You might have noticed KJ Martin shoots jumpers with his right hand but frequently finishes in the paint with his left.
“When I was younger, I used to shoot with two hands and my dad was like, ‘you can’t shoot like that, you got to pick to one’ and for some reason I picked my right hand,” is how the ambidextrous forward described selecting his shooting hand.
He went on to explain that while the right hand was what he picked to shoot with, he still uses the left hand for shots closer to the rim.
“I’m all messed up,” he said.
When the Sixers received a bundle of four role players last year when they traded James Harden to the LA Clippers, Martin was the first guy on the outside looking in.
Nico Batum and Robert Covington were floor spacing wings that could complement their All-Stars. Marcus Morris Sr. had a decently high salary that would be used to facilitate moves at the trade deadline. For Martin, a 6-foot-6 forward with all the athleticism in the world with hardly an outside shot to speak of, his place was a little less clear. Martin is a career 33 percent three-point shooter on 1.8 attempts per game.
Martin was on the fringes of the rotation last season, appearing in 58 out of a total of 76 possible games for the Sixers, averaging 12.3 minutes per game. This season started off similarly for him, racking up three DNP-CDs in the first 13 games of the season.
Despite possessing so many physical tools the rest of the roster lacked, it was tricky to find minutes for player with his offensive limitations on a team that is bottom five in total offense and three-point shooting.
As the Sixers front court continued to dwindle, Martin was given more of an opportunity and has made the most of it so far. On top of Joel Embiid only suiting up for four games so far this season, Andre Drummond and Adem Bona have both missed games due to injury.
Martin’s hustle and effort paired with his physical tools have gone a long way to bolster very small defensive lineups in that time.
“He is playing hard, he goes out there and competes every night,” Tyrese Maxey said after a 104-92 win over the Orlando Magic Friday. “He guards one through five literally.”
He’s been contributing on both ends of the floor in that time as well. Martin has played in all of the last eight games, and over that time he’s averaging 9.1 points per game and shooting 62.2 percent from the floor. That was capped off by a 20-point performance in said win over the Magic, the most he’s had as a Sixer.
It was the second time in a week he’s scored his Sixer-high. He dropped 19 on Nov. 30 against the Detroit Pistons.
Martin has done so by being a menace rolling to the basket. He’s really seemed to figure out when to attack himself and when to dump it off to teammates. His 65.5 effective field goal percentage and his 7.6 percent turnover rate are both career bests.
“His kind of slashing, cutting, driving left game has always kind of been his forte,” said head coach Nick Nurse.
This was his shot chart from his 20-point performance against the Magic.
The three-point shot is still a work in progress, less so in the mechanics, but more in feeling comfortable getting them up consistently in games.
“Putting in the work vs. being actually, you know, having the confidence, those are like two different things,” Martin said, “but I have the confidence, to understand the work I put in.”
Martin has gained a lot of confidence from both coaches and teammates as well.
“He’s found his rhythm and he’s being aggressive,” said Paul George after the Orlando win. “He’s a great defender, he can rebound, he can shoot the ball, he can do a little bit of everything.”
Maxey has also said in press conferences that he’s too good of a shooter to be passing up open jump shots.
“Now, when it gets swung over to him and he’s open in the corner and he rises up to shoot, I feel like he’s going to make ‘em now,” said Nurse, who pointed that out as a big difference between this year and last year.
As unconventional as he is, Martin has been a big factor in the Sixers finally picking up some wins this season.