Martell Webster moving up

by lee3022 on May 12, 2008 2:03 AM PDT Comment 28 comments

There has been much disparaging of Martell and our selection of him and Jarrett Jack instead of Deron Williams or Chris Paul. While those two players have indeed become big contributors in year 3 Martell is not so shabby. Martell has those qualities so hard to find with terrific athleticism, wonderful shooting form, toughness and size. Some do not appreciate Martell as a shooter. He compares very well with NBA shooters.

Martell is a better 3-point shooter in year 3 than most 6-5 to 6-8 SFs. Can I back that up? Here is a list of shooters most of us know and how they shot the 3-point in year 3 of the NBA:

Martell Webster 38.8%

Ray Allen 35.6%

Reggie Miller 41.4%

Michael Jordan 18.2%

K*by Bryant 26.7%

Caron Butler 30.4%

James Worthy 0%

Clyde Drexler 20.0%

Ron Artest 31.2%

Dominique Wilkins 30.9%

Kiki Vanderweghe 29.4%

Carmelo Anthony 24.3%

Luol Deng 14.3%

Andre Iguodala 31.0%

Manu Ginobili 37.6%

Joe Johnson 30.5%

Magic Johnson 20.7%

James Jones 38.6%

Kyle Korver 42.0%

Rashard Lewis 43.2%

Martell Webster at age 21 shoots better from 3-point range than most 6-5 to 6-8 shooters at that age in the NBA:

Martell Webster 38.8%

Ray Allen 39.3%

Michael Jordan 17.3%

K*by Bryant 31.9%

James Worthy 25.0%

Clyde Drexler 25.0%

Ron Artest 29.1%

Carmelo Anthony 24.3%

Luol Deng 14.3%

Rudy Gay 34.6%

Andre Iguodala 33.1%

Joe Johnson 36.6%

Magic Johnson 17.6%

Rashard Lewis 43.2%

The thing Martell does best I think is shoot. Yes, he is streaky as all of these players were as well. Many of them were not in the league at age 21.

I also submit that Martell plays better defense than most of these at the same age/experience. This was not a blown pick. CP3 has wowed us all on the court this year but this was the same guy who showed off his expensive hot new ride on draft day with CP3 burned/monogrammed into the leather seats. He may need to be the center of attention at all times. Martell is humble and determined to get better. He has done that every year and when he gets inducted into the HOF nobody will consider this a blown pick! (Ok that was over the top. My bad.)

Getting a serviceable and tradeable point guard in Jack was simply icing on the cake. Martell is moving up and I am glad.

All stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com.

Poll

Martell Webster's outside shooting in 10 years will be better than

All but 1% of the league

34 votes

All but 10% of the league

48 votes

All but 50% of the league

11 votes

I don't care because we will trade him for a draft pick this year

12 votes

105 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Thanks Lee

Marty is one of my favorites. I remember at the home finale two years ago when the team went 21-61 he vowed to the crowd that “next year will be different”. He’s got a very high ceiling, and with his heart situation I’d guess he’ll be staying put in Portland for at least another year. Good for us. I’m real pleased with how things worked out.

by Sumito on May 12, 2008 3:11 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Agree

I don´t think we need improvement at SF.

Since I know that you like the rice with milk, below the door I put a brick.

by amlmart1 on May 12, 2008 3:16 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think we DO need improvement

I just don’t think we need another player. The improvement needs to come from Webster, and I’m pretty confident he’ll provide it.

by matthewcc on May 12, 2008 10:00 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Well said

The the extreme!

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by tominhawaii on May 12, 2008 1:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting...

Although people think shooting should be a skill that translates fairly consistently to all levels of basketball, it doesn’t. Shooters don’t come into the league knowing how to shoot. Will Martell become a great shooter? I don’t know, but it is certainly worth to give him some time.

by The Graduate on May 12, 2008 3:58 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Very interesting numbers.

I like Webby-o’s as well. With age will come some consistency. And hopefully a more reliable 3pt. shot. A consistent 13-15 points per game would be really helpful, along with stronger defense, which is an area he should put effort into.

One of Two Official Blazer's Edge Poets Laureate for the 2008-2009 Season

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by T Darkstar on May 12, 2008 6:58 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Webster could be

our Peja, but with better defense… I drool at the thought.

by LMA on May 12, 2008 7:20 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Couple of things

I like Martell a lot and I think he’ll be our SF for many years to come. BUT let’s forget about his draft. He’ll probably end up a top 10 player of the draft but that’s it.

by Falcao on May 12, 2008 7:48 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Big fallacy to your lists

look through those lists again you made. Almost all of those players were doing other things on the court by their 3rd season that was far superior to what Webster has done. Jordan, Drexler, Worthy, Magic, Kobe…cmon

A lot of those guys wern’t considered pure shooters, and some are HOF.

You’d do better comparing webster’s 3rd season to guys like Michael Finley, Glenn Rice, Chuck Person, etc.

I guarantee I could compile a list of players that would make martell look pretty weak as a shooter. Martell’s shooting numbers simply aren’t spectacular enough to be his calling card. He needs to develop his all-around game on both ends of the floor. He’s given indications that he may, but contract-wise and cap-wise, his time is running out.

by moldorf on May 12, 2008 8:08 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thought the same thing...

when I saw the list. Reggie Miller, Ray Allen…shooters. Drexler, ‘Niq, Artest…? Not shooters.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going in different directions...

by porterfan30 on May 12, 2008 8:53 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am glad to take your guarantee

(Always up for challenge!).

Michael Finley was 22 when he came into the league. In that year he shot 32.8% from 3-point. In his 3rd year he shot 35.7%. In his 12 years he only owns 4 with better 3-point shooting than Martell this year.

Glen Rice probably is the finest shooter I ever saw. He came into the league at age 22 also and in that year shot 24.6% from 3-point. In his 3rd year he shot 39.1% from 3-point.

Chuck Person was also 22 when he came into the league. In that year he shot 35.5%. In his 3rd year he shot 30.7% from 3-point.

None of these seems to change the point of my post which is that Martell is shooting just fine and has the athletic ability to become dominant in other phases of the game as well.

Incidentally in Clyde Drexler’s 3rd year the team was 39-42. In Michael Jordan’s 3rd year his team was 40-42. In Dominique Wilkins’s 3rd year his team was 34-48. Yes they did other things better than Martell and I no way was implying Martell was better than they EXCEPT as shooters and then only at this stage. Michael shot almost 39% 3-point in 1992 against Portland in the NBA finals so his inclusion was also from that awful memory!

And I accept your premise that Martell needs to continue to improve in every aspect of the game as does Brandon and Greg and LaMarcus etc. They are young and talented.

Aldridge said. "We feel like we can beat any team. We feel like we can beat the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, whoever any night right now, and we'll still be here when those teams get old and their guys retire. We're going to be here for a long time."

by lee3022 on May 13, 2008 1:37 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like Martell.

With 20/20 hindsight, we can say that was a blown pick, but Martell is getting better and will hopefully still be pretty good. We still got a player out of the deal, and as long as we’re winning titles I’m happy.

by bfan on May 12, 2008 8:12 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Geez

some of those people shouldn’t be shooting threees.

If it fills a need, if it fills a rebuilding situation. And my goal is to fill and rebuild and I am not going to be shortsighted.
- Isiah Thomas

by JTDuck22 on May 12, 2008 8:27 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I've thought that about CP3 also.

by TwoDeep on May 12, 2008 8:34 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Chris Paul shot 36.9% 3-point this year

In the playoffs he is shooting 35.4% 3-point. Of course he does so much else!

by lee3022 on May 13, 2008 1:40 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree with others

Martell should also be compared to the category he fits in. That would be the pure shooting category in this scenario. While Martell could be a scoring beast, Nate doesn’t seem to want to use him that way and run plays for him. Personally I think that’s a mistake. Martell could be the guy that you run that game winning play for while others guard Roy, Aldridge, or Oden. He needs to have that experience and Nate needs to mix things up.

If Nate can’t learn to use the tools he has (not just form the tools into what he wants) then we’ll have problems when we make our championship run and coaching counts. I’m hopeful that Nate is doing this because he wants the young players to accept the roles he’s setting for them (Webster on defense as an example), but I believe he’ll need to do what Popovich does with the spurs, and occasionally let the players go and do what they do best (see Parker and Ginobli beating the spurs at the running game or NO recently). Great coaches know when the right time is to make that decision.

Here's to being hated. Come on #1 pick!

by ratbastird on May 12, 2008 11:22 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Martell was 71st in the NFL last year in 3pt%.

Outlaw had a better 3pt percentage.

That is the only spec that Martell had any ranking in. Not Assists, Blocks, FG%, FT%, etc.
What do you remember Martell most for last year? It’s probably hanging out in the corner and waiting for the pass to take that 3pt shot.

by spencerbutte on May 12, 2008 11:24 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

All of these Forwards had better 3pt%

Jason Kapono , TOR
Steve Novak , HOU
James Jones , POR
Peja Stojakovic , NOH
Mickael Gelabale , SEA
Mike Dunleavy , IND
Anfernee Hardaway , MIA
Bruce Bowen , SAS
Marcus Vinicius , NOH
Julian Wright , NOH
Wally Szczerbiak , CLE-SEA
Rashard Lewis , ORL
Vladimir Radmanovic , LAL
Ricky Davis , MIA
Danny Granger , IND
Chris Bosh , TOR
Hedo Turkoglu , ORL
Troy Murphy , IND
Travis Outlaw , POR
Paul Pierce , BOS
Francisco Garcia , SAC
CJ Miles , UTA