Of the players with the twenty highest usage rates in the NBA this season, who has the best true shooting percentage? It's not Kevin Durant or LeBron James (and it definitely isn't Derrick Rose, who isn't even near the top of the TS rankings and whose percentage is worse than Lou Williams'). The answer: Kevin Martin. Martin has a true shooting percentage of 60.5% and the ninth highest usage rate in the league (27.2). Martin's offensive game, full of three pointers and trips to the free throw line, is designed for efficiency. And this year is no outlier--Martin has previous seasons with TS%'s of 61.8% and 61.4%. This season Martin has shown that, even while upping his usage rate to a new career high, he can still keep his TS% above 60.
Is Kevin Martin a superstar? No. His game is pretty one-dimensional. He's nothing special with regard to passing or rebounding and is poor on the defensive end. But teams with smart management like the Rockets realize that if you're going to have a guy whose primary function is putting the ball in the basket, you definitely want him to be efficient at his art.
For comparisons sake, take a look at the players that took over Martin's scoring load in Sacramento. Tyreke Evans: 48.1 TS%, 24.8 usage rate; DeMarcus Cousins: 48% TS, 25.8 usage rate. Unlike Martin, both of these players' rely on volume, rather than efficiency, for their scoring numbers. Unsurprisingly, the Kings come in at 25th in points per possession, whereas the Rockets come in at 7th.
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