Caleb Martin beyond concerns about measuring up at power forward, as Love enters picture
Caleb Martin smiled at the question, but there also was an unease.
By now, he figured it would be beyond the point of being questioned about whether he could endure at power forward.
Outside of an injury rough patch around the turn of the calendar, he has been out there for 49 games this season for the Miami Heat, starting each at power forward, his rebounding average increasing as the season has progressed.
Yes, the Heat’s game notes still list him at 6 feet 5, 205 pounds.
Yes, there are point guards in the league who are bigger.
And, yes, at just about every turn amid the trading deadline and this current buyout season, there has been speculation about directions the Heat might go to upgrade at power forward, with Kevin Love now entering the picture.
But what Martin knows, what he takes pride in, is that he’s still standing, even if on a nightly basis he has to look up to the opponent he is defending.
“It’s honestly felt similar to last year,” Martin told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, with the Heat in the midst of an eight-day All-Star break that ends with Friday night’s road game against the Milwaukee Bucks. “Like I felt it hasn’t really changed too much in this dynamic of how I guard and who I’m guarding.
“And especially the last couple of weeks, I feel like I’ve been rebounding the ball a lot better in that position.”
Indeed, in six of the past eight games, Martin has had at least seven rebounds, with nine or more in four of those eight.
And on the defensive end, only during initial defensive sets and only when the Heat are in man-to-man defense is Martin the sole defender against opposing power forwards.
“It doesn’t feel like too much of a change,” he said in comparison to his previous work as an NBA wing, “because we’re kind of a switching team. So I end up getting on guys on the perimeter. So to me it doesn’t feel too much different.
“Maybe to other people it might look different or seem different, but for me, personally, it doesn’t feel too different.”
And yet the questions about the Heat’s overall size — or lack thereof — generally cycle back to Martin. The Heat stand 26th in the 30-team league in rebounding. But even that can be overstated, since ranking below the Heat are three likely playoff or play-in teams, when counting the No. 30 Dallas Mavericks, the No. 29 Brooklyn Nets and the No. 28 Philadelphia 76ers, with the Minnesota Timberwolves just ahead of the Heat at No. 27.
When it comes to rebound percentage (percentage of available rebounds secured per game), a far more meaningful measure, the Heat are in the middle of the league, at No. 16. And in terms of defensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of opponent missed shots secured), the Heat are No. 4, securing a robust 73.6%.
So undersized? Yes. But overwhelmed? No necessarily by the numbers.
“Sometimes, Martin said, “just having big guys is just perception. If you got a 6-9, 6-10 guy who’s starting and he gets six boards, what’s the difference? As long as the job gets done, as long as guys are grabbing the boards, as long as we’re putting ourselves in position to win the game, I don’t think it matters if they have a guy who has two extra inches on you.
“Obviously size will matter at certain points, and when it comes to certain matchups. But ultimately that’s the type of team we are. We just figure it out.”
That hadn’t stopped the chatter, be it about Love, Serge Ibaka or other bigger or bulkier power options on the buyout market, after the Heat bypassed moving in that direction at the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline, with Love since landed.
So Martin simply has stayed within himself, quite literally leaving the weighty expectations to others, basically with the same physique as when he was so efficiently chasing guards during last year’s postseason run to within one victory of the NBA Finals.
“It’s tough to like work on your body as you’re going into the season,” he said. “I don’t have the best appetite during the season. So it’s hard for me to keep weight on. So I get in the weight room when I can. Just as long as my body’s feeling good, I can try to keep an advantage.”
Herro’s short night
Despite converting 10 consecutive shots at one stage, Heat guard Tyler Herro failed to advance out of the first round of Saturday’s 3-point contest at All-Star Weekend in Utah. Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lilliard won the competition.
Herro, who had Heat teammates Bam Adebayo and Udonis Haslem rooting him on courtside in Salt Lake City, was the lone Heat contestant at All-Star Saturday. Adebayo is the Heat’s lone All-Star, with Haslem at All-Star Weekend as part of the commemoration of his 20th and final NBA season.
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