KJ Martin giving Sixers a unique boost and ‘finding his way' 

KJ Martin’s been a lot more than a world-class leaper for the Sixers lately.

He's helped the team with open-floor attacking, defensive versatility, savviness in the short roll and dunker spot, and a slowly growing willingness to shoot open jumpers.

The Sixers are 6-15, but they’ve gone 4-3 over their past seven games without Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) and two of those defeats have been tight losses to good opponents. Martin’s played 25.3 minutes per game during that stretch. In Friday’s win over the Magic, the Sixers gave a forceful, focused effort and Martin scored 20 points on 9-for-10 shooting.  

“As a whole, you want to go out and play as hard as you possibly can,” Martin said. “Obviously, my dad (Kenyon Martin Sr.) played 15 years, and he always told me, ‘I don’t care how many points you score, I don’t care what you do. Each night you just want to go out and play as hard as you can.’ 

“That’s a big thing of mine, just going out and competing, being active. I feel like the ball just finds energy. When my teammates shoot it, I feel like I’m one of the most athletic guys on the floor, so I just go and jump. That’s what the coaches told me: ‘Just go and jump, and then figure it out.’” 

Martin shared a frontcourt with Guerschon Yabusele for 20 minutes Friday. Both players conceded significant height to the Magic — Martin is listed at 6-foot-6, Yabusele at 6-8 — but they were nearly mistake-free and meshed nicely. 

“We both play well with each other,” Martin said. “He can shoot the ball, so that helps a lot in certain situations where he can pick-and-pop, or he can be on the wing and I can be in the dunker (spot) — or vice versa. If I’m up the floor early, I’ll let him trail, kind of do what he does and play off of him. 

“But in certain situations, I also know that I can go in the pick-and-roll and I understand that Tyrese (Maxey) is going to get double teamed most of the time, since Joel is out now. Tyrese gets double teamed a lot, he hits me on the short roll, and I just make plays to either Guerschon or any of my other teammates. It’s been fun playing with Guerschon for sure.”

From Day 1 of this season, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was openly optimistic about Martin’s jumper, noting that his summer work was yielding improved results behind the scenes. 

“I had a shooting coach for basically the whole summer,” Martin said at media day on Sept. 30. “That’s where I started; I didn’t leave the paint for like two weeks, just tweaking my shot a little bit and working on it. That was a big thing this summer, just coming into the season and being super consistent from three.” 

At 5 for 14 overall from three-point range, Martin has yet to show dramatic progress. Still, he’s attempted multiple threes in four consecutive games and made 23 for 27 free throws (85.2 percent). 

In the big picture, drawing defenses’ respect beyond the arc would undoubtedly enhance Martin’s game. He clearly can contribute in plenty of other ways, though. 

“He’s still young as s---,” Paul George said of Martin, who was briefly his Clippers teammate last season before being traded to the Sixers. “He was 22 then, he’s 23 now. I think he’s comfortable with this group. He’s kind of found himself, he’s found his rhythm and he’s being aggressive. 

“He’s got the tools. He’s a great defender, he can rebound, he can shoot the ball. He can do a little bit of everything. He’s a real two-way guy who can plug in and play multiple positions. He’s finding his way, and I think what we love is that he’s just being aggressive.”

One unique aspect of Martin’s game is that he shoots jump shots and free throws with his right hand and is otherwise very left-hand dominant. If he’s driving, passing or scoring around the rim, it’s almost inevitably with his left hand.

Going through all 59 of Martin’s two-point field goal attempts so far this year, he’s taken two shots that could be classified as right-handed. On Nov. 27, he technically had a righty layup attempt vs. the Rockets when he drove into heavy traffic and tried to draw a foul. Last Saturday against the Pistons, Martin made a (righty) jumper with his foot on the three-point line.

That’s it. By our count, he’s had 15 more two-handed dunks/two-handed tip-ins than right-handed attempts inside the arc.

“I don’t know,” Martin said with a smile. “If I throw a baseball, I throw it with my left hand. If I throw a football, left hand. And I kick with my left hand. But I write with my right hand and I eat with my right hand and I shoot with my right hand. I’m all messed up. 

“When I was younger, I used to shoot with two hands and my dad was like, ‘You can’t shoot like that. You’ve got to pick one.’ And for some reason, I picked my right hand. I just use my left around the basket to finish and dunk. And everything else I do with my right, I guess.”

Martin recalled committing to being a right-handed jump shooter when he was “super young.”

“I was going to practice with my dad and stuff,” he said, “and he probably got tired of seeing me go to the basket and shoot the ball like this (with two hands). I’m sure he was like, ‘All right, this is enough. You’re getting older now. You’re getting stronger to shoot the ball, so you’ve got to pick one.’ 

“He always tells me, ‘I wish you would’ve shot lefty,’ because they always say lefties shoot better. But I feel like my right hand works well enough.”