Martell Webster

Overview:A quality swingman who is still young enough to make some significant strides. Has had a strong frame since his days in high school. Possesses very good size and strength for an NBA wing. Not a great athlete, but not a slouch either. Enjoys nice straight line speed, good leaping ability, and a deceptive first step. Has learned to better utilize his athleticism as he’s gained experience, but still lacks the ball-handling skills to take full advantage. Was always known for his shooting stroke, but is still improving his consistency. Takes a ton of threes. Becoming more versatile as he gets older. Has a lot of things he still could improve on. Shows some signs defensively, and could become an even better role player if he puts in more effort on that end. Garnered attention very early in his high school career at Seattle Prep (WA). Was ranked among the top players in his class by his senior year. Committed to Washington, but solidified his spot in the middle of the lottery with some great workouts and All-Star game performances. Spent some time in the NBADL as a rookie. Began to show signs of significant improvement as a third year player, although he’ll probably never live up to his lofty draft status. May still get better and develop into a very effective role player, especially with a dominant big man like Greg Oden drawing double teams inside. Very mature and intelligent off the court.

Offense: A quality shooter who is still developing his offensive game. Gets most of his touches in spot up situations, but also earns from chances by running the floor hard in transition. Has a pretty right handed stroke that he gets off very quickly. Has the size and high release point needed to get his shot off in the blink of an eye, making him a very dangerous threat from beyond the arc. Learning how to run off of screens more effectively to get open. Has always been a great catch and shoot player. Half of his attempts from the field come from beyond the arc. Only a decent shooter off the dribble, largely due to the fact that he struggles to create separation. Not going to turn the corner off the dribble. Needs to continue developing his ball-handling skills, which are currently very weak. Doesn’t finish at a high rate at the rim, as he’s often out of control with his dribble by the time he gets there. Lack of blow by speed hurts him when the defense is able to collapse around him. Extremely explosive at the rim in the open floor though. Goes to the line at an average rate and shoots a decent percentage. Doesn’t make plays for his teammates, but doesn’t turn the ball over either. Runs the floor extremely hard. Beginning to show a better feel for the game on the offensive end, which will only come with experience. Shot-selection still questionable at times. Needs to become more efficient as he gets older, and round out his game to be more than just a one-dimensional three point shooter. Shows some flashes of a post game thanks to his superior size, strength and length, and should continue to develop this part of his game to take advantage of mismatches.

Defense: Shows some signs on the defensive end, but not consistently. Not a bad one-on-one defender, but lacks the lateral quickness to consistently defend more athletic players. Will get beat off the dribble from time to time. Reaches a little bit too frequently. Doesn’t come up with many steals or blocks regardless. Has the size to contest shots and does a decent job getting a hand up when his man pulls up. Lacks some experience and savvy on this end. Will try and close out shooters and block their shots, leaving himself out of position for long rebounds. Cleans the glass at a solid rate for a wing. Makes a nice effort defensively, but still needs to develop better anticipation and fundamentals, and just learn the small tricks of the trade. Lacks the foot quickness to be a lockdown defender, and is somewhat stuck between the 2 and the 3, but has the strength, size and length to be a capable one with experience.

Strengths
Webster just has a great feel for putting the ball in the basket at the high school level, especially from the perimeter. Part of this is due to the fact that he's so much more mature than most players his age both physically (much bigger and stronger than anyone at his position) and mentally, but the fact that he is a very skilled player who has a good feel for the game can not be ignored.

Webster is a very natural shooter with excellent mechanics and nice elevation on his jump shot, although his release is a bit on the slow side because of his very deliberate motions. Once he sets his feet and gets his shoulders square, though, he is lights out. He can hit his jumper from anywhere on the court, and is good at getting his shot off in tough situations.

Physically, he's got a great body that is certainly ready for the NBA, and an above average wingspan. These skills make him an above average rebounder for the swing positions, because he can simply out-muscle his fellow guards for rebounds. And of course, his leaping ability also helps in this regard as he is quick to rise.

His playing style is pretty unique, and that's probably why so many people are intrigued by his game. He is most definitely not explosive, but has a certain smoothness to him, combined with good court awareness, maturity and an understanding of what's going on around him. In transition, he has powerful long strides, which are deliberate, but help him get to the basket and then finish strong. He shows a willingness to play within a set offense, not forcing the issue too much compared with most players his age (all-star games aside) and appearing to understand his role.

In terms of his intangibles, they appear to be fairly strong. His court demeanor looks good, he interacts well with his teammates and he seems to be a well spoken kid. He plays unselfishly and appears to be pretty mature for his age while carrying himself well on the court. He also supposedly has a very good work ethic.

Weaknesses
Something that hurts his potential to develop from a high school standout into an NBA star is that fact that his athletic ability is fairly underwhelming. He is not a stiff by any means, but is also not quick or explosive at all either. Webster's slashing ability suffers greatly because of this, as he already does not have great ball-handling skills (he only seems to go left) and combined with his average first step, this hurts his scoring potential. Watching tapes of his from high school, players his age don't seem to have too much trouble staying in front of him, although he does a pretty good job at masking this weakness by not forcing the issue too much.

Webster's footwork needs serious work on both ends of the court, especially since his feet aren't the quickest. He can come off a screen very well and elevate for a beautiful jump shot in rhythm or off one dribble, but anything more than that isn't quite there yet on a consistent basis. His off the ball movement could use some work as well.

All of this is meant to diversify his offensive approach to the game, which is sorely needed. Right now the only NBA ready skills he has on the offensive end is his ability to hit a set shot (which is impressive). However, he doesn't move that well without the ball, he cannot create that well off the dribble, he rarely plays in the post (even against weaker defenders), and he has not shown any ability in terms of creating for other players.

Defensively, his lateral quickness is extremely poor, and he'll very likely be a defensive liability for his first couple of seasons guarding NBA shooting guards until he learns how to adapt himself. Webster puts in the effort on the defensive end, but he just doesn't have the quickness or footwork to keep up with the athletic swingmen types he matches up with at the high school level. Playing as a professional, this problem will only be much worse.

While he has a great body, Webster doesn't really take advantage of it that much, which makes you wonder how useful it is.

Webster is a player who has shown a few intriguing skills as far as the NBA is concerned, especially his jump shot. The rest of his game will be decided by his upside, which at the moment is unknown. NBA teams appear to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in this area, though, because all high school prospects are supposed to have unlimited potential when they declare for the draft. Webster has his work cut out in many areas of the game to show that he is not just a one-dimensional shooter and that his lack of athleticism does not hurt his ability to develop the rest of his game.

Outlook
Webster has already hired an agent, so he is in the draft for good. He is considered by some to be the 2nd or 3rd best high school player in this draft. It has almost become a foregone conclusion that he will be drafted high because of the success of previous high school classes, especially last years. We'll have to see how that plays out, because he certainly isn't your typical high school prospect when you compare him to players his size from last year's high school class for example (Shaun Livingston, Josh Smith, JR Smith, Dorell Wright).

Martell put on an absolutely amazing shooting performance today. He has great lift, great mechanics, and NBA range on his shot. He looked to be a legitimate 6'6, maybe 6'7 and has a great body, although it was not the NBA body that some have claimed he has. Martell is a good, but not great athlete. He has a solid handle for a shooting guard, and is a pretty good passer to go along with it. Webster has already stated that he will go to Washington for at least one year, but that might change if he has strong performances in the Hoop Summit, Jordan Classic, and McDonald's game.