Martell & Jerryd = Thunder & Lightning Man, those dudes' games compliment each other nicely. Once the gang gets back, they will provide the foundation for a super-solid backup unit. Naturally, this will make Rudy expendable.
Webster played very well last night. But it wasn't his D that caused every one of Kobe's misses. Bryant missed many wide open looks all on his own... it wasn't his night. STOMP
You know, I have to say I am asking for the same. I said a few weeks ago I didn't think he was worthy of being an NBA player (he was playing very badly at the time). I admit I was dead wrong. I have figured out why he looks so much better now. He has lost the streakyness. In days gone past, when Martell was missing, he missed in bunches, and then would get hot, and would hit a bunch in a row. Now Martell is getting makes after individual misses. He is finally breaking the streakyness to his game. I hope the best for this kid, he is a good seed to have on a team, and I can't imagine the pressure that must have been on him having been traded for the Chris Paul pick.
His defense on Kobe was great. Either you weren't watching the game or you don't understand that Kobe is incredible at getting easy buckets. We don't have a shot blocker right now so it's incredibly obvious that Martell didn't allow him to get those easy buckets and he didn't send Kobe to the line.
I completely understand why some people would be upset with Webster due to his inconsistency on offense but he has been our BEST perimeter defender this year. You have to remember this kid is still 23 years old. He is going to get better on both sides of the ball and I have said that for months. I was getting really tired of people bringing up his PER in past years and claiming he hadn't improved in his first 3 years in the league. Very happy to see Martell making huge strides and getting his respect from people who completely gave up on him as a 22 year old.
I am not going to jump on his bandwagon yet. I have never been impressed with Martell's game. Has he played well these last few games? Yes. I will hold out until the end of the season to see if he becomes that consistent player he is supposed to be. Then I will hop on.
This. Nobody shuts Kobe down - let's be clear. If you can keep him from getting to the Basket/FT Line or getting in the lane for pull up jumpers, and you're able to force him into taking shots over the top of tight defense on the perimeter, you've done the best you can. Now, will Kobe still have games where he's hitting highly contested shots on the perimeter? He's Kobe Freeking Bryant, of course he will. But Martell played about as good of one-on-one defense on Kobe that anybody not named Lebron can play. Yeah, Kobe got 32 points - but on 37 shots! I'll take that any day, but even more so last night - I thought Bynum and Odom were going to kill us (with our current front court line-up) But as it turns out, the majority of their shots came on offensive rebounds and put-backs. Not a lot of post up opportunities. Thank You Kobe.
I think the biggest adjustment we see out of Webster is one of maturity. He seemed pretty sure that he was going to be a big star when he came in the leauge (understood, given his age, lack of college experience and high draft position) and seemed to float or get down on himself when things did not go his way. He is much much better this year - and that's great for him. He understands that he needs to work hard all the time, he can handle the peaks and valleys much better. Nothing but great stuff for him - and with Nic coming back, we have gone from being nowhere at the SF position - to being at least two nice role players deep, if not better (I still think Nic has all the tools to be a very very good SF in this league).
BB - I hear you. Martell has made me crazy at times. But don't you see something different from him right now? He's playing with focus, confidence, and with purpose. He's playing smart and under control. That's new. All I ever wanted from the guy was to play smart/within himself & consistently knock down spot-up jumpers when Roy/Miller/Bayless breaks down the defense - I would have settled for him basically being Steve Blake on offense. Other than one previously inexplicable quarter vs Utah, we haven't seen much of him curling around from the baseline on a dead sprint, getting to an open spot, and knocking down shots. But even more, we haven't seen him play with confidence - especially after a few misses. Now he's just letting them fly (but not forcing) even late in games. And his dogged defensive concentration, determination, & focus (and while playing 40+ minutes) . . . I can't say enough about that. I'm probably going overboard here, but I'm just excited about this. Doesn't Martell (or didn't he used to) go down to LA in the summers to work out with Kobe? I remember hearing that years ago. It was him that shook Kobe's hand after the "Rudy/Ariza" game last year. Did Kobe say anything about the job Martell did on him last night? I couldn't find anything.
Well, Dante > Travis, so yeah. I was thinking during the game last night about starting a thread asking when people were going to start giving Martell some credit. The time is now apparently. When the guy can have an off shooting night and still get kudos in here, he just may have finally arrived. I don't ever expect him to be an all star, but he really does contribute in other ways. When he's also shooting decent, the Nico/Martell tandem looks pretty good to me.
Martell has gone down to work out with Kobe in the summer. Kobe also gave Martell his shoes from the game he scored 81 against the Raptors. I did not hear anything in Kobe's interview regarding Martell.
Some believer you are. I had no doubt Martell had it in him. People have no idea how hard it is to come straight outta high school. They think just because a player does so, their automatically supposed to be great. Truth is NBA is the hardest place to develop. Besides the foot injury I'd say Martell is right on track
Great stretch of games from Webster. The question is whether it is a young player putting it together long-term, or just a nice stretch from an inconsistent player. It would be fantastic if Webster became a good/very good player. It's way too early, though, to act as if it has happened.
That's Martell going all MJ Con Man . . . "I'm you're friend Kobe . . . no I'm not! I'm an assasin!" Jeff Van Gundy would be proud.
"coming out parties" have almost immediately led to major injuries. Get your lucky rabbit's foot out.
I won a bet on if Webster would average at least 10 points a game two seasons ago against BlazerBeliever so you won't hear him complimenting Webster any time soon.
You got that right! That's why I said if he does this CONSISTENTLY the rest of the year I will finally jump on his bandwagon.
