Martell and the failure of expectations.

Over and over, teams would draft a young guy out of high school and rave about his potential.  The GM, the coach, the owner, the assistant coach, the trainer, the ball boy, etc... would all rave about his upside - "in a few years."  

Fan nation would swell with hope with every scrap of news (He's stroking it in practice!).  Expectations would first be addressed as "he could eventually be as good..." and later slip to "he's going to be as good..." and finally, "he's as good as..." Every glimpse of play - mostly in the closing minutes of a 20-point blowout - we'd say, "see, it looks like he's really starting to get it!"

Now certain that he's just a few steps (maybe a little more playing time, what's with the coach?) from greatness, his sophomore year is a dashing disappointment.  Exposed to the unflattering glare of the full spotlight, overshadowed by all the shiny new rookies that fill the small niche in the heart of the fan, they realize that he DOESN'T get it.  Maybe he never will.  Maybe he's just a bust.

It's probably his attitude.  Maybe he just coasts because we liked him so much.  They probably aren't being strict enough.

The fact is: Martell is right on track.  As painful as it is to say, he's right on the track that John Nash and Steve Patterson thought he'd be on.  

It doesn't matter how you get from here to there.  Maybe it's a few years to adapt to being coached.  Maybe it's a few years to put on enough bulk to play in the post.  Maybe it's a few years to learn how to rotate on defense.  The bottom line is that it's a few years!  

Eveyone keys in on the conclusion that Martell wasn't very coachable before.  Jason Quick set him up for that with his summertime interviews and articles.  It seemed a bit harsh for a second year player out of high school.  It's one opinion, and certainly one part of the equation, but the reality might be more nuanced than that.  Maybe he wasn't that coachable because he didn't yet understand enough.  Sometimes, you have to learn a lot before you can appreciate how little you know.  Maybe Martell spent two years learning a lot - everything he was capable of.  Maybe he didn't need much coaching to accomplish that part of the learning curve.  Some people absorb a lot through observation.  Now that he has that out of the way, he's in a position to learn more, but he needs help, so he's sought out coaches to provide it.

This is only Martell's third year, and he's starting to contribute.  He's ahead of schedule!  Hooray!

Whitsitt traded away Jermaine O'Neal AFTER four years, and he was still a year away from being a consistent double/double guy.  More playing time might have moved that up one year, but probably not two.  Sure, conventional wisdow says that big guys are slower to develop, but still!

I love the fact that Martell is coming into his own.  I even more love the fact that we don't have to waste as much time developing high schoolers now.  I wish they'd make it a two year college requirement.  The delay in access to the tiny handful of prep to pro superstars (Kobe, LeBron, Kevin) would be more than made up by the overall increase in size and quality of the rank and file.  How much more excited would we be with Travis if this was the start of his third year in the league?