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Friday, August 18, 2000
No. 1 pick strives Kenyon Martin skies high to block a shot at the rim, eliciting "oohs" from the spectators at Kamehameha's Kekuhaupi'o Gym.
to improve
Big man Kenyon Martin
is confident about his jump
from college to the prosBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinWhen he's back on the ground, he pulls up and swishes a jumper from the top of the key with an NBA veteran in his face.
Back to one-on-one play and the 6-foot-9 Martin shows the footwork and quick hands that won him more than one Conference USA defensive player of the year award while playing for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
"I'm learning from the best in the business," said Martin, explaining why he decided to enroll at Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell's 23rd Big Man Camp.
The breadth of his impending leap from college to pros isn't lost on the NBA's top pick of 2000. But he exudes confidence.
"I'm gonna be quicker than most of the big guys I play against," said Martin, leaving no doubt with his eye-catching moves on the Kamehameha hardwood.
He executes Newell's half-court drills without removing the sparkling rocks from his ears, a sign of wealth soon to come.
He has yet to sign with the New Jersey Nets. But Elton Brand, last year's top pick, got $10 million over three years with the Chicago Bulls.
That means Martin could wind up even richer.
"It's behind me now," Martin said when asked about the fractured fibula he suffered in the quarterfinals of last season's Conference USA tournament. The injury, painful to him in more ways than one, made him sit out the Bearcats' ill-fated run at the NCAA crown.
"I'm a totally team guy and to see them struggle out there hurt more than anything."
Martin, 23, insists he doesn't feel any pressure as the Nets' lottery prize.
"I go out every day with the attitude that I was the last pick of the draft," he said. "That I can always get better."
He punctuates that thought by pointing to the Chinese characters tattooed between the crook of his left elbow and his wrist.
"It means, 'Never satisfied,' " Martin said. "I just saw it at the tattoo place and it describes me."
He can also get meaner. An elaborately designed tattoo on the upper part of his left arm illustrates that point.
"It's the Grim Reaper," he said. "That's how I see myself. I go out and take what I want."
For further emphasis of that message, he bears the words "Bad a-- yellow boy" on his chest.
Martin explains that "yellow boy" is a term used in Texas to describe a lighter skinned African-American like himself. But his expression softens considerably as he explains an almost indecipherable tattoo on the shoulder of his right arm.
"That's my mother's name, Lydia, and it's in old world script," Martin said.
He said it was seeing her smile when his name was called at draft central in Minnesota on June 28 that made getting to the NBA worthwhile.
"I worked so hard so my mom never has to struggle again, and I can put a smile on her face permanently," he said.
She's always lived in small apartments in his hometown of Dallas, but Martin said he's going to buy her a home of her own.