Yeah, slow releases are killers, as are lower release points. Martin has indeed "made it work" with his release, but there are very noticeable side effects to his game.
Like Jimmer, Martin is accurate on corner-threes, but he can't attempt many (only 26 percent of his threes come from the easiest spot along the arch) because people are able to close out on him. His rate of assisted threes is .867 for his career. That might seem like a lot (and it is compared to Jimmer's .615), but it's actually pretty low compared to elite shooters (Green and Korver are at .940 and .962, while Ray Allen in his best years with Boston and Miami was at .916-- though Curry is an obvious exception at .621 and Mills is closer to Martin at .820). Martin's ability to space the floor is definitely affected by his release point, and I also want to say that Martin is extremely side-dominate due to fling-shot form.
From his Thunder days. And this site (
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2014-2015/pl...tin/shotchart/) for last season. He's not nearly as versatile as he would be if he shot with better technique. Just like Jimmer, his shot locations are affected by his release, but at least Kevin is in the normal playing field.
When people assume that Jimmer can learn to play with his release being so awful, they fail to release that his game HAS ALREADY been modified to account for it. That's why he takes so many more shots off the dribble than he does spotting up, shoots from farther away from the basket and takes almost no corner shots. No one should wonder Jimmer can individually compensate for his limitations. He's done that already. He can do his thing one-on-one, which Kawhi found out when they were in school together.
The question has always been this: Does the way he compensates work in a team context? The answer for him is that it only really works on when a team lets him hold the ball and make his own offense. The more people try to get him into a normal spot-up situation, the harder it is for him to help the team. The more a coach wants him to stand in a corner, the seconfdfewer shots he'll be able to get off.