Dan Barto, Skill Development Director at the PTC and Basketball Academy;
As a trainer who has spent the better part of 5 years on a court with countless NBA and college stars, I get all types of questions about the pro players with whom I have worked and what they were like. The real fans ask questions about shooting form, changing speeds, and work ethic. The professionals in the league ask about punctuality, how they shoot it moving off hard curls, and how much their "people" influence their games.
But if someone was to ask me who was the most intriguing player I’ve ever worked out, I would say the man who Sacremento just invested $ 55 million into, Kevin Martin. With the new NBA rookie contract situation only guarenteeing first round draftees just two years pay, agents and rising college/ international players should take note on this young man’s story. I know I have.
Working Kevin out for the first time two weeks ago here at the PTC, I was amazed at his professionalism, creativity, imagination and mix of high level skills.
Coach Thorpe called me on the Sunday Kevin was flying in, explained that Kevin would arrive at 2 PM into Sarasota, and based on his 6 years of experience working with Kevin, guessed that he would want to get in the gym right away. Since Coach Thorpe was not going to be here until Monday, he asked if I would be available to see Kevin IF he indeed wanted to get in a workout. I couldn’t wait.
Kevin texted me when he landed and said he’d be at the PTC at 3pm after dropping his stuff off at the condo, which is when he arrived. We had never met before, and I found him to be mild mannered and polite. And he came by himself, as he did all week. No entourage, friends, girlfriend, family, etc. Just him.
Though he had just gotten off a plane, it was a Sunday afternoon in mid-August, and his agent was in final negotiations for that monster contract, Kevin was locked into our workout. After each make or miss I could see his mind racing with reasoning for the result of the shot. Repeating his follow through, adjusting the width of his feet, staying balanced, pumping his fist after making three in a row, returning to the spot in which he was least successful from, and never once reacting negatively to my intentional "bad passes", Kevin kept a 75% rate of makes from all spots on the floor. As his legs got tired his shooting became a little eratic, as expected, so we set a goal that he finish all sets with 3 consecutive makes. Like all the other trials before him, Kevin happily smiled and crushed the challenge.
High scoring collegiate and NBA players tend to react with harsh external reasoning to makes and misses. High scoring players are usually high maintenance workout guys. Demanding better passes, requiring a different ball, wanting to shoot their own simple routine to keep them within their comfort zone. Enablement kills their ability to improve over time. Having seen how Coach Thorpe conducts our workouts here, drilling the players in game-like situations and challenging them to imagine a game-like environment (which is always random and difficult), it was not hard to see that impact on Kevin’s approach. He doesen’t just work out harder than most players of his talent level, he works out smarter. I’d obviously never worked him out before, and Coach Thorpe did not tell me to conduct any specific drills for Kevin, so I was able to create my own workout routing for him, which I think Kevin enjoyed even more-a new challenge.
I can tell a lot about player in their first workout with me. Kevin would have been successful in whatever he chose to do.
When you look back at his path to becoming the 26th pick in the 2004 draft, one must realize that no other small school college player in the last 7 years of the NBA draft has taken such a unique route to $11+ million per year. Few have done so in NBA history.
Kevin exhibits the same traits as poor students turned wealthy entrepreneurs. People skills, desire, openess to different concepts and ideas that are not main stream. And a work ethic to be envied.
Kevin Martin’s case is simple. He was used to adversity, coming from a small high school and going to a small college. But he always found ways to handle it professionally and advance within the system. Always under recruited, under hyped and rationalized for his successes, Kevin just keeps sliding upward, past a players' dream come true and towards being one of the elite 20 players in the NBA.
2007 will be Kevin's first run at being an all-star. Based on my experiences with him, this will be the first of many.
