I think that Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin playing together is not the issue with the Kings problem during this bad stretch. Sure, the Kings are 0-3 since Martin came back but their team problems existed way before this. The Kings haven’t been great during the last month. Their inside presence has been nonexistent. They’re relying way too much on perimeter scoring and adding Kevin Martin to the team doesn’t negatively affect this team at all.
If anything, the problem isn’t with Martin’s reinsertion causing issues with Evans’ role. The two of them are fine together. The problem is that the rest of the team isn’t stepping up to join the party. The Kings need to force the issue with getting Kevin Martin comfortable again. Once he is back in his usual Kevin Martin scoring groove, the Kings can then start working on him deferring to Tyreke Evans, which I’m sure he’ll be happy to do. He’s not a number one guy and I don’t think he’d argue with that. Everybody knows Tyreke Evans is the future of this franchise and Kevin Martin fits in perfectly with his style of play. Martin doesn’t have your usual scoring ego that we’re used to seeing.
via Cowbell Kingdom.com – A Sacramento Kings Blog.
I saw pieces of the Kings before Martin went down, a lot when he was out, and only scraps and tidbits since Martin came back. So I’m going to defer to Harper and Ziller, for the time being. I’m fine with patience. Here’s why I have concerns, and have had them since Reke showed up as an alpha dog.
Part of is because I can’t buy into Martin as the go-to guy. If I were a Kings fan? I’d be sold. And I’ve seen the guy do things that cause jaw drops and lots of “Wows.” Yet, even though he’s listed at 6-7, I’ve always felt like Martin was small. I know this to not be the case, but it’s a prime example of why we need to look at facts. Or it’s a prime example of how I need to go see the eye doctor. There are players that play big and are small, and players that are small and play big. That’s a pretty “your-crappy-weekend-columnist” line, but I’m more talking about frame and feel, not heart and determination. And for scorers, I tend to go for the guys with some junk, not in the trunk, really, but up on the front fenders. And Evans? Dude sometimes looks like he’s got Road Warriors shoulder pads on, and he’s a rookie.
I’m also a believer in eye tests, when things get really convoluted. When you’re brought with something really simple in this league, like “Dwight Howard does not make enough of an impact on the offensive end,” I immediately start looking at what’s actually going on. (If you’re curious, it’s “the Magic somehow started to believe that the only way they could win was how they won in the playoffs, by shooting the lights out from the perimeter, but completely forgot that what created their rhythm was their inside-out game, dependent on Dwight getting touches”) But if something gets really complex and confusing, I try and take a step back and give it a simple look over.
Not to get too far off track, but the Kobe Bryant clutch issue is much the same. I’ve long held that Bryant wasn’t that good in the clutch. Everyone talked about it, so I checked the numbers two years ago when I found 82games.com, and my suspicions were largely confirmed. And this year it’s a popular debate. “Man, he’s so clutch!” versus “Well, actually, the numbers say not so much.” And the answer, I’ve come to understand, lies in the middle. Because even with observation bias, I can’t deny that I’ve seen Bryant hit a ton of game winners this year. The secret is that Bryant gets the ball a lot in key situations, and he misses some. But he almost never misses “the game winner.” And while there’s truth to the fact that if he does, we don’t remember it, it doesn’t alter all the other ones he hits.
The point, to bring this back round, is that an eye check of Martin and Evans’ skills, games, and bodies creates concern. Martin wants to be a go-to guy, a leader, the alpha. Evans is the alpha. He creates for his teammates (which everyone completely ignores when trying the asinine “he’s not a point guard!” argument- an argument that’s based solely on “what? he scores a lot? NOT A POINT!”), he gets to the rim, he hits big shots consistently, and he leads comebacks. He can take a game over, just as Martin can. But a difference this year has been his success in converting those take-overs into wins.
Additionally, I don’t see how you can’t look at what Evans has accomplished with the rest of this team (Casspi deserves a huge amount of the credit as well), and not think about “What if we ditch Martin for a boatload?” Martin would draw a ton of offers on the open market. He’s an elite scorer at the two-guard spot, and those are hard to come by. The Kings could pillage a desperate team for picks and young pieces, maybe snag a big. Throw Kevin Martin in the water and just see what bites.
But then, of course, I return to Ziller and Harper. And I see what Presti has done with OKC simply by not doing anything. Perhaps it’s best to know what you do or do not have or before attempting to trade gold for silver.
