Charting Alijah Martin’s course to NBA impact for the Raptors

There’s no way around it; Alijah Martin is a dog.  

It’s apparent immediately watching him play. It was apparent to the Toronto Raptors from his first pre-draft workout, where he was talking trash, getting in guys’ faces, and being ultra physical all while showing out after apparently arriving at 2:30 a.m. the previous morning.

“You just got to find it,” Martin said on Open Gym. You just got to find it in these workouts. And I found it today.”

He plays with an indomitable spirit. Relentless ferocity. A ruthless drive to exert his will upon opponents and win at all costs.

Of course, sheer will isn’t enough when it comes to achieving Martin’s ultimate goal – carving out a spot at basketball’s highest level. There are other pieces to the puzzle, the foremost of which are talent and physical attributes. The six-foot-two guard has clear strengths and weaknesses in each area and undoubtedly could find his way to NBA impact if things break in the right direction.  

If you’re familiar with any of my other work at Raptors Republic or elsewhere, you’ll probably know that I like to quantify ideas with something concrete. These are the numbers that indicate this. Here is the film that shows them doing that. Doggedness is a seemingly intangible quality that sits outside the purview of measurement. For Martin, it isn’t. It is so obviously visible when watching him and is among the dominant traits that set him apart from his peers.  

That being said, here are Martin’s G League stats across both the Tip-Off Tournament and regular season for reference: He’s averaging 19.1 points on 50/40/72 shooting splits (66 percent true shooting!) to go along with 4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals over 30 games. The 24-year-old was also named to both the G League Next Up Game and the Rising Stars Game as a representative on the G League squad.

Martin’s a good fit for the Raptors organization, as like the 905 and its parent Raptors, he leads with defence. And you can capitalize that and put exclamation marks on it. His unrelenting drive and hard-nosed presence on the ball has been instrumental in the 905 holding a G League-best 106.1 defensive rating. And that mark has sunk lately too over an uncharacteristic seven-game slump. It was 102.2 previously, a full four points ahead of the second-placed Austin Spurs, the same difference between the second and ninth placed teams.

The 905 have been even more aggressive than the Raptors this season. They achieved a G League-record 16-0 start largely thanks to a tried and true method: incessantly accost ball-handlers to force turnovers and run like hell for easy points in transition.

Martin has been at the forefront, along with Chucky Hepburn before he suffered a torn meniscus in January, as the backcourt duo are tied for second on the 905 with 43 steals apiece (Jonathan Mogbo is first with 44). This immediately translated with the Raptors, too, as Martin had four steals and two blocks in his second non-garbage time NBA game.

“The whole emphasis is to make guys uncomfortable, get them out of their rhythm, hopefully speed up the offence, get them out of their rhythm as well like that,” Martin told me in January.

“People don’t like to play like that, and we do, so, with the Raptors, the 905, that’s our identity.”

“He’s physical, he’s active, he’s alert.” added 905 coach Drew Jones of Martin’s point-of-attack defence.

But it isn’t just Martin’s defence on the ball. He’s also proven proactive and instinctual as a help defender. Just watch how he reads offensive players and anticipates where passes and drives are headed. His recovery to the roller after going over the screen in the first clip is particularly impressive.

An aspect of Martin that allows him to play such physical and high-effort defence is his undeniably elite athleticism. He’s incredibly quick, twitchy, and strong. The vertical pop has been evident to Raptors fans since he threw down an eye-popping dunk during Summer League, and was a primary feature of his game at Flordia. He didn’t hesitate to show off his ups after being called up to the big club either, detonating a forceful dunk against the Boston Celtics.

But aside from the highlight-reel dunks, this physical edge could help Martin to successfully exist in the NBA as an undersized guard. He doesn’t hesitate to initiate contact on drives, in fact it appears that he welcomes it, often turning his back to give defenders a hard bump. Before the season Martin told Raptors Republic’s Samson Folk that his old high school coach was “an old school, back-to-the-basket” kind of guy, and it appears he’s still held onto that experience in a way.

Martin also shows zero pause when going at defenders, big or small. He wants to access the rim over guys and he’s capable. Add that he has a confident handle with an element of deceptiveness baked in, and we have a bit of a stew going. Martin’s shooting 65.8 percent in the restricted area this season, a great mark for a guard, especially one his size.

The ability to navigate the floor comfortably with a live dribble would be another significant boon to Martin’s chances at the next level, and so far he’s demonstrated a capacity for reaching the paint and making simple reads from the middle of the floor. When he was first drafted, and at the outset of the season, I didn’t expect this to be a meaningful feature of his game. So, the ease in which he’s accessed dangerous areas of the court from a standstill and the glimpses of creation for others has been a pleasant surprise.

While the driving, finishing and playmaking would be convenient perks to Martin’s game should he ascend to the NBA ranks, they aren’t prerequisites like his defence. The other essential skill to stick in the NBA as an undersized two guard, is, of course, shooting. Entering the pros Martin’s reputation was defence and dunks, 3s were the question mark. Safe to say that’s been answered empathically in the affirmative. And it isn’t just the 40.1 percent on 5.9 attempts per game. He’s shot 38 percent from above the break and 76 percent of his attempts have come from this more valuable and easier to access area of the floor. (He’s shooting 48 percent from the corners for good measure.)

Martin’s shot diet has consisted of mostly easier catch-and-shoot looks, but not entirely. He does attempt and even hit the odd pull-up 3 in transition and has taken an increasing load of movement triples running off screens as the season has progressed.

This all makes for a compelling case that Martin deserves a greater look with the Raptors. He was impactful across a few games in January and the shot wasn’t even going down – he was 2-of-11 from deep. Of course, even after the departure of Ochai Agbaji, Martin still has plenty of names to leap on the depth chart in order to secure regular playing time in Toronto.

Ja’Kobe Walter has seized top spot on the totem pole in the Raptors’ backup wing logjam but Jamison Battle and Gradey Dick occupy the rungs below, in that order currently. Dick has been a DNP-CD the last few games as Battle appears to have leapt him. Still between Agbaji, Walter, Battle and Dick, there have been plenty of minutes to go around this season. An injury, underperformance or maybe even less could get Martin a shot at meaningful minutes down the stretch. It’s entirely possible that Martin is playing Dick’s minutes come next season.

It may be uncertain how the opportunity will arise, but it appears increasingly likely that Martin will get a good shot at cracking the league, and he’ll unquestionably be ready. Just watch that pre-draft workout again.

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