Minnesota Sports Forum

Thank god he's still getting to the line some otherwise he'd just be Wes Johnson out there. I knew it'd be hoping too much for Kevin Martin to continue being as hot as he was to start the season but he's looked dreadful. He has also shrunk away from big moments lately he was tentative in Philly game and that almost cost the Wolves and it definitely cost the Wolves last night.

Player A 37% FG 35% 3P
Player B 42% FG 30% 3P

"A" is Kevin Martin's shooting the past 10 games and "B" has been Rubio the passed 10 games. The Wolves can hardly handle Rubio shooting that poorly let alone Kevin Martin dip below Rubio. He just can't shoot that bad and not bring anything else to the table like Rubio does with his playmaking ability and defense.

Yeah, I think Martin was a major reason for the loss last night. I also noticed him passing up open shots, and his shooting percentage has been terrible of late. The Wolves need Kevin to be shooting at his career percentages for them to be successful, and he's lagging behind now.

There is some reason for optimism here, as it is likely that Kevin will regress up to the mean. This offense is made for him, and there's no reason he shouldn't be shooting at his historic levels. The other positive is that he has been healthy this year. He looks young out there to me, and it's even showing up on the defensive side of the ball. He'll never be an above average defender, but he's doing a good job of jumping passing lanes and is averaging 2.6 steals per game the past 5 games.

Your point is well taken...we need Kevin to shoot better.

Excellent post Foye. Shooters by nature tend to be streaky. So I'm sure Kevin will bounce back to some degree. But it's the old story, live by the jump shot and die by the jump shot. When our outside game isn't working we need to pound the paint to Pek. Otherwise we are really vulnerable those nights when the J is falling.

I'm just frustrated with him not shooting more than missing shots cause he'll have to shoot his way out of this slump. It's just interesting to see him toss up some pretty trashy shots at times (long pullup with no numbers on a break, missing a big in the post after a switch, whiffing while trying to draw contact, etc.) then see him get cold feet when the Wolves/Love needs some help.

The one that bothered me the most last night was late in the game he was on the wing and Rubio was at the top of the key with the shot clock winding down. K-martin gave the ball up with like 5 seconds left forcing Rubio to have to create a shot from 30 feet away.

Foye.......Excellent observations. We need Martin to shoot better. When we can compare Martin's shooting to Rubio's......there is something very wrong there.

A couple other thoughts

Martin has been very direct about wanting to play with a super star. That is one of the reasons why he chose to come the the T-Wolves. I don't think that Martin wants to be the leader or "the man"' He more wants the open shots that playing with "the man" creates. As Cool and LST suggested, when Love starts shooting a bit better, I think that will help Martin too.

Martin is being forced to take more shots than I believe that he is comfortable taking. This is due in part to the poor offensive play of our bench. He is averaging a career high FGA per game.

We need, for him and the wolves, for Martin to become a bit less of the focal point of our offense. He would be best IMHO as the 2b option than the b option. That would mean that Pek needs to step up.

The other thing I would say about Martin is that he has lost a half-step since his hey day in Houston and Sacramento. He had a really quick first step that let him get to the rim and just live at the free throw line. He still has a decent first step and can draw some fouls, but he's probably past his peak these days. Still....The guy is loads more effective than Ridnour or Shved.

Martin is simply in the process of regressing to the mean and being the player he is. Even after his recent shooting slump, Martin is still shooting over 40% from behind the arc, which is higher than his 38.6% career average. His overall 41% FG percentage so far this season is lower than his career average of 44%, but that's probably because he's taking more shots this season compared to his career average and the fact, as Q pointed out, that Martin has lost a half-step.

Martin is clearly a significant upgrade for us at the SG position over last season. But we need to be realistic about who he is and what he brings to the table. He's a jump-shooter who has a knack for drawing fouls with a track record as a 44% FG shooter and 38.5% three-point shooter. On a really good team like the Thunder last season he's a backup and an expendable one as evidenced by the fact that the Thunder made no effort to re-sign him. Martin turns 31 in a little over a month and is probably not as quick as he used to be. Right now in his career, he's a 41% or 42% FG shooter who should hit about 38% of his three pointers. And he's an average to below average defender.

So we shouldn't expect more from Martin than we've gotten so far this season. We'd have fewer wins this season if Luke Ridnour rather than Martin was our starting SG. But we're currently a .500 team with 25% of the season completed and I don't see Martin doing anything to change that going forward.