Caleb Martin making most of two-way opportunity with Heat: ‘I’m just happy to hoop’
As twin brothers, Caleb Martin and Cody Martin weren’t looking to be separated as NBA players. But Caleb admits the time away from each other has been productive.
Caleb and Cody spent the previous two seasons as teammates with the Charlotte Hornets, but Caleb was waived this past offseason before signing a two-way contract with the Miami Heat in September. Cody remains with Charlotte.
“Obviously, it sucks because we would love to play our whole entire careers together,” Caleb said in advance of Wednesday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. “But yeah, it just gives us a chance to focus on ourselves as individual players first. Because, obviously, when you’re together, you want the best for him even if that takes away from you. So it was always hard to be able to be fully 100 percent focused on me and how I’m doing and how do I get better and stuff like that because I was worried about him and vice versa.”
The numbers indicate that Caleb has made the most of his time away from Cody, as he entered Wednesday averaging career-highs in points (8.9), rebounds (3.6) and minutes (22.7) while shooting a career-best 50.5 percent from the field in his first season with the Heat. Since Dec. 1, Caleb has averaged 13.4 points while shooting 55.5 percent from the field and 42.6 percent on threes in 12 games while being used in a bigger role as the Heat deals with injury and COVID-19 issues.
Caleb’s best NBA performance came last month when he totaled a career-high 28 points with the help of a career-high six made threes in the Heat’s Dec. 8 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He also recorded eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 34 minutes as he started in place of the injured Jimmy Butler.
Caleb, 26, then entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols three days later on Dec. 11. After missing seven straight games, he picked up right where he left off to score double-digit points in six of seven games since making his return.
“I was itching to get back just coming off a game like that,” Caleb said of having to wait nearly three weeks to play after his career game on Dec. 8.
In his first season with the Heat, Caleb has worked on his outside shot “trying to make it cleaner and more fluid” after making just 24.8 percent of his three-point attempts last season.
The results: Caleb entered Wednesday shooting 37 percent on 2.7 three-point attempts per game this season. He has diversified his three-point game, too, shooting 16 of 43 (37.2 percent) on above-the-break threes and 14 of 37 (37.8 percent) on corner threes.
“I think one of the main things I focused on is just trying to get it out earlier,” Caleb said. “Make it kind of one motion and kind of take the hitch out the top. So just kind of make it more fluid and just get it out early because sometimes I’ve had a habit of kind of letting it stick to the top a little bit. Trying to focus on and guide to make it instead of just letting it go.”
Martin has proven to be one of the best two-way contract players in the NBA. That has helped to strengthen the Heat’s depth, especially since he can now be available for every regular-season game after the league and Players Association recently agreed to eliminate the 50-game limit for two-way contract players.
To make Martin eligible for the playoffs, the Heat is expected to convert his two-way deal into a standard contract before the regular season ends. That would give Miami the maximum of 15 players signed to standard contracts
“Obviously, I’m always grateful for any opportunity I get regardless of what I’m on,” Martin said of playing on a two-way contract. “But do I think I’m more than that? Of course, everyone believes in the work they put in and believes that they want more than what they might be on.
“I was talking to Omer [Yurtseven] the other day and I was like, ‘At the end of the day, man, I’m just happy to hoop and just be able to play and be on a team and be with guys who want me to play and want me to be myself and want me to be aggressive.’ That’s what helps me not focus on anything else. It’s me just having fun, man. Me having fun, good stuff is going to happen.”
GUY’S OPPORTUNITY
Kyle Guy signed his second 10-day contract with the Heat on Monday as a COVID-19 replacement.
Whether Guy signs another contract with the Heat after his latest deal expires on Jan. 19 is still to be determined, but the team’s salary cap situation makes it unlikely unless it sheds salary in a trade, replaces guard Marcus Garrett with Guy on a two-way contract or another player enters COVID-19 protocols.
Why? Because signing Guy, 24, to the open 15th roster spot pushes the Heat into the luxury tax.
The Heat has been determined to avoid the luxury tax this season — unless an opportunity arises that it can’t refuse — with the threat of the punitive repeater lax (when a team is over the tax at least three times during a four-year period) looming. Miami finished the 2019-20 season as a tax team.
But at least one Heat teammate hopes Guy sticks around.
“I played against Kyle in the G League,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said. “To see the kind of career arch he has had, he has won everywhere he has went. He has been an impactful player everywhere he has gone. So much of it is just about the right opportunity and right timing.
“Something that I’ve quickly realized with him is he’s checking his boxes. He’s doing whatever he needs to do, he’s taking care of his side of the deal. A lot of times, you just need things outside of your control to break your way. I’m hoping that that’s finally happening. That this is a place he can stick around because he certainly deserves it.”
INJURY REPORT
The Heat ruled out Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Jimmy Butler (sprained right ankle), Marcus Garrett (return to competition reconditioning), Markieff Morris (health and safety protocols), KZ Okpala (sprained right wrist) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) for Wednesday’s game against the Hawks.
Dewayne Dedmon was cleared to play in Atlanta after missing the last seven games with a sprained left knee.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 1:13 PM.
