Remy Martin’s dad says it was ‘disappointing’ NBA didn’t invite son to G League camp
Remy Martin has spent the past couple of months in Las Vegas working out twice a day with other NBA hopefuls in Impact Basketball’s training facility.
“He’d been preparing for the NBA Draft. His whole mindset has been, ‘I am (staying) in the draft.’ That’s all he’s worked on. He’s worked out every day, twice a day,” Martin’s dad, Sam Martin. said Tuesday.
Sam Martin spoke to The Star about his son’s decision to remove his name from the 2021 NBA Draft and play a “super senior” fifth collegiate year at Kansas after four seasons at Arizona State.
“He is still there. I leased him an apartment in Las Vegas. The lease is up the 11th of this month,” Sam Martin said of Remy’s current residence. “This was all done with the understanding he’d probably be going on to the next level, at least have the opportunity to do that.”
Remy Martin and his dad figured the two-time first-team all-Pac-12 player with a 40-inch standing vertical jump would impress enough scouts, coaches and general managers at the 2021 NBA Combine and/or G League Elite camp to secure a spot in the 60-player NBA Draft.
Yes the plan was to turn pro after four years of producing impressive numbers in college.
Instead, the 6-foot point guard wasn’t invited to either event, which indicated his chances of being drafted or earning even a two-way NBA contract as a free agent were slim to none.
Hence he withdrew from the draft in advance of Wednesday’s 10:59 p.m. deadline.
“That was very, very (key to his decision to drop out of the draft) … probably the most important factor of all,” said Sam Martin, a retired Los Angeles police officer who owns his own security company in California.
“It was not so much the NBA Combine (snub). He didn’t get an invitation to the G League Elite camp, the camp where you play your way into the Combine. He wasn’t given that opportunity. I don’t know anybody as long as I’ve been following college basketball who has been a three-time all-conference player, preseason All-American, led the conference in scoring (19.1 points a game in each of the past two seasons) and did not get an invitation. That makes no sense to me.
“With his resume and reputation as a great kid — like Coach Townsend (Kurtis, KU assistant) said he’s like the Pied Piper with little kids; they just love him — I don’t know what happened. We are baffled by it. We had agents tell me he might not get the NBA Combine invitation but he’d 110% get the G League invitation. He’s a good kid, doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, is not out partying. He goes to work, does his school work and goes home. He literally loves this game, loves it, puts his heart and soul in it. It was very disappointing,” Sam Martin added.
One possibility is NBA officials weren’t impressed with Martin’s 3.7 assist per game average a year ago. He finished with 85 assists; 56 turnovers for 11-14 Arizona State.
“Remy has a narrative in basketball circles, by that I mean NBA people, that he is a scoring point guard. He is not a scoring point guard. He is a point guard who can score,” Sam Martin said.
“He has been put in position the last couple of years that was required of him for team success. With this (KU) team he doesn’t have to do hardly any of the heavy lifting and he can be himself. You have shooters. You have bigs. All he wants to do is pass the ball, get guys going, and win. That’s why it’s such a great situation. If he could average 12 (points per game) at Kansas and average eight assists a game, that’s great.”
Martin could easily have stayed a fifth season at Arizona State and been happy.
“We love Coach Hurley and the Hurley family,” Sam Martin said of Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley. “We love Arizona State. There is absolutely no ill will. It was just time to go a different path now.”
That path is in Lawrence, Kansas and the Big 12.
“This is wonderful,” Sam Martin said of his son’s decision to stay in college. “It’s not often you get a chance in life to get two chances. You always say, ‘What if I had done this or what if I had done that?’ Remy was given an opportunity. He was offered a scholarship at Kansas out of high school (Sierra Canyon High in Chatsworth, California). He chose ASU. He always wondered, ‘What if I went to Kansas? Could I have played there?’ Now he has an opportunity there.”
Martin will be part of a KU team that could be ranked No. 1 or 2 in the country in preseason polls following the decisions of Martin, Ochai Agbaji and Jalen Wilson to all withdraw from the NBA Draft.
“He is so looking forward to it,” Sam Martin said of his son, who earned a bachelor’s degree in three and a half years and will be starting work on a masters at KU.
“He is excited (saying), ‘How is this going to play out?’ Like I told him, I kind of liken this team to Baylor last year. There are a lot of pieces on this team, a lot of bigs, wings. They’ve got it all. It should be a very promising season. I think they could do something special.”
Remy Martin told The Star after committing to KU on May 17 that he has “always loved Kansas. I’ve always wanted to go there. I’ve known Coach Self, Coach Townsend since high school. I just want to have fun and play at Allen Fieldhouse before the fans.
“The way I play … I love interacting with fans. I love people. KU is a historic program. The pieces we have … it’s an amazing deal for me. I couldn’t turn that down.”
Though he concedes, “big picture is to be able to make it to the NBA. As soon as I was done with college I thought it was over. Getting an opportunity like this, it’s hard to turn down. I’m just honored to say I had an opportunity to play at KU.”
On the court in 2021-22, Martin wants to “bring that energy and fierce competitiveness to the game, be able to control the game, like somebody like Chris Paul is what I want to display when I play at KU. I get out there and play and want to change the game and bring energy.”
Perhaps after the upcoming season, he’ll be able to convince NBA scouts he’s worth taking in the 60-player draft.
“Coming from Kansas … it’s not going to hurt him. It’s only going to help him,” Sam Martin said. “Obviously Remy has to do his part, play well, make good decisions, get guys going. He’s got to win.
“Point guards are judged by their wins and losses. He has to win. He can’t turn the ball over. I look for coach Self to help him with those things, help him improve his stock. You’ve got KU, the grandfather of basketball. You are going to get invited to something,” Sam Martin added.
KU coach Self on Tuesday said of Martin: “After recent conversations, we have anticipated that Remy would withdraw from the draft and come to KU. Remy is a guy that had great success at Arizona State being preseason first-team AP All-American last year, first team all-conference the last two years, and sixth man of the year in his league his freshman season. We saw him up close on two different occasions where he got the best of us (beating KU his freshman and soph seasons). I’m certainly glad he’s on our side moving forward. I think those are all reasons to be excited about him coming here and helping our basketball team achieve special things this upcoming season.”
