We argue. You decide…
KEVIN MARTIN (by Andrew Katz)
Efficiency. Right now, it’s the hottest word in an NBA scout’s vernacular. Everyone wants a guy — primarily a guard — who can put points on the board without needing to shoot as much as Vince Carter. And truthfully, Kevin Martin is among the most efficient guards in the League.
K-Mart finished sixth in the L in scoring last season at 23.7 points per game. And he did so taking fewer shots per game than any of the guys in front of him. That includes Amare Stoudemire, who should need fewer shots simply by virtue of being a big man.
Martin excels because he makes use of every possession. That doesn’t mean he always notches a rebound, a steal, a block, or an assist, because oftentimes, he doesn’t. It means that when he takes a shot, he’s getting some value for his team — whether it’s a bucket or a trip to the stripe.
And to give a sense of just how valuable K-Mart is to his team, last month the Kings rattled off three straight wins with him putting up 33, 26, and 27 points, respectively. After he went down with an injury, Sacramento went 2-10 in his absence, and now Reggie Theus‘ job is on the line.
I don’t know that Martin will ever be the marquee name on a championship contender. But he’d be an absolute nightmare on a team that had another legitimate scoring threat simply by virtue of how tough he is to guard. Watch the clip below, between the 50-second and one-minute mark for the moves that he puts on Chris Paul and then Peja. Martin has a bevy of moves (up-fakes, crossovers, etc.) which work on defenders bigger or smaller or stronger than he is.
K-Mart is one of those rare guys that you can confidently say is a “pure scorer,” who also makes those around him better.
VINCE CARTER (by Austin Burton)
If you’re going to argue that Kevin Martin is better than Vince Carter, first I’ve got a trade proposal for you — one irrelevant point of contention in this comparison for another: I’ll give you the fact that Martin plays harder and “has more heart” than Vince, if you give me the fact that Carter’s highlight reel is so far out of K-Mart’s league, it’s not even in the same sport. Even the stuttering lawyer from My Cousin Vinny would immediately object on grounds of being prejudicial if I posted a YouTube clip here of Carter’s best.
That said, I like Kevin Martin. When I first got NBA League Pass in ’06-07, I somehow ended up watching an inordinate amount of Kings games, and towards the end of that season, I saw players who clearly hated playing with each other and had visibly given up. All of them except Martin. When everyone else had thrown in the towel, he was the only guy who seemed to go hard, every night, without fail. I respected him for that, and was glad to see him rewarded with a $55 million deal and handed the keys to the franchise that summer. He’s a good dude, a hell of a ballplayer, and a great scorer.
But better than Vince? That’s insane.
Instead of going into what Vince could be, focus on what he already is. Last season, he was one of only four NBA players to average 20-5-5, along with Kobe, LeBron and T-Mac. This year, when critics assumed he would coast through the entire 82 on auto-pilot for a crappy Nets team, Vince has formed the League’s highest-scoring duo with Devin Harris, dropping 23.3 a night next to Harris’ 24.8 average. Plus, Vince isn’t far off from those five-board, five-assist numbers, currently sitting at 4.3 rebounds and 4.8 dimes per. And with New Jersey playing above-.500, Carter appears headed for his ninth All-Star selection; no questionable fan voting necessary.
In just about every facet of the game, Vince is superior to K-Mart: scorer, defender, playmaker, clutch performer. Consider two weeks ago, that historically cold-blooded one-man annihilation Vince unleashed on the Raptors in Toronto. In a building where he’s more hated than Mike Vick at a PETA fundraiser, Vince posted 39 points, nine boards and six assists (just one turnover), forcing overtime with a last-second three, then getting the game-winner on a backwards dunk. I just don’t see Martin having the fortitude to do something like that in such a beyond-hostile environment, let alone do it consistently.
Even his most passionate haters have to admit Vince is one of the best in the game — it’s part of the reason they hate him so much. Far from perfect, perhaps not what you want in an ideal franchise cornerstone, he’s simply an incredible talent, and simply better than his counterpart in Sacramento.
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