Semi OT: Martell signs with Wizards

I hope he does well.

Gramps...

 

I always liked him.

 

I think he was at least better or as good as Wes Matthews, and cheaper.

 

Matthews is a better shooter, more efficient scorer overall, and I think better on defense. Webster has been in the league for 7 years and hasn't improved at all.

 

the 'TELL has confidence issues.

Wessy Wes...does not.

:MARIS61:

 

One is skinny and the other is, uh, husky.

 

FTFY

 

So true, and so amazing. How can you not improve after 7 years of practices and 7 years of real NBA games? It's uncanny.

 

There are people on here that have been posting for 7 years and are actually WORSE then when they started!

 

Self-deprecation suits you.

 

And self-defecation.

 

At one point, I thought it was Brandon Roy that was holding Martell back. Martell was a lottery pick straight out of high school, supposedly an awesome shooter and great athlete. We passed on Chris Paul and Deron Williams to take Martell and make him our SG of the Future. His rookie year started off a bit rocky, but he finished strong. In the month of April, he scored in double digits in 8 of 10 games and averaged 13.7ppg. Not bad for an 19-year old kid right out of high school.

And then, two months later, the Blazers drafted fellow Seattle native Brandon Roy and Martell was no longer our SG of the Future. He was now Brandon Roy's back-up (Ime Udoka was the starting SF that season). This seemed to be a blow to Martell's already shaky self-confidence.

The following season, he was the starting SF on the team that won 54 games. He was clearly the worst starter on that team (PER = 12.0), and not even as good, or as important to the team's success, as bench players, Travis Outlaw, James Jones and Jarrett Jack. In spite of shooting being his strong point, he was the 4th best 3-point shooter on that team, behind James Jones, Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. But, he seemed to have found a role. I was at the Rose Garden that January when he had the famous 24-point 3rd quarter against Utah when Brandon Roy sat out the second half. Talk about fool's gold. He was absolutely unstoppable. I'd never seen him play with so much confidence. He was demanding the ball on every possession. Utah tried four different defenders on him. It didn't matter. No one could stop him. He single-handedly carried the team to that win over Utah.

And then the next year, he broke his foot in the preseason and lost his starting SF role to Nicolas Batum. He seemed destined to be a mediocre (at best) career back up. He did have one more stretch of inspired play in 2009-10 when Brandon Roy was injured and Martell was inserted into the starting SG spot in late December/early January. Over an 8 game stretch he averaged 18.4ppg and shot .422 from 3-point range. He was finally starting to look like an above average NBA player. Then he regressed back to his usual below average self.

It was during that stretch that I thought perhaps playing in Brandon Roy's shadow was fucking up Martell's confidence. He grew up watching Roy play in Seattle, and almost followed him to Washington, but skipped college and went straight to the NBA. He beat Roy to Portland by a year, but once Roy arrived, it was clear who was the REAL NBA player and who was the pretender.

But, that doesn't explain why he sucked so bad in Minnesota. The two years he was there, the Timberwolves absolutely sucked at the wing positions. Other than sometimes playing Michael Beasely out of position at the 3, they didn't have a single decent SF or SG. In fact, their SG play just flat out sucked - worst in the league. It should have been a perfect situation for Martell to set out from behind Brandon Roy's shadow and become a decent NBA player. But, he failed miserably, and that's totally on him. Can't blame Brandon Roy for that.

I do find it ironic though that Brandon Roy is now with Minnesota and Martell Webster has once again been shoved aside to make room for Roy. It's also quite telling that Minnesota would rather have a crippled Roy with two bad knees than Martell Webster. But that shouldn't be any surprise. Roy at his worst, has always been better than Martell at his best (minus that one 24-point 3rd quarter fluke).

BNM

 

Darius Miles' 47 points against Denver == Martell Webster's 24-point 3rd quarter against Utah == Fool's Gold

Both guys had the tools, neither had the brains to take full advantage of their talent.

BNM

 

I haven't loked it up, but wasn't he injured for almost the entire 2 years?

 

He has the Rudy Skinny Conundrum. In the NBA, his choices are to play hard and get injured, or hold back and endure. In Europe, he can play hard yet endure. Webster is only 25 and may play more years in Europe than the NBA.

 

He played 46 games in 2010-11 and 47 of 66, including 26 starts in 2011-12. Not sure how many of those missed games were injury vs DNP-CD.

BNM

 

But, Martell isn't skinny by NBA standards. If anything, he's bulkier than average. He outweighs Rudy by 45 pounds (6'7" 230 vs. 6'6" 185).

BNM

 

Wow, I had the impression he missed most games. I still think he was hurting in a lot of games he did play.