There has been much disparaging of Martell and our selection of him and Jarrett Jack instead of Deron Williams or Chris Paul. While those two players have indeed become big contributors in year 3 Martell is not so shabby. Martell has those qualities so hard to find with terrific athleticism, wonderful shooting form, toughness and size. Some do not appreciate Martell as a shooter. He compares very well with NBA shooters.

Martell is a better 3-point shooter in year 3 than most 6-5 to 6-8 SFs. Can I back that up? Here is a list of shooters most of us know and how they shot the 3-point in year 3 of the NBA:

Martell Webster 38.8%

Ray Allen 35.6%

Reggie Miller 41.4%

Michael Jordan 18.2%

K*by Bryant 26.7%

Caron Butler 30.4%

James Worthy 0%

Clyde Drexler 20.0%

Ron Artest 31.2%

Dominique Wilkins 30.9%

Kiki Vanderweghe 29.4%

Carmelo Anthony 24.3%

Luol Deng 14.3%

Andre Iguodala 31.0%

Manu Ginobili 37.6%

Joe Johnson 30.5%

Magic Johnson 20.7%

James Jones 38.6%

Kyle Korver 42.0%

Rashard Lewis 43.2%

Martell Webster at age 21 shoots better from 3-point range than most 6-5 to 6-8 shooters at that age in the NBA:

Martell Webster 38.8%

Ray Allen 39.3%

Michael Jordan 17.3%

K*by Bryant 31.9%

James Worthy 25.0%

Clyde Drexler 25.0%

Ron Artest 29.1%

Carmelo Anthony 24.3%

Luol Deng 14.3%

Rudy Gay 34.6%

Andre Iguodala 33.1%

Joe Johnson 36.6%

Magic Johnson 17.6%

Rashard Lewis 43.2%

The thing Martell does best I think is shoot. Yes, he is streaky as all of these players were as well. Many of them were not in the league at age 21.

I also submit that Martell plays better defense than most of these at the same age/experience. This was not a blown pick. CP3 has wowed us all on the court this year but this was the same guy who showed off his expensive hot new ride on draft day with CP3 burned/monogrammed into the leather seats. He may need to be the center of attention at all times. Martell is humble and determined to get better. He has done that every year and when he gets inducted into the HOF nobody will consider this a blown pick! (Ok that was over the top. My bad.)

Getting a serviceable and tradeable point guard in Jack was simply icing on the cake. Martell is moving up and I am glad.

All stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com.