Honestly, I am finding it hard to care. He and Travis are both weak on perimeter "D", and he is even worse than Travis when it comes to settling for jumpers. His return does nothing to help any of our current problems.
I don't know what point the timeline is at now. Wasn't it 4-6 weeks following his re-injury? I'm stoked to see what he can do when he comes back. I don't think he'll make the stupid mistakes that Outlaw makes, or at least not as many of them, and he looked really good playing with Sergio and Rudy in pre-season.
I find it a little tough to care anymore as well. He doesn't make as many defensive lapses at TO, but he also can't create his own shot like TO can. If we could only combine both players into one SF...
i'm just hoping he can play like he did in his 1 pre-season game. he was moving really well without the ball and getting easy buckets for his work
He also won't make the plays Outlaw is capable of. Webster is rarely anything more than a spot-up shooter. He plays like a taller Steve Kerr, which is very disappointing, since it seems like he has the tools to be more than that.
I think you're not giving him enough optimism for improvement. I'm a Martell homer, so take it for what it's worth, but Martell is now at the same place in his career that Travis was when TO started to blow up. He also supposedly spent all summer working on his handle. He seems MUCH more relaxed and yet focused this year. I'm just very optimistic about him.
Martell is the missing piece. Having a spot up 3 point shooter will spread the D even further...add that to Oden's increasing offensive confidence......ta-DAOW!
I heard we sent him to China for training. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/02WSLAr1h9A&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/02WSLAr1h9A&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
His lack of improvement in his first few seasons leaves me skeptical. He didn't need to be a star by now, but I'd like to have seen steady, even if not enormous, progress over his first three seasons. As it is, I don't rule out a break-out season, but I think it is unlikely. And I disagree that Outlaw ever "blew up," but, well...I've had that argument already.
Martell has increased his Points, Rebounds, Steals, Blocks, fg%, 3point% every year so far for 3 straight years. Those are across the board numbers. I dont see how you can say he hasn't progressed in the last 3 years with improvements in every conceivable category. http://fantasynews.sportsline.com/fantasybasketball/players/playerpage/555985
When was Batum's offense really on this year? Aside from hustle plays and the occasional spot up 3 he hasn't been that great this season offensively and that's okay. He fits in perfectly setting the tone of the game early on by playing tough defense and giving the team opportunities with hustle plays. I think we should see him even more later in the game when were looking for defensive stops. The kid will be a good enough offensive player in time, but right now his role is fine.
This may all be true. But the one facet of Martel's game that he hasn't improved on (and the one most people will probably consider the most important) is consistency. I like Martel and think he can be an important piece to the make-up of the team. However, he first must come back healthy, get into playing shape, shake off the rust and demonstrate his improvement (yet again) in all facets of his game, to include consistency, in the time he is given. Good luck and bring it on in the New Year! JAFO Keep up the great job Blazers!
When Martel comes back....woooo weeee, I think good things will happen... I'm just not a fan of T.O.; thank god his bio rythym was working last night.. kinda
Martell should contribute right away with his outside shooting, and hopefully a little defense. I was impressed with Batum last night though, he was everywhere doing the little things, if we dont need scoring from him, he is contributing in so many other areas.
His counting stats (points, rebounds, assists) have gone up with minutes. Give a player more minutes and he'll generally increase his raw numbers, whether he improved his game or not. His scoring efficiency (which includes free throws drawn) has not changed a lot since his rookie season. If you look at PER (which incorporates scoring, rebounding, assists, turnovers, steals and blocks, and is adjusted for minutes and pace), this is what you see: 2005-06: 11.6 2006-07: 9.9 2007-07: 12.0 PER is normalized such that 15.0 is a league average starter. Webster became a less efficient player in his sophomore season and then rebounded back to his (below league average) rookie level, basically. I'd agree that his defense has improved a bit, but overall, Webster hasn't improved a whole lot. I'm not saying PER is everything, but it squares with my observations; he shows glimpses of being an impact player, but the underlying theme has been the same since his rookie season: he's a passive player who doesn't create, for himself or his teammates. Until that changes, I don't anticipate him being a good player.
I like what I saw from Webster in the pre season, he looked like he had added to his game. You can argue stats all you want. Secondly, his defense is much better than what we get out of the SF position normally. I don't agree with what is listed up above about his defense, in many of the games last year he was the main guy defending a Carmello, Lebron, etc and did a good job. In fact, it wasn't until Roy defended Lebron last year, that Lebron really got off on the Blazers. Webster did a solid job on him until that point of the game. Lastly, have any of you ever considered that there is value with just having somebody out on the court who is competent enough so Roy doesn't have to play so much, get broke down and hurt? That has huge value in itself IMO.
I just want to give Martell a chance to see where he fits on this team. He worked his ass off this offseason to get in the best shape, we gave him an extension, so he's going to be here. I'd love to see what a second-unit of Sergio, Rudy, Martell, Travis and Joel could do. Leave Nicolas in as a starter at SF, but if that second unit could get going... it could be something special.
