Martin aware of concerns over Heat power forward spot: ‘It’s kind of a sign of disrespect’
The Miami Heat lost its starting power forward from last season and opted against turning to outside help to find a replacement. That has some concerned about the hole P.J. Tucker leaves behind.
The Heat will instead rely on internal improvement to replace Tucker, who signed with the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent this summer. A player from last season’s roster will need to take on a bigger role to fill the void Tucker left behind in the Heat’s starting lineup.
“To me, it’s kind of a sign of disrespect a little bit that people are so worried about it,” wing Caleb Martin said to the Miami Herald, as the Heat closed its five-day training camp at Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas on Saturday.
Martin, who turned 27 on Wednesday, takes all of the questions and concerns about the Heat’s open starting power forward spot personal because he’s considered one of the top candidates for the job.
Martin had the best season of his NBA career last season. He averaged career highs in points (9.2) and rebounds (3.8), and also shot a career-best 50.7 percent from the field while raising his three-point percentage from 24.8 percent in 2020-21 to 41.3 percent in 60 regular-season games (12 starts) in his first season with the Heat.
Those numbers are encouraging and were enough for Martin to earn the biggest payday of his life this summer, when the Heat re-signed him to a fully guaranteed three-year deal worth $20.4 million as a restricted free agent. But those who question whether Martin can be the Heat’s starting power forward this season point to the fact that he’s clearly undersized for the position at 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds.
“People act as if I wasn’t guarding fours last year,” Martin said. “The thing is the way we guard them is, ‘OK, cool. This guy is going to be bigger than me. He’s going to post-up. I’m going to make sure he doesn’t catch the ball. I’m going to front the post and I know I have somebody behind me.’
“Nobody is just throwing me around and I’ll be able to still compete on the glass with those guys. I’m going to do my job to the best of my ability. The way we play defense, it’s not one-on-one.”
Martin is correct — he did spend more time than he ever has playing as a power forward last season. According to Basketball Reference, he spent a career-high 22 percent of his minutes at the position last season primarily as Tucker’s backup.
And the Heat usually doesn’t leave defenders by themselves for very long when at a size or skill disadvantage. Coach Erik Spoelstra has built a scheme that often has smaller defenders front the post against bigger players to make the entry pass tough, as a second and sometimes even a third defender lurk to swarm the offensive player in the post if the pass does get through.
“Just as many concerns as there are about us having disadvantages, I think we’ll also have advantages on the other end of it,” Martin said, visualizing what it could look like if he’s the power forward. “Because even with P.J., he wasn’t really catching the ball and pushing it at a big man. Now I’m getting the board and I’m pressing the gas. So creating an advantage or just putting pressure on those big guys, and a lot of those guys will get worn out. Obviously, there are things that can go wrong with anything. We can get a 6-9 four or whatever and he might get his [butt] busted. He might not be able to switch as well. No scenario is going to be perfect.”
Martin is working to make it as perfect as possible. He estimates that he added eight pounds this offseason in preparation for more frontcourt minutes, while making it a priority to protect his elite athleticism even as he put on weight.
Building off the best three-point shooting season of his NBA career, when considering volume, has been another focus for Martin as he vies for a bigger role. He knows that to play as the starting power forward, his outside shooting will be important to complement frontcourt partner Bam Adebayo’s inside-the-arc game.
“I think to be able to consistently hit the three,” Martin said of what’s needed to play alongside Adebayo. “That will give Bam plenty of space to operate, to iso in the mid-post. If I’m sitting in the corner and he wants to post up and be on the elbow, if they respect me shooting the ball, that’s going to create space. If you have him, me here and Max or whoever there on the other side, then it’s just going to open things up for him.”
The Heat has other options to start at the four like developmental forwards Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic and two-way contract player Darius Days. But Highsmith has appeared in just 24 regular-season games during his NBA career, and Jovic and Days are rookies who aren’t expected to immediately be part of the Heat’s rotation.
The Heat could also go small and start Max Strus at power forward or go big and start two centers in the frontcourt.
“For me, I just want to play. Whether I’m starting or whether I come off the bench, my goal is to get the most minutes possible,” Martin said. “So I would love to be a starter. But as long as I’m playing and I can be productive, I’m fine.”
If Martin does open the season as the Heat’s starting power forward, the comparisons to Tucker will be unavoidable. But those within the organization won’t be the ones making them.
“He’s a different player and I don’t want to make him P.J,” Spoelstra said. “Caleb is super unique in his own right. I want to be open to those possibilities, whether he starts, whether he’s at the four, whether he’s at the wing. I don’t know. We’ll figure that part out. But his versatility, speed and his game-changing ignitability, that’s good with any lineup.”
NEXT UP
The Heat returns to Miami from the Bahamas on Saturday and will have Sunday off before taking part in the Red, White and Pink Game on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at FTX Arena. Tickets for the Heat’s annual intrasquad scrimmage are still available for $1 on Ticketmaster, with proceeds benefiting cancer care and research at the Miami Cancer Institute at Baptist Health South Florida.
Then the Heat’s busy week continues with its preseason opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at FTX Arena, which kicks of a stretch that includes three preseason games in four days.
“Great week,” Heat forward Udonis Haslem said of the week that was in the Bahamas after the final training camp practice on Saturday. “We got some work in. A little bit of rain, but it held on pretty good. So the young guys were able to go out on the water slides. Some of the older guys were able to get some golf.
“It was a good balance of hard work and a mental break to get away, a little bit of solitude if you need that to go to your room and just be by yourself and tap in or whatever you got to do. We really had everything here that we needed to be successful and get a good start to the season.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2022 at 11:14 AM.
