Kenyon Martin has a secret. He of the seven flagrant fouls and the eight tattoos and the nine hundred tempestuous outbursts is actually a nice guy, the kind of guy who routinely picks up the check at dinner, who laughs at the good parts of bad movies, who lends his buddy a suit and then says "just keep it."

"Look, the man offered to pay my salary when the team was debating whether or not they could afford to keep me, which is something you just don't see in professional sports," says New Jersey Nets forward Donny Marshall, recently reinstated after getting cut at the beginning of the season. In the end, NBA rules wouldn't allow Martin to chip in for Marshall's paycheck, but his offer made Marshall know for sure that Martin's bark is worse than his bite.

"You could call him at 3 a.m. and he'd do anything for you; I think he's the most caring guy on our team."