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00:00 Cody Martin, who had played 11 games since returning.
00:04 He is gonna miss tonight's game.
00:06 We're recording this Monday evening against Minnesota with a right knee
00:09 contusion, which is a little concerning because of his history.
00:13 But, you know, he did knock knees in that Philadelphia game.
00:17 So there is some hope that that is the reason and is not part linked to the injury.
00:21 And maybe it's just precautionary.
00:23 Look, it's been last time we spoke about Cody Martin.
00:26 I think he came back and offensively was actually looking really good.
00:30 Look, it's been a tale of two Cody Martins.
00:33 Defensively, he's been a monster.
00:36 Like, his block percentage is at 2%,
00:39 steal percentage at 2.6%.
00:41 These are 98th percentile and both for a wing,
00:44 which is just absolutely outrageous.
00:46 His on-off stats are fantastic defensively.
00:48 The team are five points better off when he's playing defensively.
00:53 That's in the 86th percentile.
00:55 So defensively, he's been like really active,
00:58 forced a ton of turnovers, like he's doing well in terms of deflections.
01:03 The problem is offensively, it's probably been, you know,
01:07 just to start the contrast where he has really,
01:10 really struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm.
01:14 He is in the first percentile, or the 1th percentile,
01:18 they might call that, in points per shot attempt.
01:21 86 points per 100 possessions.
01:23 I mean, that is just terrible, like,
01:25 out of the NBA level offensive efficiency.
01:28 The shot still looks fine, I think, when he's taking it.
01:32 It's just not going in right now.
01:33 And he's showing a little bit like, when the shot clocks down,
01:36 he's definitely looked flustered at times.
01:38 And I think he's lost his confidence a little bit offensively.
01:41 He's not found his flow.
01:43 He needs to find that back to be like the player that he was.
01:45 That's what got him that contract is because he was like,
01:48 he was an okay offensive player while being a plus defender.
01:53 And at the minute, he's just kind of turned into a bit like a Matisse
01:55 Stiebel, where he's great on one end,
01:58 but is absolutely killing you on the other.
02:01 I still think overall, it's been positive.
02:03 You know, he's not been sitting out back to back.
02:05 That's really positive considering the nature of his knee injury.
02:08 But I'd say it's been an overall mixed bag for Cody Martin.
02:13 I just really hope if he misses like multiple games with this knee
02:16 contusion now, that for me is like code for, we ramped up again,
02:20 we tried it and he is still not feeling great.
02:23 And now he's having to miss more time and that's, you know,
02:26 red alert status. So let's hope that's not the case.
02:30 - Yeah. And I remember, I think he was questionable or
02:34 had that groin injury that popped up on the injury report.
02:37 I remember Steve Clifford being like, yeah,
02:38 I think I played him too much when he came back.
02:41 And now he had just missed a little bit of time.
02:43 - He said that on the podcast.
02:45 We said he was playing too much.
02:46 We said he's just played 35 minutes the last two games.
02:49 And then the next game, Steve Clifford came out and said,
02:52 I've been playing too much.
02:53 And that's why he's got the groin injury.
02:54 And I was like, at least you've admitted it, Steve.
02:56 But like, why do we have to do this?
02:58 He says the same thing with Gordon Hayward as well.
03:01 - Right. And it's now, you know,
03:03 well into the second season of doing that.
03:04 So you'd think that we would have some sort of awareness in that regard.
03:09 But I mean, to the same degree, if a guy is healthy,
03:12 deemed healthy by the medical staff,
03:14 the Hornets are bad enough to where they just need good players on the court
03:17 at all times. Cody Martin is obviously one of those guys.
03:21 Like the toughness, tenacity, and feel for the game on both ends of the floor,
03:26 which like plenty of players on this team have what you would call feel for the game
03:30 offensively. Very few have feel for the game as defensive players.
03:34 Cody is one of them, combined with that toughness and physicality.
03:38 That was so sorely missed.
03:40 And another thing Steve Clifford has said in the past is that like just one rotation guy
03:46 can make a huge difference in like what your team looks like.
03:49 And like Cody Martin, I think, was kind of who he was referring to when he would say
03:53 things like that. Getting Cody Martin back, it hasn't resulted in wins for many reasons.
03:59 But the team just generally gives off a much more competitive vibe when you watch them.
04:05 They're just a more cohesive unit defensively. Again, the shot hasn't been there,
04:09 but like he shoots it when he's open and it looks okay.
04:12 So if he can get back to what he was two years ago, like he's going to be again,
04:17 like an elite, low usage 3 and D guard, which is a very specific role and he gets paid
04:23 appropriately for it. But like that's a very valuable thing to have for a team that doesn't
04:27 have many other players that can defend in the way that he does on the perimeter.
04:31 Yeah. And maybe this is one of the kind of amber flags for is that knee feeling great?
04:37 Cody this year, you know, he's been in last three years,
04:42 percentage of his shots that come at the rim, 48%, 47%, 41%.
04:48 This year is down to 28 and that mid-range percentage has gone way up.
04:52 So he's settling and pulling up more for mid-rangers, which I think that is a confidence thing.
04:56 That is, I didn't feel confidence either exploding to the rim.
04:59 I didn't feel confidence attacking this big, taking them on at the rim, trying to draw contact.
05:04 And that for me, that is the last step for Cody to get back to the level he was at.
05:09 He needs to find that level of offensive confidence and efficiency.
05:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]