Should the Timberwolves keep Kevin Martin?
In our staff predictions piece a couple weeks back, all but one of us here at Dunking With Wolves said that Kevin Martin would be the first player Timberwolves traded this season.
Now, by suggesting that he will likely be traded, I am not saying that Martin is no longer a valuable player in this league. In fact, he could make a serious impact on a playoff team. Coming off the bench and providing instant offense is the best role for him at this stage in his career, and many playoff teams are looking for just that.
With that said, will the Timberwolves keep Martin? And, is he worth keeping at this point?
In terms of how Martin fits in with this young Wolves team, it’s, complicated to say the least. He’s only 32 years old, which means that compared to Wolves vets like Kevin Garnett and Andre Miller, he’s actually quite young. On the other hand, compared to young players like Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, he’s quite old. He doesn’t fit into the veteran mentor role or as a ‘young guy’, so what is he?
Truthfully, I don’t know if he has a specified role on the team, he’s just kind of there. He’s not the sixth-man; Nemanja Bjelica holds that role. It’s hard to put my finger on what he’s bringing to the Wolves that will be worthwhile in the future.
The Timberwolves want to be a defensive juggernaut in the near future, and they want to push the tempo and attack the rim on offense. There is absolutely no need to dive into Martin’s defensive abilities as for all intents and purposes he’s a liability.
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On offense, Martin isn’t necessarily a penetrator, although he does attack from time-to-time. To me, he is more a stand-still shooter, and I can understand how that would maybe fit into the Wolves offense as transition three-pointers are becoming a staple in this league.
However, besides shooting Martin does one other things well on offense: he draws a ton of fouls and shoots a ton of free throws. With the Wolves wanting to push the tempo on offense, how does Martin’s constant free throw shooting help? If being pursued out of Martin isolation sets, it could upset the tempo of the offense and ruin any rhythm the rest of the team might have.
Martin could be a big reason for all this rotation criticism, too. Sam Mitchell has to play Kevin Martin; he’s a good player and deserves quality minutes. Therein lies the problem, forcing Zach LaVine to play point guard when the second unit comes in. We have seen that LaVine does not fit well in the point guard spot and is clearly more comfortable at the shooting guard.
By getting rid of Martin, it would give LaVine the back-up shooting guard spot, allowing him to grow in his natural position. The Timberwolves hope that he can eventually become the starter, but Martin might be stunting LaVine’s growth to a degree in the current arrangement.
Lastly, and my only real issue with Martin (besides his defense) is his occasional lack of basketball IQ. It seems his attempts to come off screens and get fouled on jumpers is working less and less than it did early in his career. A lot of the times he’s left chucking up a contested jump shot that misses badly. We saw it a few times in the Atlanta game on Monday as he had some bad misses and some bad shot selections.
Not only can the shot selection issues be a detriment to the team during the game, it can also give the young guys a negative example.
In the end, I cannot foresee a situation where Martin stays with the Wolves past this season. Quite frankly, he may be on the block before the trade deadline passes on February 19th. With a tradeable contract, the Wolves can likely get something meaningful out of Martin from a playoff team, as alluded to earlier.
Next: Can The Timberwolves Continue Their Hot Start?
It’s not that Martin is no longer an effective player, he just doesn’t fit in with this Wolves team as currently constructed. With the direction the Wolves are headed for the future, Martin just does not make sense in Minnesota.