In 2005, the Portland Trail Blazers were still infatuated with high-school talent. Having chosen 19-year olds in the first round of the previous two NBA Drafts–Travis Outlaw and Sebastian Telfair–the front office decided to go for the youngest of young again. The 2005 NBA Draft featured three point guards expected to be drafted in the top-five: Deron Williams out of the University of Illinois, Chris Paul out of Wake Forest, and Raymond Felton out of North Carolina. All three were selected consecutively (third, fourth and fifth). The Blazers held the sixth pick. They had the talent to trade up in the draft order, but decided to stay pat, a decision that was ridiculed at the time, yet is now beginning to make sense.

With their selection, they chose Martell Webster, a 6-6 guard out of Seattle Prep, keeping him close to home. He was a top-six pick for a reason, considering he averaged 27 points and 10 rebounds per game during his senior season. Usually, high-schoolers enter the NBA raw, but Webster already had some meat on his ideal shooting guard frame. Portland thought he had a high ceiling, a scorer that could be dynamic in time. Now, a short four years later, he is beginning to live up the hype.

His rookie season was somewhat successful. He averaged upwards of 7 points per game while playing 17 minutes a contest. The Blazers were in transition mode at this juncture, so they worked him in right away. He made 18 starts and played in 71 games total, but was strictly one-dimensional, showing the ability to do little else besides score. But that’s the player they drafted, a scorer, and, considering he skipped college, if he was ever going to flesh out his game, the organization would have to be patient.

He finished his rookie season strong, averaging nearly 14 points per game over the final month upon being inserted into the starting lineup, scoring in double-figures in the final six contests. But this performance only upped his season average to 6.6 points per game. The following season featured some scoring outbursts as well (he scored 17-plus points five times during his first season and did so five times during his sophomore campaign) yet there was no consistency, attributed to his lack of experience and his lack of an NBA-ready game.

With two years under his belt, Webster began to get comfortable and more knowledgeable, and was still just 21 years old. The Blazers were patient, recognizing his youth and potential. His minutes increased as he jumped into the starting small forward role and so did his performance. He came firing out of the gate, at last ready to consistently take on the NBA. He played 39 minutes in the 2007-08 season’s first contest and scored 21 points, then reached double figures in nine of the next eleven. As an added bonus, he was no longer just a scoring threat.

He continued to grow into his 6-7 frame, and with that became more physical on defense and on the boards. Now, he had a repertoire, something he could bring to the game if his shot was off. This repertoire made him that much more important to the Blazers, and the coaching staff couldn’t have been more confident in him. His minutes fluctuated over the next few months, however, but one game at the beginning of January epitomized a season in which he averaged 10 points and 4 rebounds.

Entering the third quarter against the Utah Jazz he had two points. By quarter’s end, he had 26 points. In his 24-point quarter, he made his first seven shots. He spotted up for three’s, hit a few mid-range jumpers, posted up in the block, and drove into the lane, exploding with a little bit of everything. This outburst and others spread throughout the season gave him the nickname Mr. Third Quarter.

A foot injury wiped out his fourth season, but with a full year to rehabilitate and an opportunity to learn on the sideline, Webster was stronger for it. He watched his team win 52 games and reach the playoffs as a cheerleader, but come this season, he wanted to take his game up a notch, to be known as Mr. Every Quarter. He has.

Scoring-wise, his first two and a half months of this season weren’t anything to celebrate, but though his point-total was inconsistent, he picked up where he left off in 2008 defensively, guarding the opposition’s best guard or forward, and doing so extremely well.

Recently, he has been playing the best basketball of his career on both ends, becoming as valuable as any on the thinned out roster. It all started with a 21-point, 11-rebound performance in a blowout win over Golden State. Then he drained five three’s en route to 25 points against the Los Angeles Clippers, and five more in a 21-point effort against the Memphis Grizzlies. Then came “one of his best games as a pro”, in the words of head coach Nate McMillan.

He scored only 14 points on 6-17 shooting in that game, a win over the Los Angeles Lakers. How did it draw McMillan’s praise? He flustered Kobe Bryant to no end on defense, as the star guard took 37 shots and made only 14 of them to net 32 points. In Portland’s next contest, a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James scored 41 points, but only ten in the second half as Webster took on the defensive assignment. In all, this month has been one to remember for Webster; in seven January games he is averaging 19 points and 7 rebounds, and has made 50 percent of his field goals and an equally efficient 43 percent of three-pointers attempted.

He came off the bench earlier this season, and in those eight games, he was “trying to do more than maybe he was comfortable doing”, as Brandon Roy said in a November article by The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman. “And being back in the starting lineup (means) he doesn’t have to make plays, he can just play off guys, and I think that’s his strength.” Roy’s assessment at the beginning of the season is why Webster has flourished of late.

Playing off the ball, Webster has found ways to get open repeatedly and become a dependable force offensively, especially beyond the arc. This month, he has made 43 percent of his three-point attempts (26-60), and his season total of 75 is third-best in the NBA amongst guards. At this stage of his career, a drained three-pointer, especially in crunch-time, isn’t surprising. With a perfected shot, smooth rotation, magnificent arc, and hours upon hours of practice, it’s expected. With a vastly improved all-around game, so is his stealthiness on defense, his physicality on the boards, his rim-rattling dunks, and his leadership. Once overwhelmed and stary-eyed about the NBA, the 24-year old and very articulate Webster, who is one of the smoothest and intelligent interviews in the game, is now coming into his own for the immensely talented Blazers.

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