This is just about the time when all hell breaks loose in the draft world. Cell phone bills skyrocket, disinformation spreads daily through the media, scouting reports get thrown out the window, career statistics and achievements are glanced at simply to be pushed aside later, and camps like Portsmouth are remembered as a distant memory. All the while NBA draft prospects are flown around the country every day to interview, take mind numbing psychological tests, and most importantly: work out, individually and against each other, in private, and not-so-private, settings. In these hectic times, your best friend, and really the only thing you can trust, is your own two eyes.
DraftExpress was invited this weekend to attend a private workout at the Five Star Pro development center in Clearwater, Florida by Executive Director David Thorpe to watch and sit down with two possible first-round prospects as they prepare for possibly the most important month in their lives so far. The two prospects are Kevin Martin and Jamie Lloreda. In Martin's case, we had the honor of being the first ones to get a look at him since he finished the season at Western Carolina.
Kevin Martin
Martin has been locked up behind closed doors for the past month in the gym and weight room. Starting this week NBA teams will finally get to take a look at him. He has workouts lined up for Tuesday (with Portland), Wednesday (with Orlando), and Thursday (with Denver). The week after, many other teams will send representatives to Clearwater to check him out as well. Many see him as one of the biggest sleepers of the draft; after watching him play on tape and in person, it's not hard to figure out why.
Martin is a junior and has been playing for Western Carolina, a small school by college basketball standards in the Southern conference. NBA teams have scouted him off an on over the past year, but not much is known about him outside of the information held tightly by NBA personnel.
Martin was recruited very lightly by NCAA schools out of high school, something that many top programs are undoubtedly still kicking themselves about. His biggest liability has always been his weight. As a high school freshman he weighed in at a measly 90 pounds on a 5-8 frame. By his senior year, he was up to 6-5, 145 pounds, but it/he was too little, too late. He averaged 22 points a game his senior year, a respectable number, but nothing that would indicate what he would become in the future. In fact, the very next year he again averaged 22 points per game, as a college freshman this time, good for 11th best in the NCAA. Pretty good for a kid that only received offers from schools like Buffalo and West Virginia, and even then, only if he would agree to go to prep school for a season.
Over the past year, he has bulked up, from 167 pounds to just less than 185. He will always have a slight frame because of his narrow shoulders, but judging by the way he has bulked up this past year, coupled with the pounding he used to take night in and night out in the NCAA (he went to the line over 9 times a game this season) that might not be too big a concern anymore. He is obviously a tough kid that has no problem taking contact.
So what kind of player is Kevin Martin? I got to watch him work out twice this past weekend, and I was pretty impressed by what I saw.
The first thing you notice watching him is the way he moves on the floor. He's an extremely fluid player, with great quickness and an ability to make sharp cuts and change speeds almost instantly. This skill will help him greatly with his off-the-ball movement, which is already pretty good. While he probably won't be the most athletic shooting guard in this year's draft, he certainly won't be too far off. What separates him from other freaks in this draft is how quickly he gets off the floor: he just bounces off the ground as though he has his own personal trampoline at his disposal. His nickname in Clearwater is Cat, and it's not hard to figure out why when watching him work out. His 37-inch vertical leap is impressive. When he goes to the basket, he finishes strong, because of the upper-body strength he has added over the past year. He still needs to add some lower body strength, though. Martin is going to be an excellent transition player in the NBA right off the bat; I have no doubt about that.
His half-court game is pretty polished as well. He has a quick and competent handle, with a strong crossover, which he'll be able to use in the NBA to create his own shot, and a pretty shooting stroke with a quick release that complements his slashing game quite nicely. If he continues to work hard he should be able to develop an excellent NBA mid-range game. He can stop on a dime and create separation, thanks to the excellent elevation he has on his jump shot. You can tell he knows how to adjust and get his shot off in many different ways; moving left, right, off the dribble, flat-footed, stepping in, or back and fading away. His range is solid, but he needs to become more consistent from outside, something that will probably come as he develops his game. He is also a good free-throw shooter, averaging 84% for his college career on a huge number of attempts (635 in 79 games), including hitting 43 in a row as a freshman.
Defense is where he has really yet to be tested. As a player that was asked to carry the team's scoring load almost from day one at Western, he always had to conserve his energy and stay out of foul trouble, which isn't easy for a player that is constantly slashing hard to the basket when NCAA refs seem hell-bent on calling the charge. He does have good footwork, but it will probably take time for him to adjust from being ranked as the #1 or #2 scorer in the NCAA all season to a guy that is expected to contribute in many different ways in the NBA. As his body continues to develop he should begin to have a more polished all-around game; right now he is a scorer, and a great one at that, but with the ability and especially the attitude to get better at the rest.
The level of competition he played against on a regular basis leaves something to be desired. But he actually was always at his best when he was going against top-level competition outside his conference when he finally got to play without constantly being double-teamed and chased around from the second he crossed the half court line. In the first game of the season this year, Martin and Western Carolina traveled to Athens to match up with Georgia, a tough SEC opponent (especially defensively) that many thought should have made the NCAA tournament. Martin lit them up for 44 points in 35 minutes on 14-25 shooting (7-14 from behind the arc) in a losing effort. The very next game at Virginia Tech, Martin scored 24 points on just 12 shots (5-12 FG and 11-11 from the line) as Western lost to Tech at the buzzer on the road. A few weeks later against another SEC foe at Arkansas, Martin scored 33 points on 16 shots (9-16 FG, 11-14 FT) as Western secured the upset victory. Last summer, Western Carolina traveled to Canada to prepare for the upcoming season by playing against five Canadian teams in exhibition games. One of those games was against the Canadian national team, who were preparing for the Olympic qualifiers in Puerto Rico. Martin scored 35 points, and even played some PG against Dallas Maverick Steve Nash. UConn SG/SF Denham Brown guarded him for most of the game.
Martin sounds confident about taking the step to next level this year, and it this point it doesn't look like he'll be returning to school. Right now he is ranked at #37 in our 2004 mock draft, and it's quite possible that he could be getting some late first-round attention if he impresses enough in workouts. As stated, a good number of NBA teams will be watching him work out over the next few weeks, and unless he plays well enough to secure himself a first round guarantee, he will most likely be participating at the Chicago pre-draft camp. From what we saw, he could be a real sleeper in this draft.