New York Knicks Rumors: Kenyon Martin Closer to Signing in NY?

| By Frankie Garcia

Sep 21, 2012 03:58 PM EDT

The New York Knicks have been rumored having a great chance of lander power forward Kenyon Martin.

Martin was previously on the Boston Celtics' radar, but the team recently signed former Knick, Darko Milicic instead. With this move, it is expected for the Celtics' interest in Martin to drop.

Martin is considered the best free agent out on the market. He can still impact a team and help their performance, especially on defense.

The Knicks do not have a lot of cash left to spend and can only offer Martin a minimum salary. However, what they can provide Martin is with a lot of veteran players he has shared the floor with.

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Martin played with Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby in Denver as part of the Nuggets. Also, Knicks' recent acquisition Jason Kidd and Martin played together back when they were running New Jersey.

With Martin in the lineup, he would add more tenacity to the defense. His scoring days are over, but that is not what the Knicks are looking for as they are sent themselves up with a solid starting five that can put points on the board.

The Knicks will need a bench that can hold on to leads or keep them close when trailing.

Martin still averages around a block and a steal per game, which will already add to a tough defensive bench for the Knicks.

The deal would make sense for both sides.
Read more at http://www.sportsworldreport.com/articles/5172/20120921/new-york-knicks-rumors-kenyon-martin-closer-to-signing-in-ny.htm#A7q0K4vsjrqeMGx7.99

At least post a reputable source.

CrushAlot wrote:I wanted Martin when the matador was in NY because he would have played d despite the philosophy and provided some intimidation. I don't see a need for him on this team but as a league minimum signing he wouldn't be the worse guy to have. Not sure how much he has left or how long a guy with a microfracture surgery on each knee can play. Shawne, Chris Anderson etc. might be better fits. I am not sure that Kmart sees himself as a role player yet.

He can still jump and defend. Basically it is a Jeffries upgrade. LA had him on the floor in the playoffs to close games as I recall. I would like Martin to have a legitimate back up 4. Even though the bigs have past injury and age issues their all are talented and minutes could be reduced for each player to save them for the playoffs.

smackeddog wrote:

nyvector16 wrote:K.Martin for the minimum is a total steal, but most importantly keeps him away from our rivals.
He will either compete with us or against us. It is a no-brainer to sign him.

There are a few things that make me a bit wary about him- firstly, he declined quite a lot last season (could just be the lockout and China), although I am amazed that he is still playing after having the two micro fracture surgeries. Secondly, he is injury prone. Camby is injury prone, so if Chandler (though not last season), and it seems like Amar'e might be too. Can we risk having another injury prone front court player?

I still think Shawne Williams is a slightly better fit, in that we need another shooter, he can play more positions and I think last season was just due to a freak injury that he tried to play through.

If you're worried about injuries and decline, then why would you be more in a favor of a player who looked like pure garbage after he left us and was hurt as well?

K mart is better than Shawne, really not even close.

Hell I wish we brought Jeffries back he can hit that 15 footer and takes charges

Also CrushAlot, please give the "matador" dig on MDA a rest. It's not like the team didn't defend when we finally added some real defensive talent. Also he was the one that wanted defensive players like Jared and Shump who he picked in the draft. He's never been anti D as so many tried to make him out to be. As i've proven before the reason he and STAT had a falling out was because he didn't defend enough. He may not be Thibs but he had players that defended even in PHX and here in NY the team defended well once we added Tyson, Shump, etc. The team was top 5-10 all year last year even before MDA resigned. Sure they played even better on D late in the year for Woody but that started even before Woody had a single practice, so it's not like he actually had to do something special. All it took was for Melo to finally raise his effort to a higher level. Rant over

Martin would be a good fit. I think it helps that he has already played with so many of the guys on the team. I like his edgy demeanor for this team as well.