"Kevin Martin got off to such a bad start that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey went back and double-checked his scouting reports. Had he missed something in the fine print?

That would have required some awkward telephone call to Leslie Alexander.

"Mr. Alexander, uh, this is the guy who drafted Chase Budinger, Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry and traded for Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry. Anyway, I know you're wondering about Kevin Martin. That's why I'm calling. Actually, it's kind of funny. I hope you think it's as funny as we do up here in basketball operations.

"By the way, that was a great-looking sweater you had on the other night. Anyway, as we were preparing for these trades, I asked one of the interns to print out Kevin Martin's scouting report. Turns out, that darn kid printed out Kobe Bryant. Anyway, Mr. Alexander… uh, hello? Hello? Mr. Alexander, are you there?''

According to Morey's evaluations, Martin has been one of the NBA's most efficient scorers in the last 30 years. He's the only player who has shot 40 percent from the beyond 3-point line and averaged eight free-throw attempts a game in the course of an entire season. And he has done it in two of his six NBA seasons."