Caleb Martin continues to thrive, explains why he was available to Heat on two-way deal
Caleb Martin’s eye-opening play this season has many wondering how he was available to the Miami Heat on a two-way contract. But Martin knows how it happened.
“Honestly, I wasn’t too surprised just based on my numbers from Charlotte,” Martin said ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night at FTX Arena. “I really don’t blame anybody for not picking me up off waivers. But it’s my job to continue to prove to people that I’m more than that.”
Martin, who was waived by the Charlotte Hornets this past offseason before signing a two-way deal with the Heat, has proven he’s much more than that.
In his first season with the Heat, Martin entered Wednesday averaging career highs in points (9.7), rebounds (3.9) and minutes (23.1) while shooting a career-best 51.9 percent from the field. The 26-year-old has also shot 38.2 percent on threes after averaging just five points on 37.5 percent shooting from the field and 24.8 percent shooting from three-point range with the Hornets last season.
While Martin has served as a fill-in starter occasionally when Jimmy Butler and others are unavailable, he has become an important part of the Heat’s bench rotation as an athletic three-and-D wing. After returning from the NBA’s health and safety protocols in December, Martin has appeared in 14 straight games and has averaged 29 minutes of playing time during that stretch.
“He really had to embrace being a three-and-D defender and everything that comes with that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Martin’s role. “Understanding scouting reports, understanding tendencies, understanding our system and really being detailed and disciplined to our system. That was a process that took training camp and through the entire preseason and the first weeks of the season. But he’s a very willing student. He puts in the time, he wants to get better. He understood that was the role, so he’s going to try to conquer that while he’s developing other parts of his game offensively.”
Martin’s improved and revamped three-point shot is a driving force behind his career-best offensive numbers. But nearly half of his shots — 44.4 percent to be exact — have come from inside the restricted area this season.
A more efficient outside shot has led to more success around the basket, as Martin has been able to take advantage of aggressive closeouts to score points on 74.8 percent of his drives, according to NBA tracking stats. Martin has shot 72.3 percent on shots from inside the restricted area.
“I see guys like starting to fly out a little bit more,” Martin said. “I even ask guys a couple questions when I’m in the corner. When Max [Strus] is open and I’m open and somebody passes it and they come flying at me, I’ll ask them sometimes: ‘Why are you flying at me? Max is over there. Y’all tripping.’ But shoot, if they’re going to fly out and let me get to the basket, I’m going to keep going to the basket.”
Martin’s defense has also helped him earn a consistent role with the Heat. He has been used to defend the opponent’s best perimeter scorer often, guarding players like Atlanta’s Trae Young, Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Phoenix’s Chris Paul in recent weeks.
Not only are players defended by Martin shooting just 39.6 percent this season, but he has also limited those he has guarded to 0.55 points per possession in isolation situations (91.3 percentile in the NBA).
“Just focus and trying to be disciplined,” Martin said of his defense. “I know that in order for me to grab as many minutes as possible that I have to be responsible and I have to be reliable on the defensive end and not make rookie mistakes. So I’m trying to do my best as the season goes on to be more mature in that aspect.”
The bottom line is the Heat has been 1.4 points per 100 possessions better with Martin on the court this season.
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. One thing is for sure, he won’t be available to teams on a two-way contract again next offseason.
“He’s a can of Red Bull,” Spoelstra said of Martin. “He’s like that in everything we do. Pre-practice sessions, post practice, his individual workouts. He does everything intense.”
WILL HEAT HAVE AN ALL-STAR?
All-Star Game starters will be revealed on Thursday night on TNT and no Heat players are expected to make that list.
In the third returns of fan balloting released last week, Butler stood fifth and Bam Adebayo stood eighth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players. Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry were not in the top 10 among East guards.
The next question is: Will a Heat player be selected as a reserve for the Feb. 20 NBA All-Star Game? Head coaches choose the seven reserves from each conference, with reserves announced on TNT on Feb. 3.
Butler, Herro, Adebayo and Lowry are the Heat’s All-Star candidates. But Adebayo is considered the least likely option, as he missed seven weeks of action because of thumb surgery.
“I hope Tyler gets in,” Adebayo said. “I really think Tyler is having an All-Star caliber year. That’s my opinion. The whole organization thinks it. Him and Jimmy and Kyle. I think I missed too many games, but we’ll see what happens. But yeah, those three for sure I feel like they’ll get that nod and the No. 1 nod is T.”
INJURY REPORT
Herro is listed as available for Wednesday’s game against the Knicks after clearing the NBA’s health and safety protocols earlier this week.
But the Heat has ruled out Lowry (personal reasons), Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning), KZ Okpala (wrist sprain) and Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery). Also, Chris Silva is ineligible to play for Miami as a COVID-19 replacement with Herro out of protocols and available.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 12:45 PM.
