Can Tynice Martin Overcome Her Rocky 2019 Season?

This piece does not reflect the views of the Minnesota Lynx front office.

Tynice Martin: 5’11, F, West Virginia University

College Stats in 2019-20:

27 games, 33.7 MPG, 14.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 36.6 FG%, 29.0 3P%, 86.2 FT%

Where she’ll go:

Martin was once projected to be a late first-round pick at the start of the 2019-20 season but has since dropped on the draft board and will likely be selected early in the second round.

The Rundown:

In the spring of 2019, Martin made the decision as a junior to return to West Virginia University instead of declaring for the draft.

Her decision was considered a wise one given the less-than-head-turning improvements she made her junior year; her field goal percentage and points per game decreased from her sophomore to junior season.

Martin and her supporters hoped another year at the college level would give her time to improve her efficiency and climb up the 2020 draft board. In hindsight, her draft stock was probably higher after her junior season than it is heading into the 2020 draft.

Martin went from attempting 16.2 field goals per game and shooting 38.0% from the field as a junior to averaging 13.5 FGAs and hitting 36.6% from the field her final season with the Mountaineers. Her 3-point percentage also took a hit from 37.9% to 29.0% and she coincidingly averaged 3.5 fewer points as a senior.

Her free-throw percentage was the only scoring statistic that improved (83.1% to 86.2%), but she didn’t make any significant improvement in getting to the line more often her final go-around.

Without knowing Martin personally, you could easily make the assumption that her decline was due to a domestic battery charge that she plead no contest to in early November. The then-incoming senior was suspended indefinitely in August but was available for Nov. 17, only missing two of WVU’s 29 total games.

Martin is an explosive player who’s dangerous when coming off of a screen, and she can create scoring opportunities for herself in one-on-one situations with her polished jab step. She’s a confident player who doesn’t let a few missed shots slow her down — for better or worse — and could quickly make an impression on a rebuilding team such as New York, Indiana or Dallas. But if those teams aren’t willing to take on the baggage of her past, Martin will most likely continue to slide on the draft board.