Will he ever learn?
When even your coach can no longer justify your actions, as is the case with New Jersey Nets leader Byron Scott, fed up with the instability that comes with Kenyon Martin, you know that something in your game is seriously wrong.
As RealGM has informed people many times over the past month, Nets star forward Kenyon Martin is over the flagarant foul point threshold, meaning that every flagarant he receives results in a suspension. The threshold is five points, with the sixth drawing a suspension. Martin, with his thrown-elbow which hit Hawks forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim on the chin drawing a penalty 1 (lower) call, is now up to 8 points, which means the ante is upped to two game suspensions.
"He can't continue to do this," Scott said. "I have to get him to understand that he can't react negatively to things that are going on, on the court. If he is thinking someone is hitting him or he is not getting fouled, that is not the way to react."
When things do not go Kenyon's way he had a tendancy to turn his agressive play into exposive, which is bad for the Nets. While New Jersey did get the win over the Hawks last night Martin's flagarant allowed the Hawks to go up by 1 during the final quarter. It was Jason Kidd, however, who steadied the ship with a deep three pointer then a long jumper to give the Nets some breathing space.
"Everybody has to understand that he's a marked man and he has to understand that too," Kidd said. "Anything he does, the coach or the opposing player will ask for a flagrant foul."
Martin is set to miss at least Tuesday's game in Atlanta and Wednesday's game in Philadelphia. If Miami lose today the Nets will have secured a playoff berth already, which is great news for a franchise who, despite having the talent, have struggled over the past few seasons due to various factors.
"It's tough for us if he goes out and when he's missing games like that," said Kerry Kittles. "We try to stick by him as much as we can. Hopefully, Kenyon will continue to work at controlling himself out on the floor."
Including the current case Martin will have missed seven games this year due to suspension, costing him a total of $347,057 in match payments and fines according to Liz Robbins of the New York Times