Update on Martin apology:
Kenyon Martin will not be apologizing to the Kings co-owner Joe Maloof.
Martin had this to say about the apology he gave to Spencer Hawes and to Maloof:
“Apologize to him? I’m not apologizing to him. I apologized to Spencer after the game, but before (Maloof) opens his mouth he needs to know what’s going on,” Martin said.
The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday that Maloof called Martin’s actions “thuggery” and said Martin “needs to apologize to Spencer and our organization.”
“I’m not apologizing to him whatsoever. I don’t owe him or the Sacramento Kings an apology,” Martin said. “I apologized to the person I needed to apologize to when I saw him when I was leaving the game.”
Martin added a dig at Maloof, whose team finished with the worst record in the NBA this season at 17-65.
“If you don’t know the circumstances — he wasn’t there, he wasn’t in Denver — then he should worry about his team getting better and getting out of last place,” Martin said.
Also, from Ball Don't Lie check out this Create-A-Caption featuring Kenyon Martin joking around Joel Przybilla after Przy and Melo got face to face Wednesday night.
First it was Mark Cuban … now the Kings co-owner calls Martin out for "thuggery."
Joe Maloof is demanding an apology from Kenyon Martin for his called flagrant foul on Spencer Hawes. The play Maloof is referring to occurred at the 5:43 mark of the 1st Quarter in the Kings games Monday night.
Hawes was sprinting up the floor on a fast break and as he was flying down the lane he received a pass and was going up for the dunk. Martin pushed Hawes with one hand in the armpit area and it was enough to send an off-balance and in-flight Hawes crashing to the ground under the basket.
While Maloof is calling the play "thuggery" I just don't see it that way. The play was moving at a fast pace and Hawes was in a dead sprint … Martin, like he's been doing for the past few games … instead of moving his feet, just reached out and pushed Hawes.
I don't think Kenyon meant to injure the guy or had any premeditation on the play. I believe it just happened quickly and was unfortunate in how Hawes landed.
Martin was correctly called for a flagrant type 1 foul on the play and if you watched basketball in the early 1990's then you know for a fact that fouls like this, actually fouls harder than this, happened all the time and nobody was called for a flagrant.
No longer can you give a guy a hard foul to send a message in the League (though I don't believe this was Martin's intent). Players today run the lane fearlessly and get great protection from the officials.
It was very unfortunate that Hawes was hurt on the play, though thankfully nothing serious.
And if Maloof wants an apology then I think Nene deserves one for the way Ike Diogu threw his elbow into Nene's face resulting in a chipped tooth. But you don't see Stan Kroenke demanding one. Move on Maloof.
I don't believe a guy with a career littered with leg injuries would ever mean to intentionally injury a player.
