"We will show you how to safely gamble, bet and play online."
B. Paul, Editor, Bonusgambler.com
|
New Jersey Lottery
It was the day before their Halloween season opener, and the New Nets were having their last practice at their facility in East Rutherford, NJ. Less than 15 miles away, across the Hudson River, Yankees mania was sweeping New York City, with 3.5 million people crowding a stretch of Broadway in lower Manhattan known as "the Canyon of Heroes". The ticker-tape parade route was awash in confetti, as the Bronx Bombers celebrated their victory in the first all-New York World Series in 44 years.
Such adulation is unfamiliar to the moribund Nets, who haven't won a playoff series in 15 years and have had only three winning seasons over that time. On that day,as on most,the Nets were a non-story in sports-crazed New York.
Since teasing their fans with 43 wins, and qualifying for the last playoff spot in the East in 1997-98, the Nets have sunk to lower and lower depths.
Last year, for instance, it began with a 2-15 start and ended with an 11-game losing streak. Despite their futility, the Nets entered the Draft Lottery with only a 4.4% chance of being awarded the first pick. When the improbable occurred and the Ping-Pong ball bounced their way, the Nets finally found a way to grab the New York tabloids' back-page sports headlines. Wisely, the Nets used the first pick in the June draft to snag the consensus national college player of the year, Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin.
The pick made sense. In a draft teaming with high school kids and underclassman, Martin was a "senior citizen". The 23-year-old Martin was also clearly the most athletic frontcourt player available. The Nets desperately needed a player up front who could step in immediately, and Martin brought a near NBA-ready game to the table.
"He has great explosion", says University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, "great quickness and great explosion". Huggins believes Martin is the most athletic big man he has ever recruited.
Will Martin's physical tools help him to be the Nets' savior or is Martin destined to join the infamous list of past New Jersey lottery picks who failed to carry the organization over the hump? [See Lottery Losers].
At this point in the season, the jury is still out. But, the path Martin has taken suggests persistence. Martin came to Cincinnati already as a solid defender; a tremendous shot-blocker with quick leaping ability and a wide wingspan. But his career was derailed when he failed to meet the NCAA's eligibility requirements.
After sitting out a full season and the first few months of his freshman-eligible season, Martin achieved the NCAA's minimum ACT score on his final try. "Not being eligible right away was hard on me", he says. "But I worked at passing my test, and I passed it. You know, anything I put my mind to, I think I can do it. I put my mind to passing the test and I did, and I was eligible in January of my freshman year, so I still got to play part of the season".
Martin averaged only 2.8 points in limited duty that season. Huggins believes the whole ordeal provided a valuable lesson that helped shape Martins character. "I think that took the game away from him and I think when the game is taken away from guys who really love the game and really like to play, they do everything possible to see to it that, that doesn't happen again", Huggins says.
By his sophomore year, Martin was reaping the rewards of a dedicated offseason. He recorded Cincinnati's first triple-double in 31 years with 24 points, 23 rebounds and 10 blocks in a win over DePaul, and he won his first, of three straight Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year awards. His free throw shooting, which was a Shaq-like 31% his freshman year, improved to 48%, and continued to improve through his senior year, when he was a respectable 68% clip from the line.
After being named honorable mention All-America as a junior, Martin's draft stock was on the rise. But Martin chose to remain in school, "for his teammates to win a national championship", Huggins says. Those hopes were ended when Martin broke his right fibula during a Conference USA Tournament game in March of his senior year. The Bearcats had been NCAA Tournament favorites, mostly due to Martin's 18.9 points. 9.7 rebounds, and 3.45 blocked shots per game.
The injury left doubts about Martin's draft position. Many still questioned whether his explosiveness had returned when he struggled at times during training camp. First-year Nets' coach Byron Scott even publicly questioned Martin's consistency and effort.
"He is not in shape right now. He hasn't played since last March, and the first time he really ran up and down and played was when training camp started", observed Huggins during the Nets' camp. "He just doesn't have any legs right now".
The Nets needed him to get his legs quickly, though, because the franchise's injury jinx was in full force. Since seeing their inaugural season in the NBA in 1976-77 marred by injuries to Hall-of-Famer Nate Archibald, the Nets have rarely been healthy. This year began with the offseason news that Jayson Williams was hanging it up for good, a bad leg and bum knee making it impossible for him to withstand the 82-game grind. A new round of injuries to key contributors Keith Van Horn (broken leg), Kerry Kitties (knee), Jamie Feick (Achilles tendon), and Lucious Harris (hernia) looked to put New Jersey in its usual season-killing injury straits.
"We are missing a lot of guys right now. It will be hard", Martin said early in the season. "But, you know, me and Keith Van Horn, we're going to work good together, and I think when he comes back it is still going to happen, so we can't change anything." Once the team is in full strength, coach Scott plans to interchange Van Horn and Martin at the small- and power-forward positions, stressing their athleticism and versatility".
As the preseason wound down, the team was left mixing and matching spare parts due to the franchise's usual bout with the injury bug. With Van Horn sitting on the sidelines with his leg in a cast, Martin was the focal point of the halfcourt post-up play the Nets were running over and over again in that last practice before the regular season.
Scott, the former Los Angeles Lakers great who regularly beats his players in one-on-one games after practice, stood at halfcourt surveying the scene. At 39, Scott is not too far removed from a playing career, but his authoritative presence stands in stark contrast to some of his young players. The team's Star point guard, Stephon Marbury, a brash 23-year-old, four-season NBA "veteran", was all smiles and laughs, bellowing a loud refrain of "Who Let The Dogs Out" when the whistle blew following a Martin jumper in the lane.
With the quiet Martin standing next to Marbury, someone uninformed might have had trouble picking out the rookie from the mature veteran. "Whether I am on the court or off the court, I don't think I act like I am a rookie in the league", Martin explains. "You know, I try not to carry myself like a kid".
The question is will that maturity alleviate the inevitable pressure he is facing this year? "I think enough pressure has been put on him already, being the No. 1 pick, and with my predictions of him being the rookie of the year, if he plays that way he is capable of playing", Scott says. "There is also probably the added pressure he has put on himself to deliver, that he can really come here and contribute right away".
With the minutes he will get, a double-double may be expected. But while his coach talks about the pressure to be the rookie of the year, Martin is focused on defensive accolades. "Making the All-Defensive Team is one of my goals, but that is so out there. I want to, but I know it might not happen as a rookie. You never know. I am going to go out there and play defensively every game, because that helps you to win games", he says.
Those words are better music to his coach's ears than Marbury's singing. "That is a great sign", Scott says with a smile. "I think that goes back to [Martin being] somebody who went to school for four years and has got that maturity and experience in the basketball world. He is a defensive player, and he knows it. He was college player of the year, and a lot of that was based on how he dominated games on the defensive end. I think that is very significant. The reason he wears No. 6, which was Bill Russell's number, is because he wants to be that type of player on the defensive end".
A little Oscar Robertson, a fellow University of Cincinnati Bearcat, might not hurt on the offensive end either, if Martin and the Nets hope to emerge from the playoff bubble in the weak Eastern Conference.
Source: BonusGambler.com Editors' Choice
|
Gambling Help Resources:
