybody says they want to force me left, but I want them to force me left," the Kings shooting guard says with a bit of bravado inside a dank gym at the IMG Academies earlier this month. "I love going left."

But the research – a sheet filled with statistics Martin hands to his personal coach, David Thorpe, on this muggy morning – shows it's not quite that simple. Martin may have gone left 62.19 percent of the time last season, but his efficiency when heading that direction was well below the rate when he headed right.

He settled for the midrange jumper 63.25 percent of the time as opposed to 38.89 percent on the right side, which matters because the numbers also prove scoring at the rim is a greater certainty than burying pull-ups from any range.

This is just one nuance of Martin's game, but it is the lesson of the day."

2 months ago CloudyEyes Comment 21 comments 0 recs |

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Nice article

Bonus audio tape interview of Thorpe, Hamm and Thorpe and Kevin here.

Glad to here Thorpe talking about Kevin focusing on the defensive end and being the man on both sides of the floor, guarding the other teams best player.

Ball movement ... is like jogging for most people: They do it occasionally, and it makes them happy. Then they go back to not doing it. - Henry Abbott

by Kfan in Korea on Sep 28, 2008 7:20 AM PDT 0 recs

If nothing else,

I fully intend to enjoy the Kevin Martin Show, courtesy of Maloof Sports and Entertainment, regardless of how many games we win/lose.

by dkons21 on Sep 28, 2008 8:10 AM PDT 0 recs

A-flippin'-men

Honestly — and I don’t say this to demean Beno, Johnny, Flaco, Jason, Spencer, Brad or Mikki … or heck, even Shelden — but they could run out Kevin and four versions of Tim Thomas and I’d watch every night with excitement in my heart. I have a feeling we’re about to see a mind-boggling season from #23.

by Ziller on Sep 28, 2008 8:31 AM PDT up 0 recs

I have the same feeling

I think in many ways the season with Artest last would help serve Kevin well for this season & beyond.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Sep 29, 2008 1:12 PM PDT up 0 recs

Go Kings!

I think locking up Francisco was awesome, and not bad for your 6th man in terms of value. As much as I’m interested in seeing K-Mart lead this team, I’m more intrigued by the development of Hawes, Green, and Thompson. I hope Thompson steps up sooner rather than later.

by LiquidPolio on Sep 28, 2008 7:00 PM PDT 0 recs

Fun season

After having season tickets for eight straight years, I gave them up last season and didn’t go to a game. Now that Petrie has given up on the ridiculous Artest/Bibby regime (but mostly Artest) I’m interested again. There’s all kinds of intrigue this year, especially from the three first round picks and free agent signing (Bobby Brown) that looks good. I’m excited about this season and looking forward to attending games again.

Shut up and Coach

by Carl on Sep 29, 2008 10:06 AM PDT 0 recs

Clarifying

By three first round picks I meant Hawes, Thompson and Greene. I don’t think the team believes in Shelden Williams and I think I’d rather see Brown on the roster than Douby at this point.

Shut up and Coach

by Carl on Sep 29, 2008 10:07 AM PDT up 0 recs

Down on Shelden?

All future potential aside, I think Shelden is a better basketball player right now then Greene/ and possibly JT. Williams had 2.5 months here and only two years in the league. After two years in the league Carlos Booser’s team refused to match a offer sheet and look what happened to him.

At their combine tests, Shelden had a higher standing and max vertical leap then Greene’. Plus Shelden had one of the highest bench lift counts in the past 3 year. Greene’ could only do 2, or the same as Brown.

For a team that desperately needs rebounds and blocks, everyone seems to be willing to give up on a guy that was singled out as the best in those areas in his draft.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 29, 2008 2:19 PM PDT up 0 recs

Clarification

Boozer (his agent, actually) asked that Cleveland not exercise their option so that they could engineer a new contract. When Cleveland delivered, Boozer bolted for Utah. Comparing Boozer’s situation to Williams is an incredible stretch, the same as comparing the skills of the 4-5 Williams to the 2-3 Greene. Furthermore, one would hope that the 3rd year man Williams would be a better NBA player than Thompson or Greene right now. The question is, who is going to be the better player in 2-3 years.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Sep 29, 2008 3:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

Thanks for the Clarification

I wasn’t aware of that aspect of Boozers history. I saw that he was a 2nd round pick and he didn’t get picked up by his team.

I purposely pointed out that I was not comparing player to player, I only questioned why so many people were “Down on Shelden?” while so high on Greene’.

And as far as 2-3 years, check on the Bee’s blog. The Kings are talking Now. And, I was talking who’s best for the team now. So, if the starting PF can’t produce better number than 9 and 6; I’d start looking at who the 1st pick in the draft is going to be.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 29, 2008 8:14 PM PDT up 0 recs

As someone who argues with people

It’s usually a wise idea not to question Section unless you have your ducks in a row or such. He usually doesn’t just say things to say things, which makes him a formidable foe.

I agree that people are too down on Shelden without giving him much of a chance. But, and this is a rather big but, HT, you have to believe if you’re a fan of this team that Thompson and Greene have more upside. It comes with the nature of being a young player who hasn’t played yet.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Sep 29, 2008 10:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

I wasn't arguing

I really do appreciate that he took the ime to explain what really went down.

But when he said

The question is, who is going to be the better player in 2-3 years.

He totally ignored the conditions of my question, and then never really addressed my question. Some fans are up about a team that they’ve never seen play together, up about rookies that have never been in an NBA game,but are down on Shelden.

Why?

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 29, 2008 11:45 PM PDT up 0 recs

Not trying to answer for nobody

but I think the reason people MIGHT be down on Shelden is for the simple reason that he has had a couple years to show something and hasn’t really shown why he was picked so high in the draft. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of those fans who believes he could be a nice contributor off the bench with his rebounding and shot-blocking ability but I am a little skeptical whether the Kings should keep him long term (especially for the price we gotta pay next year).

I don’t think people are necessarily up for a team they have never seen play together. I do think it is easier to give the benefit of the doubt to such a team (or player) rather than give it to player who has had the chance to show something and might, in their opinion, have performed below their expectations.

Whether fair or not, that is a whole other point. It’s better to pick someone who you’ve never seen but supposely has potential than someone who everyone thought had potential and hasn’t been able to reach it.

by eduardo_m7 on Sep 30, 2008 12:00 AM PDT up 0 recs

I'm sure that's a major part

But, in an effort to consider the not so obvious, could it be because he’s not our man. We didn’t draft him, we didn’t spend months speculating how he was going to perform, what he was going to bring to the team. Is it strickly emotional? I guess that i’m looking for more than a subjective answer.

He played in 28 games and 12 minutes a game for us, His performance was comparable with Moore & Hawes. How badly could he have failed our expectations

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 30, 2008 12:48 AM PDT up 0 recs

Shelden

People are down on Shelden because he’s had several years in the league and has zero proven NBA skills. What does he do well? Um…he’s strong, with long arms, but short (relatively).

He’s a mediocre rebounder, useless catching the ball in the post because he can’t score against reasonable defenders and hasn’t impressed as a passer. He’s a blocked shot or turnover waiting to happen when he gets an offensive rebound because he can’t score in traffic. His defense is passable, but I certainly don’t see turning to him to slow down Tim Duncan or Elton Brand when they get on a roll; he’s not tall enough.

Essentially, to this point, you are hoping Shelden grows up to be Reggie Evans…think about it. Reggie Evans is a legit NBA player, nothing wrong with that, but Shelden’s option is starting to look more than fully priced if all your hoping for is Reggie Evans.

Shelden hasn’t done anything to make me root against him, and he’s a King, so of course I hope he surprises and develops into something. No one would be happier than then members of this site to see him wake up and be Carlos Boozer. There’s not a lot of evidence to back up that hope though, the evidence says he’s on the road to being a career backup, if he keeps working and is fortunate. If that’s GP’s take, it would be a mistake to pick up his option, and it likely is GP’s option based on the offseason addition of JT and Greene.

Personally, if I am GP, given what we know, I pick up Douby because I think he will score in the NBA and that’s worth a couple of million. I expect people on these boards to be pleasantly surprised by Douby this year. I’m not picking up Shelden’s option I don’t think, unless something is dramatically different in traning camp with him this year.

by ForThree on Sep 30, 2008 7:21 AM PDT up 0 recs

Excellent reply

Thanks

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 30, 2008 1:59 PM PDT up 0 recs

Not to be irritating

But Tim Duncan and Elton Brand are All-Stars for a reason. You don’t slow them down when they’re on a roll. It’s why Duncan will be a first ballot hall of famer, and it’s why Brand is so highly regarded (despite being a moron traitor).

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Oct 1, 2008 10:39 PM PDT up 0 recs

For High Tops

With all due respect, after re-reading the item that I responded to, the only question that I could find was “Down on Shelden?” So what conditions did I miss? There were lots of statements in that particular post, but not a single question. Did I miss something?

I have documented my opinion on Williams in earlier threads. I like the guy. I think that he can be a contributor in the NBA a la Reggie Evans/Eduardo Najera/Danny Fortson. I believe him to be behind Miller/Moore/Hawes on the depth charts, fighting Jason Thompson for the #4 slot in the pecking order. Unless he is an amazingly different Shelden Williams this year, he is destined to be (at most) an NBA journeyman. And he only has until 10/31 to prove his value to the Kings. I like him. I hope he does it. But I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Sep 30, 2008 7:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

Missing question

My banner “Down on Shelden?” was in response to Carls statement that I was responding to

I don’t think the team believes in Shelden Williams

So, in my poor effort at shorthand I was asking “Why doesn’t the team believe in Shelden Williams?”

Now, as I’ve said in the past, I am new to blogs. Not only the nuances of posting but also the knowledge of those who I respond with. I am not an expert in any way on basketball, and my questions are in no way meant to challenge anyone, or prove my superiority. I asked the questions because I wanted to learn.

I went over the discussion we had in the “earlier threads” that you mentioned and I found them as you said

I have documented my opinion on Williams

But, I was looking for more than feelings or opinions. I was looking more tangable statements like ForThree’s

He’s a mediocre rebounder, useless catching the ball in the post because he can’t score against reasonable defenders and hasn’t impressed as a passer. He’s a blocked shot or turnover waiting to happen when he gets an offensive rebound because he can’t score in traffic.

I never meant to discount your opinion, but for me to understand, I needed more specifics other than the upside of the rookies 2-3yrs down the road.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 30, 2008 1:58 PM PDT up 0 recs

I don't think anyone is accusing you of stirring anything up

I think people are confused on your presentation of the points. Especially when you said:

He totally ignored the conditions of my question, and then never really addressed my question.

I read that whole comment, and never really saw a question. I saw statements, as Section said, but not much else.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Oct 1, 2008 10:43 PM PDT up 0 recs

Those are excellent questions

And I do not know the answers to those myself. Partly it’s because Shelden was left for the dead I suspect, and that’s clouding the view of many here when looking at Shelden 5 years down the road. (Or whatever future time capsule you choose.)

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Oct 1, 2008 10:37 PM PDT up 0 recs