As the Miami Heat continue to find ways to win when lacking Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler — sometimes without two or even three — emerging third-year forward Caleb Martin was asked to explain the insanity.
More to the point, Martin was asked to consider if there are many Heat players who aren’t having career years.
A smile emerged, just as the Heat have emerged to win 15 of their last 20.
“It feels like everybody,” he said.
It wasn’t necessarily an exaggeration, considering the strides made by himself, Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Omer Yurtseven, Tyler Herro and even some veterans such as Dewayne Dedmon and Butler.
“Everybody brings something very important to the team,” Martin continued. “And you feel it when those guys aren’t available. But also it shows you like how deep we are in terms of every time someone’s out, somebody steps up. It doesn’t matter who it is down the line.”
Martin said a recent conversation with his twin brother, Charlotte Hornets forward Cody Martin, practically had him gushing.
“To me, “Martin said, “it’s crazy. It’s like the deepest team I’ve been a part of. And down the line, everybody’s nice. I tell everybody, I was telling my brother, ‘Like everybody’s nice down to the line. Like everybody can hoop.’ It just goes to show, like on any given night somebody else is hooping. So it’s fun.”
In Wednesday night’s 104-92 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at FTX Arena, when Lowry was out for a second consecutive game for personal reasons, and when Butler was ejected at the end of the second period, it was Strus seizing control with 11 early points, Martin scoring 15 of his 26 points in the third quarter, and Vincent helping close it out with four fourth-quarter assists.
And credit to coach Erik Spoelstra, Martin said, for having the trust.
“And that just says a lot about Coach Spo, too, and trusting the guys all the way down the line to give them minutes,” he said. “With Kyle being out, start Gabe and allowing him to play that position. Gabe coming in and doing what he does.”
Typically a team works one or two new elements into such a veteran mix. But with injuries, players missing time in COVID protocols, and the occasional ejectionable moments from Lowry and Butler, it has opened numerous doors.
Martin said it is a credit to the team’s veterans such as Lowry, Butler and P.J. Tucker to allow the Heat’s emerging talent to burst through those doors.
“Man, it is crazy. It is crazy to see how guys are having career years all around the same time,” Martin said, with the Heat next turning their attention to Friday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. “But also it just shows you, too, how selfless all of our guys are down the line, and a lot of credit to our vets, and obviously our best players, they don’t try to steal the spotlight. And they don’t need the attention, that it doesn’t need to be on them every day.
“They’re cool with however it goes down and for us to get a win, that’s fun.”
So this week, where Lowry, Butler, Tucker typically would sit after significant victories, it has been the likes of Strus, Vincent and Martin arriving for the postgame media sessions, just as it was for weeks with Yurtseven when he was filling in for sidelined Adebayo.
“It doesn’t matter who’s bringing it, who’s in the spotlight, or who’s coming to the podium or doing postgame interviews, they don’t care about any of that,” Martin said of the veterans ceding attention to the newbies. “I think that just says a lot about our team, obviously says a lot about our depth.”
