Kenyon Martin Believes The NBA Is Too Soft And Explains Why He’s Hype For BIG3


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Some basketball players are, quite simply, cut from a different cloth. In a game so predicated on finesse – especially in the modern era – it’s increasingly rare to find those tough-as-nails, blue-collar workers who understand their limitations and take pride in doing all the dirty work required to make a team successful, whose effort and competitive myopia are as much a part of their skill-set as any quantifiable ability.

Those are the guys everybody wants to play with.

Early in his career, former No. 1 pick Kenyon Martin had the whole package. He was a capable scorer in the post, a gritty rebounder and tenacious defender, and a high-flying roll-man who routinely threw down the types of vicious alley-oop jams that demoralized opponents. In just his second and third seasons in the NBA, he helped lead the New Jersey Nets to two straight Finals appearances alongside Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson and was named an All-Star in 2004.

But a pair of micro-fracture surgeries on both knees drastically undermined his athletic abilities in the prime of his career. Still, he never lost that competitive fire and effectively reinvented himself as a complementary player whose career lasted all the way to the 2015 season.

Thanks to his fiery personality, he often locked horns with coaches (George Karl) as well as his own teammates (Richard Jefferson, Alonzo Mourning, J.R. Smith) along the way, not to mention the officials and a litany of opposing players. In retirement, he’s finding new ways to channel that intense love for the game. Last week, we caught up with K-Mart to talk about the BIG3, his new NBA show with Michael Rapaport, and, of course, why he still believes the league is too soft today.

Last February, you launched a new streaming audio show on Tunein with Michael Rapaport called “Two-Man Weave.” For folks who aren’t familiar with the show yet, what can they expect next season?

It’s an NBA season show. Just raw, uncut, NBA knowledge and a little comedy mixed in there. Mike and myself. We all know what Mike is known for: speaking his mind at any given time and making fun of any given situation at any given time.

And then you got me. I’m not afraid to say anything. I tell the truth about the game of basketball, but that’s the only way I know how. I just break the game down from my angle the way I see it, the way I played the game. You know, it’s just a great show. It’s a great relationship, myself, Mike. We’re tuned in. Just great opportunities.

It seems like a great combination. Michael is obviously a very entertaining guy, but he’s also a pretty savvy basketball fan …

Yeah he’s been around the game forever, man. So, we have Rex Chapman on the show frequently. And Mike went to Five-Star Camp when Rex was at Kentucky when Mike was a kid so it’s one of those things. So Mike’s been around the game for a long time. He’s a New York kid. He loves the game. He loves the guys that’s in the game. He knows his knowledge of the game is amazing. You would never think that someone like that who’s an actor and comedian would have that in-depth knowledge about the game of basketball, which he does, which is very impressive.

The BIG3 tournament started Sunday, and a couple of weeks ago, there was a great video of you and Charles Oakley engaging in a little friendly trash talk. How ready are you to get back out there and compete?

Yeah, that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about the competition. It’s all about getting back out there and doing what I know how to do well and that’s play basketball and it’s compete on a high level, and that’s what the BIG3 has given myself and the other guys that’s in it. They’re just giving us the opportunity to continue what we built at a high level, going out and having fun. Just being around the guys and having that camaraderie again and then also giving back to the fans.

All the guys … A lot of us have our own fan following, and they miss us playing so just being able to give them the opportunity to see us play again in person and on TV.

Speaking of fans, what makes this tournament unique from their perspective?

It’s going to be competitive, man. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be entertaining. They get to see some of their favorite players play the game again and go out and get it done. That’s what we’re here to do. So we’re gonna play basketball. That’s what God put us on this Earth to do, first and foremost. So we’re going to make it fun for the fans. Just the opportunity for them to see some of the guys who they admired and maybe they still have jerseys of ours and they want to come to a game.

They want to throw their jersey on one last time. Get to put an Allen Iverson jersey on one last time. They get to see him play. Of course, it’s half court, but it’s still competitive. It’s gonna be very, very competitive, I can tell you that.

Going from playing five-on-five, full-court your whole career, how much of an adjustment will that be, and what’s it going to take to win this tournament?

I think it’s the grind. Running up and down, it’s definitely a grind, we all know that, the running, the jumping, it’s a grind, but it depends, half-court you still, you eliminate a lot of wear and tear that’s just unnecessary right now. Keeping half court, playing one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three, that’s how you grew up. If you can’t do that, then you shouldn’t be here. So, that’s what it is. This is the way the game is meant to be played. It’s kinda fitting. It’s mano-a-mano. It’s three-on-three. It’s mano-a-mano. You gotta hold your own. So, I’m excited about my team’s chance.

You got myself, Al Harrington is the co-captain. And we drafted Rashad McCants as the first pick. We picked Dion Glover and James White also. So, I like our chances. We got two big guards that could defend and knock down shots. James White is a great player that’s gonna be playing to knock down shots. Al Harrington’s the big body that is – nobody can stop Al from scoring. So, then you know I’m gonna complete on both sides of the ball, so I like our chances.

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I wanted to ask what made you guys take Rashad McCants with the first pick.

Just saw him work out. He was at one of the exhibition games that we held. And I know his competitive nature just from playing against him. Just being around him here and there throughout the years. Just having conversations with him, I know his competitive nature, and I know he’s going to bring it. He’s taking it very seriously. Going with his workout and all of that. It was either go get McCants or Andre Owens, so I decided to go with McCants. Andre Owens went second, so, you know, we’re all on the same page with the picks.

Now that the NBA Finals are over, the majority of the offseason has already been devoted to figuring out some way to compete against the monolithic teams like the Cavs and Warriors. It’s almost to the point where you have to assemble a “super team” to be able to do that. Is that a good or bad thing for the league?

I don’t know, man. It really doesn’t matter, because it is what it is now. In order to be competitive, you have to have multiple guys on, or draft multiple guys and put benches around those guys in order to complete the team. But as far as the top, those dogs are always here. [Teams] have to open their checkbooks up a little more in order to put these teams together.

You know, it’s just one of those situations. I think for years, Oklahoma City was competitive with it. K.D. and Russell on the team, I thought they were competitive, but K.D. switched landscapes, so I guess he thinks they weren’t competitive enough in order to compete with the Cavs. He went and joined a hell of a team. That’s just the nature of the NBA right now. In order for you to compete, that’s just what teams feel they have to do. It started with Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining at the Lakers back then. People forget about that.

People’s memories are short, man. And people have a short memory when it comes to dates. Especially certain guys. Then everybody wants to blame LeBron, but Kevin Garnett ran out of Minnesota, so it has happened. You know, but it is what it is at this point. If you want to compete, then you have to go out and draft right. Acquire the right talent in free agency. And if you do that and along with a couple of these quote-unquote names, super-stars, that’s what you have to do in order to compete.

But, I think you look at the formula that Golden State has. It’s not just the talent; it’s the way the guys play the game. You can have all the talent in the world, but it doesn’t payoff. We had great talent in Denver, but we didn’t win together, understand? So it doesn’t matter about the talent that you put out on the court. It’s about how well can they play together.

That was certainly true for the Lakers team you mentioned earlier.

They didn’t get it done. They ran against the team in Detroit. They played together. Didn’t have a bunch of big names, but they played together. They were a team. So the teams need individual names in it. Even then, I think Golden State, they’re a team. They’re not just individuals; they’re a team. Maybe you have a superstar like Kevin Durant, which by itself he just vibes right into what you already got going on and you don’t miss a beat.

You’ve said before that you think the league is too friendly today. Does that make it easier to form teams like these?

Yeah. It’s not friendly, it’s soft. Friendly is just, that’s the PC word. It’s soft, man. It is what it is, man. The guys are kids; they don’t know how to play. They don’t know how to complete. They think they’re competing, but they’re not. They haven’t been told. So I blame the [the fact that it] starts early, AAU and on. Before that, the high school coaches. So it starts long before they get to the NBA. It’s just a problem because the NBA is a business. It’s a money-making cash cow. So it’s glorified that this is the way that they want these people to play now. And it’s unfortunate because I learned how to play basketball the right way and how to go out and compete. They all – we all can be friends off the court, but it’s too much, just too much hugging it out, in my opinion. Everybody’s hugging it out. Everybody’s buddy-buddy.

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You came into the league back when it was still pretty physical, so what was it like for you to witness first-hand that transition to the more finesse style of play we see today?

I didn’t change. I know how to play basketball one way. And I’m not going to compromise the way I play the game. I saw the way it was going. My last two years with the Knicks, like, every hard foul, just a regular hard foul, they was going to the replays, you know? They trying to look at it like it was a flagrant. I mean, it was a hard foul! Like, so that let me know then. And then fast forward four years now, and well there you have it. That was then, and now you have everything. If a guy fumbles the wrong way, it’s a flagrant warning. If a guy does something to get kicked out of the game, like, everything’s a technical now. Everything’s a flagrant. It is what it is, but for real, basketball fans better appreciate THE game, the true essence of basketball, which is playing on both sides of the ball.

They don’t appreciate this brand of basketball. Some people do, which I get it. I’m saying, this brand of basketball, it’s the social media era of basketball. Everything’s fast. Everything’s right now. Everything’s threes. Everything’s long-distance. You know what happens if you’re right next to anyone right now? So I just look at it like,” Oh yeah, refs. Personal contact.” Now everything is in the air and that’s the three ball. That’s the three ball in the air.

You did a great piece for the Players Tribune recently about the guys everybody hated playing against in your day. Who do you think are some of the toughest guys in the league right now?

Kyle Lowry, Tony Allen, Russell Westbrook, I think Kawhi. Kawhi plays that way. Jimmy Butler plays that way. Draymond Green, of course. DeMarcus Cousins, in a way, although he needs to tone it down a little bit. The list is short. I like Avery Bradley; he mixes it up on both ends. The list is very, very, very slim.

Part of the evolution we were talking about relates directly to big men, like yourself. How much more pressure do young big men have to be versatile now?

Well, I think you have to able to shoot that thing down. Not just 15, 16-footers, which before was, like, if you can hit a 15-footer, you would last a long time in this league. Now, if you can make a 15-footer, that’s not good enough. You know that’s unfortunate because that’s …

They don’t even want you to shoot a 15-footer because of the analytics.

Yeah, that’s crazy! Like, that’s not the sport of basketball. Last I looked up, it still goes down on the board as two points. You know, so it’s unfortunate that they trying to wean the traditional big man out of the game, man. But, I just tell them, if you a big, just evolve. Be able to play with your back to the basket, and being able to stretch the floor is something that you’re going to have to do nowadays. Which, if that’s your game, then please add the outside shot.

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Speaking of up-and-coming bigs, your son, Kenyon Martin Jr., is showing a lot of promise on the basketball court. What’s it like watching him develop, and what kind of advice do you try to impart on him?

I’m a proud poppa, man. At this point, I just like the way he approaches the game. He’s got a long way to go. He’s only 16. I give him all the knowledge that’s in this brain of mine, any basketball thing that I see. I watch him play more than anybody. So, I know the things that he can, things that he can’t do, things that need to work on, things that I know that he does well. You know, so I tell him, obviously, he got the answers to the test at home. He got the answers to the test right at home, so all he gotta do is listen. If he listen and apply what I’m telling him, the sky’s the limit for him. If he don’t listen and he wants to do it on his own, he still could make it, but it will probably add a few bumps.

He has a lot of gifts at his age that I didn’t have. He shoots the ball better than I did, dribbles the ball better than I did. And he got me at home, which I didn’t have anyone like that. The opportunities are there for him. Just putting him in the right situations, around the right people, and I’m letting him make his own decisions.

He picked his own AAU team, he picked the school that he wanted to transfer to. I’m letting him make those decisions. He tells me where he would like to go to college, schools that he might not want to go to. I’m letting him make those decisions, but I’m steering him in the right direction. If he’s going to make the wrong decision, then I step in. But I’m letting him make these decisions, but I’m just steering him in the right direction, that’s all.

The comparisons to you are inevitable, and like you said, he can already shoot and handle the ball pretty well for a guy his size. He’s literally you, 2.0.

Yeah, he is. Listen, it’s scary. But people that see him play, and they’re like, it’s everything. His mannerisms, dunking the ball and slapping the glass. He’s doing that now, so stuff like that. It’s in him. So I’m just trying to get it out of him in all aspects, man. What can I say, he plays. He’s competitive. He’s a sore loser. He hates losing, which I love about him, and you can’t teach that. I know, so I love that about him. I love how he competes. You know, so, we’ll see what’s next, man.

He definitely has an opportunity to be special. I’m gonna make sure that he does it the right way. I’m his biggest fan and his biggest critic. I think I give him a nice dose of it all, you know what I’m saying? I’m very, very supportive of the things that he does well on and off the court. I’m letting him understand what he doing wrong, what he needs to fix in order to get to the [next level]. His goal was he wanted to be in the NBA. So, like I said before, he has the answers to the test at home. All he got to do is look at it.

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