Is a Martin twin the cure to the Bucks’ sickness?
Per recent reporting from Jake Fischer of The Stein Line and discussed by our Riley Feldmann yesterday for Brew Hoop, the Milwaukee Bucks are interested in adding wing depth in the form of a Martin twin. Therefore, I threw together a piece on Cody outlining how a deal could work.
The Player
Cody Martin, 6’6”, 205 lb. wing
Season averages: 7.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.7 BPG, .433/.323/.694
The Charlotte Hornets’ Cody Martin is one of the wing defenders of all time. That’s it from me, folks! Jokes aside, Martin is certainly not some attractive name—and he’s got some majorly limiting factors that make him quite an imperfect fit on the Bucks—but you can probably guarantee that he’ll offer you more on defence than Connaughton will. And I wouldn’t blame anybody for immediately thinking “pass” (*whispers* I may have thought that myself), but hey, Cody could probably give you 10–20 minutes of reliable wing defence and be a solid locker room guy.
Furthermore, Martin has a team option in his contract for next season; Connaughton does not. If nothing else, you’re giving up an asset to get PC—who has a $9.4m player option he will assuredly pick up—off the books for next season. And let’s be honest, the Bucks could use a guy like this to chuck on some of the NBA’s bigger on-ball creators. Harken back to James Harden lighting Milwaukee up a week or so ago; the Bucks didn’t have a good option for him. Maybe Cody could have been that guy.
The Trade
The trade is simple. You incentivise Charlotte to take on the extra year of Connaughton’s salary by including the ’31 second, and Milwaukee gets a defensive upgrade on the wing, if only for half a season. Now, one thing that complicates this is the following reporting from The Athletic’s Eric Nehm:
“A quick poll of NBA executives conducted by The Athletic estimated the current price to dump Connaughton’s contract is three or four second-round picks or a late first-round pick in the next few seasons.”
In which case, the Bucks walk away, right? Maybe they’d have to include Tyler Smith or AJ Johnson, which seems like an overpay for an average player. Perhaps they value getting under the second apron so much that they’d do it?
The Fit
Ok, so I was pretty taken aback by Martin’s career stats. I mean, for his career, he has shot 66% from the free-throw line and 32% from three. Yikes! This season, he is shooting the best true-shooting percentage of his career and has the highest points average (7.8 PPG). But yes, the shooting and scoring are not all that enticing. Cody also played a total of 35 games over the previous two seasons, so he isn’t some beacon of health either.
I suppose Martin could provide a nice middle ground between AJax, Prince, and Trent on defence. His steal and block numbers (1.8 per game this season combined) are enticing. Maybe you just pray he can hit some shots on the other end. To Martin’s credit, although he is shooting 32% from three this season, he has lifted his attempts from around two per game to over three in the last two seasons. Eh, it’s not much, but it’s something.
With all that said, do the Bucks have a desperate enough need for Cody Martin? Are the assets they might have to give up too valuable? Or is the chance of discarding Pat Connaughton’s contract worth the hassle?