During the Nuggets’ players- only dinner Saturday night at Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City, Kenyon Martin stood up to give a speech.
The Grand Kenyon knows of what he speaks. This is the 33-year-old power forward’s ninth postseason adventure. He has been a starter in 15 series — more than the combined total of 10 of his 13 teammates. He has played in 84 playoff games — more than anyone else in the Nuggets- Thunder clash of young titans. He has been to three conference finals and two championship series.
In the postseason Kenyon has played hurt; he has been suspended by his own coach — George Karl; he Martinized Dirk Nowitzki two years ago and was thrust in the middle of an intense controversy; he has been his team’s strongest rebounder; and he has been his team’s most tenacious defender. He has been the good guy, the bad guy, the loud guy. He has won seven series, but never a ring.
So, at the private team dinner on the eve of Game 1, Martin intended, he told me Saturday afternoon, to talk about the playoff experience and his playoff experiences.
“Some of the guys say they were in the sixth grade when I was in the two Finals (with New Jersey),” said Martin, who was 24 and 25 then. “I’ll tell them nothing is guaranteed, so make the most of it now. You don’t know if you’ll have this opportunity again.”
The Kenyon Address won’t be The King’s Speech, but he will talk without hesitation with inspiration and assurance.
Martin hasn’t seen “The King’s Speech,” the Oscar- winning movie. “I really want to because of its story, but I’ll wait until the offseason when I can relax and enjoy it,” he said.
He can identify with King George VI, who overcame a serious speech impediment.
For much of his life, Martin suffered as a stutterer. However, as “Bertie” the reluctant king did, Kenyon defeated his demon.
Few would believe that one of the NBA’s toughest players was routinely ridiculed, bullied and beaten by other youths because of his stuttering.
“I’d rather get a bad grade than talk in class,” he said.
Born in 1977 in Saginaw, Mich., the son of Paul Roby and Lydia Moore, Martin last saw his father, a former New Mexico basketball player, when he was 7. The family moved to Dallas, and Kenyon rarely spoke. His older sister, Tamara, finished his sentences and protected him. The short, thin Kenyon enveloped himself, and developed himself, in basketball, where his actions spoke.
He wasn’t highly recruited, but Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins gambled and gave him a scholarship. In his first semester, Kenyon was scorned by other students because of his speech problem, and he cried and went home. Tamara bought her brother a bus ticket and ordered him to take the 23-hour ride back to Cincinnati.
A professor led Kenyon to a speech therapist, who taught him breath and muscle control and how to talk clearly and precisely. He also received advice from Bill Walton, who conquered his own stuttering affliction and became a broadcaster.
(Martin is a board member and, yes, active spokesman of the American Institute of Stuttering.)
In his senior season Martin was chosen the consensus college player of the year, and he graduated with a degree in criminal justice.
He was the No. 1 overall pick by the Nets in the 2000 NBA draft. After two NBA Finals and one All-Star Game, the free agent was acquired by the Nuggets in a sign-and- trade deal that provided him with a seven-year, $90 million contract.
Soon, though, Martin’s basketball world began to collapse. In May 2005, micro- fracture surgery was performed on his left knee. The next season he missed 26 games because of tendinitis in the knee.
In November 2006, Mar- tin was forced to undergo microfracture surgery on his right knee. He missed the playoffs.
Martin would be the catalyst in the series two years ago against the Mavericks when, with 5:57 left in the first game’s opening quarter, he elbowed Nowitzki, who made his first six shots, to the floor beyond the end line.
Nowitzki finished 6-of-16 from the field, and the Nuggets won the game and the series. “It cost me some change ($25,000), but it worked,” Martin said with a laugh Saturday.
Last season, knee issues recurred when Martin tore a patella tendon and he played in only 58 games. He limped through the first-round loss to the Jazz.
This season, after another operation, he didn’t play until Dec. 22. “I followed the doctor’s orders, and it was one of my better decisions. The knee is not sore. I feel great,” he said.
His contract — and possibly his stay in Denver — is ending. “I want to finish my career with the Nuggets, but all I’m thinking about are the playoffs. I have to step up my leadership and help these young guys get over the hump,” he said.
There was no stutter in his words or his step.
The Kenyon Speech, and the Martin Action, will be critical in the playoffs.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
