Kevin Martin (Photo : Jonathan Daniel | Getty Images Sport)
Kevin Martin is now being considered by more teams, especially the Bulls since they have a new coach.
A new coach can bring about major changes to a team, even its core values. This is exactly what is anticipated for the Chicago Bulls when they hired Fred Hoiberg.
Floor spacing will be valuable in their offensive sets, and Kevin Martin's shooting will be an asset. Blog A Bull recognized this opportunity to get an efficient, veteran shooter who still averaged 20 points a game.
The proposal: "Bulls receive: Kevin Martin; Timberwolves receive: Tony Snell, Kirk Hinrich, E'Twaun Moore, Cameron Bairstow, SAC pick"
"T-Wolves have young players on the wings in Wiggins, Zach LaVine, and Shabazz Muhammad that are deserving of playing time and shouldn't lose minutes to a guy like Kevin Martin," BAB surmised. "The Bulls can play Martin with Butler or Dunleavy, and he'll provide real spacing simply not given by the Snell/Hinrich/Moore triumvirate. Martin makes about $7m/year and has a player option for next year, but if he opted out (guessing he will), the Bulls would still have his Bird rights."
The Bird rights is an essential part of the trade that can allow the team to renew Martin without slicing through their salary cap.
Zach Lowe of Grantland has confirmed that Minnesota has relegated Martin to an off the bench role. But more than that, the entire philosophy of the Wolves revolve around player development, and 32-year old Martin is better off elsewhere.
"It wasn't long ago that Kevin Martin was freaking awesome - an advanced-stats darling who canned 3s, got to the line at an absurd rate, and did enough on offense that you could almost ignore the damage he inflicted on the other end," Lowe recalled. "He's still pretty good; he averaged 21.5 points per 36 minutes last season, and he's clearly a better player than LaVine today. The Wolves don't really care."
This is reason enough for the Wolves to take a look at this possible proposal, or specifically, the version of it that the front office will pitch.
