Rockets guard Kevin Martin has worked very hard and had a tremendous offseason, according to personal coach David Thorpe.

Martin has shot the ball very well and Thorpe attributed his play to improved health.

"There were two issues," Thorpe said. "Basically in his last full season in Sacramento, he was attacking basket and was tackled by Anthony Randolph. He landed incredibly awkwardly on his ankle. When he was rehabbing the ankle for a sprain, which should have been a 10-day issue, he found out he had severely bruised the ankle. He was not rehabbing that correctly, impacting his athleticism. He was in pain when he returned and kept re-aggravating it and re-aggravating it. He was up all night in pain some nights.

"That summer, it was really hard to get him back to being athletic. I don't think he had another dunk that season. He was in tremendous pain. Then last year, Allen Iverson undercut him, I believe unintentionally, and he broke his wrist and shot poorly because of the broken wrist.

"This is the first time since November, '08 he has been 100 percent physically (with the ankle) and the wrist feels great.

"I'd love to say it is all from the hard work. He worked hard, but the biggest thing is he is totally healthy and back to being a really, really athletic player. He looked like a 21-year-old the way he was running and jumping and sprinting. The results were phenomenal. He never shot like this. He never had a better summer shooting the ball than this summer. I'm more hopeful than I ever have been before about him shooting the 3.

"He wants to be an all star, wants to be one of best shooting guards in the league. He knows he has things to improve. He knows he has to stay healthy. He's not afraid of the challenge."