by Modifly on Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:22 pm
Speaking of Martin, from my perspective, I think he's not quite an all-star caliber player but he's in the same category as players like Luis Scola, Joe Johnson and Carlos Boozer. These players are star players who's not quite up there, but can light it up night in and night out. Their game is rather one dimensional, but they does their job and what they're good at well. There's no doubt that Martin is an elite scorer in the NBA, is very efficient, gets to the line at ease (though you can argue that he flops his way to the line most of the time but that still gets the job done) and is a player who can put up 30 points on a regular basis just like an all-star. However, these kind of players are not capable of making the team they're on a contender because they doesn't play other aspects of the game that well (or maybe they don't have enough help from their teammates because they're on a bad team). If you look at contenders like Boston, Lakers or Heat, it's quite obvious that their "star" players are much more all around and if not, they have a roster that provides both offense and defense at an elite level aka enough help from teammates.
I doubt if Kevin Martin will ever be an all-star, mainly because he doesn't have a huge fan base and also because he won't get voted in by the coaches. If he's on a good team, maybe. If he's in the east, maybe. But in the west where there's more deserving true "star" players, I don't think so.
On a different note, Griffin is going to participate in the Slam Dunk contest, the Rookie challenge and the All-Star game this coming All-Star weekend. He's going to be exhausted if he plays in all of those.
