I am pulling for the kid, since Portland could really use a guy not named Steve Blake who can hit from the outside consistently. Batum probably is the future at small forward but I am not entirely sure if the future is this up coming season. After all, he only started last year by default. Martel got hurt and Outlaw can't seem to play worth a damn when starting.
I'm not saying "break out" means he's going to have 18/8 or anything. I think breakout for a player who has slowly progressed to 10.8 or whatever it was is around 14/5 and being much more consistent on both ends of the floor. I know nobody is hating on Martell but I think his game has a lot of room to grow. Him and Rudy were unreal on the court together, yea it was pre season and against Sacramento but their chemistry was amazing. If he doesn't impress this year then I will join those who say he will be nothing but an average NBA player. I don't think he'll ever be a "star" but he will be a key role player in our championship aspirations.
His rookie PER was 11.6... by his 3rd year in the league he'd improved all the way to a 12.0. An average NBA starter is 15.0. If he continues improving at this rate he'll achieve an average PER rating about the year 2030. STOMP
Martell Webster career 3 pt% = 37% Nicolas Batum career 3 pt% = 37% Travis Outlaw career 3 pt% = 36% Brandon Roy career 3 pt% = 36% Rudy Fernandez career 3 pt% = 40% STOMP
Yeah, ain't that the truth. The guy's been a huge disappointment, but maybe he'll finally surprise us this year. One can always hope.
Mark me on the side that thinks he'll do well this year as long as he stays healthy. The last year he did play the majority of the season he was a more rounded player, moving better without the ball and defending better. It might not have shown up in the stats, but he did improve from the year before. That's why I thought he'd have a break out season last year. This year is going to be tougher after sitting out last year, but I still think he'll do a lot better especially by the all star break.
