Kevin Martin and the year the Timberwolves almost* made it

Kevin Martin's career with the Timberwolves is over, as of last night, when he and the organization came to a last-minute agreement on a contract buyout that makes perfect sense for both sides.

The Wolves are in a youth movement and have a glut of wing players. Martin, 33, who isn't getting any younger, has seen both his productivity and minutes wane this season, his third with the Wolves. He could wind up with the model Spurs (just as Andre Miller did after his buyout), which calls to mind the fact that there is a difference between a player having value and a player being the right fit on every roster.

Martin was a holdover from a different era of Wolves basketball — one that really wasn't that long ago but feels like forever ago.

He signed in the summer of 2013 — Flip Saunders' first year back as the personnel boss. As I wrote last week in a larger piece about Nikola Pekovic's contract (he also signed his extension that offseason), that was the year the Wolves really "went for it," such as it was. And that was the year they "almost made it," such as it was (hence the asterisk in the headline, all of which I'll try to explain).

Kevin Love had one more season, 2013-14, before he could opt out. Ricky Rubio was on the rise. Pekovic was still young and productive. The Wolves also signed veterans Ronny Turiaf, Chase Budinger and Corey Brewer. They still had veterans J.J. Barea and Dante Cunningham playing key bench minutes. Love, Rubio and Pek were the young core; the others were there for support. It was a pretty good formula and a deep roster coached by respected veteran Rick Adelman.

Martin was, by far, the most important outside free agent signing of the bunch. While he didn't get crazy money by NBA standards (about $28 million over four years, the last of which was a player option year that is no longer on the books after the buyout), Martin was an established scorer with a clear skill set: good from three-point range, good at drawing fouls, good at making free throws.

He was everything advertised that first year with the Wolves which, in retrospect, was perhaps part of their competitiveness and their downfall all at once.

Martin averaged 19 points, while playing and starting 68 games. He drew fouls. He made threes (38.7 percent). He was a credible starter on a credible team. But his deficiencies tended to show up most in close games: he's not great at creating his own shot, he doesn't have the quickest release and he's never been a great defender.

That Wolves team, when everyone was clicking, was good enough to beat anyone. They racked up some gaudy leads and lopsided wins over plenty of foes, good and bad. But those Wolves also started the season 0-11 in games decided by four points or fewer — the last of which left their record at a still-reasonable 18-20. Even with five wins in those close games, they would have been 23-15 near the midpoint. Who knows what might have happened.

Instead, they finished 40-42 — a classic sum-of-the-parts didn't equal the whole type of team, as their team stats suggested they were much better and should have won more games.

Then again, a few extra wins might not have mattered. That was the year of the incredibly tough Western Conference, when a 48-win Suns team missed the playoffs — hence the qualifier when saying the Wolves *almost made it, since almost making it still left them far short of the postseason.

It's unfair to say Martin was emblematic of the Wolves' problems that season. There was plenty of blame to go around, particularly when it came to late-game failure. But he was what he was: a good but not great player who maybe looked a little better on paper than he did on the court. In that way, he was very much a symbol of that team.

Martin gave a credible effort again last season, but injuries to so many key players (Martin included) turned 2014-15 into a full-on march to 66 losses. His early three seasons with the Wolves should ultimately be remembered without malice or an abundance of fanfare — with his standing boosted some by a classy exit.

He was a nice player who met expectations while simultaneously being a key member of a team that fell short of them.