September 25, 2024
Sam Navarro/Imagn Images
After a difficult free agency process, Caleb Martin was able to land with a Sixers team that can offer him a significant role while vying for a championship.
Welcome to our Sixers player preview series! Between now and Sixers Media Day on Sep. 30, we will preview each one of the 14 players on the team's standard roster, posing two critical questions that will help determine their fate in 2024-25 before making a prediction about the player's season to come.
Today, we begin focusing on the five projected members of Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's starting lineup -- beginning with newcomer Caleb Martin, who departed from the Miami Heat, landed in Philadelphia on a four-year deal when his market dried up and gave the Sixers a starting-caliber wing they desperately needed.
Sixers player previews
Jared McCain | Adem Bona | Reggie Jackson | Guerschon Yabusele | KJ Martin | Ricky Council IV | Eric Gordon | Kyle Lowry | Andre Drummond
I am leading with this question because it is the one that has been dominating discussions surrounding Martin since he signed with the Sixers in July: can he really play the four?
Martin is listed at 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds with a 6-foot-10 wingspan -- certainly not the traditional frame of a power forward -- yet appears primed to start at that position for the Sixers when the year begins, potentially playing the vast majority of his minutes there.
The Sixers do extensive work studying any free agent they may sign, so they know that Martin is quite strong and plays with immense physicality that enables him to consistently hang in matchups above his listed height and weight. He is tenacious and fearless, the prototypical player you want in the foxhole with you.
Every once in a while, the Sixers will run into a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves that starts two bigs -- and in those situations, Martin could be over-tasked from a physical standpoint. But the Wolves are an anomaly in today's NBA, and in most games, it will actually benefit the Sixers tremendously to have a starting power forward who is perfectly comfortable defending not just wings, but also guards.
I understand the natural concern about a player who is theoretically undersized for their position, particularly given the context that includes the Sixers being pummeled on the glass by the New York Knicks during their first-round series loss in last year's playoffs.
However, not only do I believe this is the sort of issue that often becomes overblown very quickly, but I also believe it will not be nearly as apparent as many are predicting. Martin has all of the tools to hang in there just fine, even if a more perimeter-oriented role would be optimal for him long-term.
To me, this is the far more crucial question surrounding Martin's introduction to Philadelphia. During his three years in Miami, Martin shot a combined 36.8 percent from three-point range. That is good enough. But he also averaged only 3.2 long-range attempts per game, and on this Sixers team, that likely will not be good enough.
Moving forward, the Sixers offense will be built around three high-powered stars who can score with the best of them in Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George. That infrastructure does mean that a supporting cast member like Martin will not be asked to handle much of a scoring burden when the team's starting unit is on the floor. At the same time, the way to optimize a star trio like this one on the offensive end of the floor is to surround it with players who are not just accurate three-point shooters, but ones perfectly happy to fire away time and time again. This makes it much more difficult for opposing defenses to justify double-teaming a star player.
So, while Martin is accurate enough from beyond the arc to be considered a decent shooter, watch for teams to dare him to shoot at much higher volumes than he is used to.
Sometimes, a player can easily transition to shooting at increased volume if instructed to do so by their coaching staff. But some players are just not wired to be the sort of high-volume launchers that have become especially valuable in today's day and age. Which basket Martin falls into will have major influence over how much value he can provide the Sixers in his first year in Philadelphia.
Martin will easily handle whatever his defensive responsibilities are throughout the season, but his offense will lag behind a bit. He will still be a starter by year's end.
As you can tell by now, I have very little concerns about Martin defensively, even in a "new" position. But I do think the best version of the Sixers by the end of the 2024-25 season is one that has traded for a starting-caliber player who is also capable of manning the power forward spot. This is not because Martin cannot handle it over the course of a full season, but because he is at his best when hounding perimeter players and ball-handlers.
But to me, this entire point underscores why signing Martin was a no-brainer for a Sixers team trying to find surefire rotation players who can contribute on both ends of the floor: no matter how other portions of the team's rotation changes over time, Martin can slot into a role of some kind and be relied on as a critical contributor.
As far as whether or not Martin will be able to dramatically improve his three-point volume, there is no way to know for sure until the team steps on the floor. But I have become someone who is generally skeptical of such a transformation taking place once a player's style has already been established, and also do not anticipate Martin being able to consistently generate secondary scoring.
All of this will coalesce into Martin being the exact player the Sixers are counting on him being, and that is a perfectly fine outcome for all parties involved.
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