Tag: KJ Martin

Rockets’ KJ Martin to remain out Thursday due to COVID-19 protocols

The Rockets rookie reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus and has yet to play during the regular season.

Four members of the Houston Rockets are expected to make their regular-season debuts on Thursday, but rookie KJ Martin will have to wait a little bit longer to take the floor.

Martin reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus and has yet to play with the Rockets during the regular season. The positive test from Martin also forced John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Gordon and Mason Jones to enter a mandatory seven-day quarantine as the group of players were in close contact at an apartment getting haircuts last week.

Houston welcomed back the four players to practice on Wednesday, which served as an important step in turning the season around. The Rockets have been shorthanded, often only fielding a nine-man roster, due to the issues surrounding the coronavirus and have started the season 0-2 as a result.

Meanwhile, the timeline for Martin to return to the team is unclear.

The NBA outlined prior to the start of the season that any player who tests positive for the coronavirus will be forced to wait at least 10 days from the initial positive test or test negative twice 24 hours apart via PCR testing to be cleared. The player is also not allowed to exercise for at least 10 days.

With Martin still to return, Houston finally appears to be nearing full strength after a chaotic start to the regular season. The team will be looking to put the first week of the season behind them and get back on track starting with the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.

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Report: Rockets’ contact tracing connected to rookie KJ Martin

Martin was among the players reportedly at an apartment outside of the team facility getting a haircut recently.

On Wednesday, several players on the Houston Rockets were reportedly sent home from the team facility after a teammate tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The report indicated that the group of individuals sent home includes John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and rookie KJ Martin. The players were at an apartment outside of the team facility getting haircuts as the contact tracing is connected to the results on Martin, who returned a positive test.

Wall and Cousins have each tested negative for the coronavirus while Martin is currently in self-isolation awaiting additional testing. Martin has been ruled out of playing in the Rockets’ season opener on Wednesday versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The recent news involving the Wall, Cousins and Martin is the latest incident related to the coronavirus to emerge from the Rockets’ organization. The NBA and Rockets are reportedly investigating recent activity involving James Harden after the eight-time All-Star was captured on video maskless at an unauthorized party.

Harden was reportedly at a Christmas party at a strip club in Houston this week. He said Wednesday on Instagram that the event was not at a strip club and that he was just supporting a friend of his. However, NBA protocols strictly prohibit players from attending social gatherings at bars, lounges or clubs with greater than 15 individuals present.

The message posted by Harden has since been removed from Instagram.

Harden faces potential discipline by the NBA if it can be determined he was present at the party. The league can give a warning to Harden or issue a fine and/or suspension following its investigation. His status for Wednesday’s game is in question.

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KJ Martin views childhood around the NBA as advantage in rookie year

KJ often attended practices and games with his father and believes those experiences have served as an advantage throughout his career.

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Growing up, KJ Martin would often attend practices and games with his father, Kenyon Martin. The experiences KJ had during that time helped shape him as a player today and the 19-year-old has used them as an advantage throughout his career.

Of course, Kenyon was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets and spent the first four years of his career with the organization. He would go on to have four other stops in the NBA before retiring in 2015.

KJ was around his father often as a youngster in basketball settings and saw firsthand what it was like to be a player in the NBA. Not every player coming up now is offered that same chance so KJ believes it has served as an advantage to this point.

“A lot of people say, ‘Do I feel pressure?’ [as the son of a former player] or things like that but I take it as an advantage,” KJ said Friday on a Zoom call with reporters. “Since I was super young, I remember being at practices every day with my dad as much as I can, going to games as much as I can. Seeing those guys work, and the environment that they are in, and how dedicated they are from a young age helped me all the way until this point.”

Of course, the Rockets acquired KJ with the 52nd overall pick in the NBA draft. The organization entered draft night without a pick but opted to purchase one from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for a future selection to take KJ.

The 6-foot-7 product from the IMG Academy averaged 19.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks last season and shot 69.1% on 2-point field goals. He is viewed as one of the most athletic prospects this year and posted a 38.5-inch max vertical jump at the combine.

KJ said that he views himself as a three or a four with the Rockets and envisions he can play as PJ Tucker does now by defending multiple positions and impacting games on both ends of the floor. He will also be looking to use his athleticism to his advantage, offensively and defensively.

The Rockets signed him to a four-year deal with the first season fully guaranteed so KJ figures to have an opportunity to showcase his abilities this season.

Houston begins preseason play on Dec. 11 vs. the Chicago Bulls.

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Media Day highlights: K.J. Martin, David Nwaba, and Ben McLemore

Here are the key storylines from Friday’s interviews (Ben McLemore, David Nwaba, K.J. Martin) at Houston Rockets training camp.

Friday’s interviewees from Houston Rockets training camp were swingman David Nwaba, guard Ben McLemore, and rookie K.J. Martin.

For Nwaba, it was his first interview session since signing with the Rockets in June. Now 27 years old, the 6-foot-5 defensive stopper detailed his ongoing recovery from a torn Achilles, adding that he expects to be ready for the start of the NBA’s 2020-21 season later this month.

For Martin, Friday’s chat was the 19-year-old’s first media availability since being drafted at No. 52 overall. The 6-foot-6 prospect, whose father is Kenyon Martin (an accomplished player and the No. 1 pick in 2000), offered candid thoughts on the role of his NBA lineage; transitioning to the league; and his potential role with the Rockets in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, McLemore shared perspective on how he plans to build off his breakthrough season of 2019-20 — when he led the NBA’s most aggressive team from 3-point range with a 40.0% clip on 3-pointers.

From Twitter, here’s a roundup of the key takeaways from Friday’s media sessions at Toyota Center. The Rockets are still in the “individual workouts” phase of training camp, but they will transition to full group practices on Sunday. All players are expected to be in attendance and available to play at that time, per head coach Stephen Silas.

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Rockets ink second-round pick KJ Martin to four-year deal

Martin, who is the son of Kenyon Martin, will have the first year of his contract fully guaranteed by the Rockets.

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KJ Martin, the 52nd overall pick in the NBA draft, is reportedly signing a four-year contract with the Houston Rockets, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

The news of the deal was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Martin, who is the son of Kenyon Martin, will have the first year of the contract fully guaranteed, according to the report. The Rockets entered the draft without a selection but opted to purchase one from the Los Angeles Lakers to take Martin.

The 19-year-old averaged 19.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks last season and shot 69.1% on 2-point field goals. He is viewed as one of the most athletic prospects in the draft this year and posted a 38.5-inch max vertical jump at the combine.

Martin said in an interview last week that he was very happy Houston opted to buy a draft pick to select him. With the Rockets potentially looking to trade James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Martin could see a larger-than-normal role next season.

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KJ Martin felt ‘very wanted’ once Rockets traded for him in NBA draft

Martin, expressed his gratitude for the Rockets taking a chance on him in the second round of the NBA draft last week.

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K.J. Martin, the son of Kenyon Martin, expressed on Wednesday his gratitude for the Houston Rockets taking a chance on him in the second round of the NBA draft last week.

The Rockets entered the draft without a selection but opted to purchase a second-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for a 2021 pick. They used that pick to take the 19-year-old Martin, who played a post-graduate year at the IMG Academy.

Martin averaged 19.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks last season and shot 69.1% on 2-point field goals. He is viewed as one of the most athletic prospects in the draft this year and posted a 38.5-inch max vertical jump at the combine.

He was ecstatic the Rockets bought a draft pick to select him.

“It was great,” Martin told Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston. “It was great to hear because Houston had no picks and they bought a pick for me. So it made me feel very welcome and very wanted. I’m very excited and (Houston) is obviously a great city.”

The Rockets haven’t yet announced the signing of Martin but he said he is eager to get to work this season. The organization faces some uncertainty with James Harden and Russell Westbrook each looking to move on so Martin could eventually be in the team’s rebuilding plans.

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2020 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0: Final update ranking Top 100 prospects

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

Originally scheduled for June, the ongoing pandemic pushed the big night back by five months. While this may cause some teams to overthink their decisions, it gave analysts plenty of time to study all of the top prospects eligible in this class.

This year, players had to participate in a mostly virtual pre-draft process. On the bright side, this meant that teams had the opportunity to interview more candidates than ever before.

However, the number of in-person visits were incredibly limited due to the restrictive parameters set by the league. Similarly, the NBA draft combine was conducted without the typical scrimmages where players can separate themselves from the others with impressive on-court performances.

Overall, the players that stood out in this pre-draft process had a different path to recognition than any other year. College basketball players did not have the opportunity to showcase themselves during March Madness. The nation’s top seniors did not get to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

As such, executives will rely mostly on the existing game footage as well as the intel they gathered during their conversations with the prospects. We also depended on similar strategies, getting access to one-on-one interviews with more than three dozen prospects and exchanging our thoughts with various scouts across the league.

This helped us put together our final big board, looking at the Top 100 players ranked on their potential to make a difference for teams in the NBA.

Relevant statistics were pulled from Synergy Sports Tech, Bart-Torvik, KenPom, Open Look Analytics and RealGM. Note that the age listed for each player references how old they will be on the night of the draft.

Report: Boston Celtics have met with KJ Martin, LaMarr Stevens

The Boston Celtics have reportedly met with forward prospects KJ Martin and Lamar Stevens virtually.

The Boston Celtics have met virtually with forwards K.J. Martin and LaMar Stevens according to Forbes Sports’ Chris Grenham.

Both are projected near the end of the second round to undrafted, meaning these prospects would potentially be stash candidates for the 47th pick, should the Celtics hang onto it.

Martin (son of NBA veteran Kenyon of the same last name) is a 6-foot-6 wing who spent last season at IMG Academy, and can’t shoot or pass especially well, but has decent athleticism, handles and hops.

Stevens also has some work to do on his jumper, having hit just 27.6% of his treys while with the Nittany Lions at Penn State.

But, he is a proficient scorer and rebounder for his position, using his muscular, 6-foot-8 frame to get where he needs to on the court.

That may not work as well at the next level, but his ability to draw fouls as a slasher and defend against both bigs and slower wings with 230 lbs. of heft suggest he’ll stand a better chance of making it in the NBA.

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