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Butler Basketball: NBA Draft profile of scoring machine Kelan Martin

By Lukas Harkins

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: Martin (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: Martin (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 24: Martin (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 24: Martin (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Strengths

Proven leader

To put it simply, Kelan Martin is a natural-born scorer. No matter the situation or defender, Martin just seems to find a way to fill up the basket. As a senior for Butler basketball this past season, Martin showed the ability to be a go-to scorer for a quality college team. The Bulldogs made the NCAA Tournament and reached the Round of 32 largely due to the efforts of Martin, who averaged 21.1 points per game on the season.

While reaching the NCAA Tournament in all four of his college seasons, it is clear that he is a proven winner. He consistently was a major part of the rotation for Butler, one of the best programs in the nation. New head coach LaVall Jordan needed someone to step up as an on-court leader in 2017-18 and Martin was eager to oblige. Not only was he the best player on the team but he was also one of the most vocal. While Butler is not well-known for placing former stars in the NBA, there are a couple that have been successful in the form of Shelvin Mack and Gordon Hayward.

Improvement year over year

While Martin was underrated throughout this past year, it is hard to look back at his statistics and ignore the great season that he had. He can score from all three levels but, more importantly, showed tremendous improvement over the course of his career. For the first three years of his college career, Martin was looked at as a high-volume scorer who often forced shots a bit too often.

This past season, though, he took an entirely different approach. Under the tutelage of Coach Jordan, Martin emerged as a true team player. Instead of settling for deep jump shots, Martin constantly attacked the basket and caused defenses to collapse on him. Because of this, he was able to create outside shooting opportunities for his teammates. Martin exhibited career-highs in assists per game (2.0) and assist percentage (11.1%). He is clearly growing in this area of his game and there is potential for this to become a strength of his.

Scoring machine

Of course, that did not stop him from filling up the basket with his scoring ability. He averaged 21.2 points per game in 2017-18 while shooting 44.7% from the field and 36.4% from beyond the 3-point arc. However, this is just a snapshot of how good he was, especially as a shooter. In fact, Martin was at his best as a scorer against Butler’s top competition. In Big East play, Martin upped those same numbers to 23.6 points per game on 45.9% shooting overall and 42.6% from three. It also helps that Martin is an excellent free throw shooter, connecting on 84.4% of his attempts from the foul line on the season.

Size and length

In addition to his on-the-court production, Martin measured well at the Portsmouth Invitational. At 6’7″ with a 7’3″ wingspan, Martin has the perfect size and length to play on the wing in the NBA. He showed this past season that he is an improving defender with a willingness to learn on that end of the floor. If he able to develop more lateral quickness, then his defense could make him a viable 3-and-D option at the next level.