What Makes Alijah Martin a GAME CHANGER for the Raptors?

What Makes Alijah Martin a GAME CHANGER for the Raptors?

Another draft has come and gone, and with the 39th overall pick, the Toronto Raptors selected Elijah Martin, a wildly athletic, defensive-minded guard who’s a national champion. I’m Cody Wilds. Please like, comment, and subscribe. It help gets our work out there at Raptors Republic, and I think we do a pretty good job over here covering the Toronto Raptors and the Raptors 905. With that out of the way, let’s get into it. Let’s start with the overall numbers where Martin was shockingly consistent over his last four years of collegiate ball. In his last three years at FAU plus his one season at Florida, he’s played in 141 games, making 120 starts, and averaging over 29 minutes per game along the way. Across all that, the 23-year-old averaged nearly 14 points, over five rebounds, nearly two assists, and one and a half steals. Martin is experienced, having played a ton of games, but more importantly, he won a bunch of them. Over his last three years at FAU and his one season at Florida, he had an astounding 15 and 32 record while helping lead the Owls to a Final Four appearance. Then, of course, being a part of the national championship winning Gators this past season. He also stood out athletically at the combine, posting a 38 in max vertical jump and a 3.11 second 3/4 sprint. both numbers being good enough for 11th amongst all participants. And it pops on the court, man. You could see how effortlessly he gets up and down the court and just how explosive and twitchy he really is. He’s small by NBA standards, only measuring at 61 and a half without shoes on. That was the sixth smallest at the combine. And he’ll come in around the 30th smallest or so player in the league. But he makes up for it with his athleticism and strength. He has a strong 208 lb build and is capable of rising up for some man jams and powerful finishes. He looks like a football player, but ultimately he plays bigger than his height with his 6’7 and 1/2 wingspan and elite number being 6 in longer than his height helping in that regard. Let’s start with the defense now where Martin stood out especially at the point of attack and guarding in the pick and roll. He’s an extremely physical, athletic, and tough defender who matches that with quick feet and strong hands. He uses his length and quickness to stay in front of the ball handler and just eats up space. And then when he gets in front of you, he uses his strong chest to wall up. And once he gets that chest on you, it’s hard to go through him. He’s also great at navigating screens. He takes bumps and stride with no issue and has improved at getting skinny to maneuver around screens throughout his collegiate career. While guarding the ball handler in peak and roll, Martin held opponents to 25.3% from the field, which was just 0.55 points per possession, which was 89th percentile. Martin is also fine to guard up in the lineup as he plays bigger than his listed height and is more switchable than you would think. His low center of gravity and physical nature makes it hard for him to be pushed around and he regularly guarded fours during his time at Florida Atlantic. He ultimately projects as a point of attack defender. And for Toronto, who has needed help at the point of attack and has been trying to address that need over the past couple of years, he fits well. Off the ball defensively, he knows where to be, is a strong communicator, and will bump cutters, rollers, and tag effectively. He also uses his quickness to get into passing lanes as he averaged one and a half steals per game this past season. The transition game and turning defense into offense is where Elijah can thrive north of the border as well. He runs the court hard and will take off for some ridiculous dunks in transition. And he should be found if he’s streaking and open. He creates events defensively to help him and his team get out and run. And he will even flare out of the three-point line as well if he is off the ball. In transition, Martin was efficient, completing at a near 55% clip for 1.21 points per possession, which was 76 percentile. Now, the size does ultimately bring some limitations for him on the defensive end. that taller players should be able to shoot over the top of him. Most baggs should be able to dig advantage down low. And he also doesn’t pop on blocks despite his athleticism, averaging 0.3 across his collegiate career. And when off the ball, more than likely won’t offer much in weak side room rim protection, but that could be covered up in Toronto. Ultimately, Martin could be part of a good defense or even really good defense and should slide in right into the culture and identity that was being built in Toronto towards the later part of last year. Now, offensively, there are more questions than on D, but we’ll start with the positives. I’ve already mentioned the transition game, which is a good thing for Martin, but Elijah is also a solid three-point shooter. The outside shot is massive for Martin’s offensive role. Throughout college, Martin took nearly 900 three-point attempts and hit them at a 36.4% clip. That’s more than translatable. And getting into Toronto’s development system, which has helped a lot of players to shoot better over the years, you could maybe expect another improvement in this area. He also hit 33.7% of his catch and shoot threes this past season. And for his career, he’s been at about 36% off the catch. Solid marks. He was also solid as a shooter off the dribble. hitting at a near 36% clip from three-point territory, and he was 11 of 22 on pull-up twos this past season. Martin more than likely won’t be creating a lot of his own shots, and he isn’t an overly dynamic three-point shooter with a ton of movement or a ton off the dribble, but he plays with great balance, and he hits the simple shots with great volume and solid efficiency. The rest of his offensive game is fairly well-rounded, though he is not a point guard, and we’ll get to that. He’s a fine, even solid ball handler and passer who can run some weak side actions, weak side pick and rolls if asked. He averaged 2.2 assists compared to one-point turnovers last season. So, he’s not going to hurt you in that aspect. He was also solid at the rim. He didn’t draw a ton of fouls in college with only a 28% free throw rate, but he finished well at Florida. He shot over 64% at the rim and 59% on layups. His quick first step and vertical pop helped him in that area. He was also very good on cuts, though he didn’t do it much. He shot 75% on cuts in only 16 attempts. And this is something I would like to see explored more since he will primarily be off the ball offensively. And that’s really where the main concerns come from Martin is that at his size, he is an offball player offensively and not a point guard. His handle just isn’t dynamic enough, whether it’s in pick and roll or in the middle of the court. And he also doesn’t make advanced reads as a passer or manipulate defenders. And while he hasn’t really shown that court vision to play point guard, though he can make those simple reads as a playmaker, as I mentioned on those weak side sort of actions, offensively it’s going to come down to the shot. And while over a large sample he’s been consistent, he can tend to be streaky. Thanks to the Athletics Sam Vassini for this. But this past season, in his first five games, he shot just 27% from three, then drilled eight threes against Southern Illinois in a single game, then hit just 28% of his threes over the next seven games. Then in conference play, he made 38% from deep, but then in the conference and NCAA tournaments, he hit just under 32%. This is something that I will be keeping my eye on moving forward because at 6’2 when the shot isn’t going and you’re limited ball handler and passer, it can get tricky. Overall, with Martin’s winning pedigree, experience, toughness, physicality, point of attack, defense, transition game, and solid enough three-point shooting, it’s easy to see why Toronto liked him and how he fits. As of this recording, it remains to be seen if Martin will take a two-way deal or a standard deal with the Raptors with the team right up against the tax, but it’s safe to say whatever deal he takes, he’ll spend a majority of the season with the 9005. And it wouldn’t shock me if he ends up being a leader on that squad. I’d love for Martin to get some run in the NBA. And with Toronto’s deep roster, I just don’t know if the minutes are going to be there. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he carved out a role cuz that just seems the type of guy that he is. As always, please like, comment, and subscribe. You can expect a bunch more video essays from myself on the G-League side of things, while Samson and S will have you covered on basically everything else. I’m Cody Wilds and I’m out.

The Raptors found themselves a winner in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft with Alijah Martin — Coty Wiles breaks down what he brings to the team.

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