Late last night, Kenyon Martin went on the Vertical Podcast with Woj to reflect on his career in the NBA. Kenyon played in the NBA for 14 seasons and was a part of several interesting and talented teams, including the 2008-09 Denver Nuggets. He shared a lot of interesting stories about coming back from injuries, playing for Byron Scott and alongside Jason Kidd, and the way the game has changed over the last decade but his most interesting comments were about his time here in Denver playing for the Nuggets. And as Kenyon always has done, he kept everything 100.
On the Nuggets training staff:
When you (are) dealing with certain things on the summer and you really don't know the people with the right resources to do the certain things…not to knock the Nuggets but I spent the majority of my career there. 7 years. And, for me, the medical staff at the time, besides Steve Hess, wasn't the best. And that's just…the proof is there but…that was then, it's gotten a lot better now from what I'm hearing which is great cause things are evolving. But the things I was going through with my knees and things like that, I don't feel personally like I got the help, besides Steve Hess, that I needed.
On taking a backseat to Melo
Going to Denver, it coulda went one of two ways for me, I felt. I went there and I took a backseat to Melo, on the court-wise. Young star, scorer. I could've took another approach to it where I'm the man around here, we're going to do this way…but I kinda went with the I'm gonna fit in with their scheme the way they play.
On Chauncey and Melo
"Chauncey calmed everything down. Melo needs a strong point guard. (Strong) minded point guard. And I think Chauncey brought that to the table. Chauncey knew time, score situations. He knew where our scoring was coming from so he got everyone involved the first three quarters and fourth quarter (Melo) gonna do (his) thing. Every other year after that it was like, Melo 1st quarter, Melo 2nd quarter, Melo 3rd quarter, Melo 4th quarter.
On those Nuggets teams
We had great pieces, man. We had a lot, a lot of talent. But we never was a team. That's the thing. We had a lot of individual talent. Year in and year out they kept putting pieces around, in, and taking pieces away but team…like, we never achieved that cohesiveness.
He had a lot more to say about his career and about the Nuggets. He's certainly critical but not necessarily bitter. The podcast is as entertaining as it is informative and the Nuggets sections are only part of what makes it such an interesting listen. His story about nearly getting into a fight with Tim Thomas is an instant classic! Check it out below.
