Omer Yurtseven’s time has come again with Heat, as he again seeks to seize moment
For two seasons, his only two NBA seasons, there seemingly always has been a reason from the Miami Heat not to play Omer Yurtseven.
The exception was when starting center Bam Adebayo tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb last season and was sidelined seven weeks.
That also was when Yurtseven was exceptional, loading up on double-doubles and setting Heat rookie records for scoring and rebounding in the process.
Otherwise, there was the Heat’s ability last season to go undersized with P.J. Tucker in the middle.
The veteran presence of Dewayne Dedmon the past two seasons.
The emergence this season of two-way player Orlando Robinson.
And, then, the addition of veteran big man Cody Zeller last month at the buyout deadline.
But as Yurtseven worked his way back from November ankle surgery, the landscape already was changing.
Tucker already had been lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency last summer.
Dedmon was struggling with his play and a foot injury to the degree that he was offloaded at the February trading deadline at the cost of an attached second-round pick.
And Robinson’s allotment of NBA days on his two-way contract dwindled to four, now again playing in the G League.
So now, with Zeller suffering a broken nose in Saturday night’s overtime road loss to the Orlando Magic, it would appear that Yurtseven’s time has come.
“There’s a lot that I can help with,” the 6-foot-11 member of Turkey’s national team said.
The expectations are not, or at least should not be, anything close to what Yurtseven, 24, was able to produce last season. This time, the role will be augmenting Adebayo, who averages 35 minutes a game, with coach Erik Spoelstra still reluctant to play dual centers together.
But at least now there is an opening that wasn’t there when Dedmon was functional, when Robinson was competing, when Zeller was providing a spark.
Yurtseven’s first call of the season came when he entered in the closing seconds of Saturday’s first quarter.
“I mean, obviously I was looking forward to it. I was trying to be ready no matter what,” he said of his 2022-23 debut. “Really wanted to win, wanted to do everything that I could to help us.”
Instead, there were two limited stints, about three-plus minutes apiece, in each half in Orlando, closing with one missed shot, no points and one rebound, held out for the final 19 minutes.
“It’s still an adjustment,” Yurtseven said, with the Heat facing the Utah Jazz on Monday night at Miami-Dade Arena. “It was my first time out there and the initial part felt different, something that I’m not used to. But I think the second time that I went in, I was just on pace, on speed and it felt a whole lot better.”
Prior to being activated by the Heat last Monday there were a pair of appearances with the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, to get him up to speed.
Then he was bypassed for three games while on the active roster, with Spoelstra staying with Zeller.
“It’s just about staying ready,” Yurtseven said.
Then the Zeller option was lost, at least for the short term, depending on the magic of modern masks.
“There’s definitely a battle in being able to, I guess, get to this point and be pain free and just go 100 percent out there,” Yurtseven said.
As an impending free agent, Yurtseven’s NBA future likely will be more similar to the current reserve role at hand than the starting breakthrough he had last season.
That has him appreciating this time and place.
“Go out there and compete,” he said. “I mean that’s the role, and being about to rebound, set screens, different pick-and-rolls, and all of it, being able to do it all. And getting guys open I think is like the number-one thing.
“I think I can help our offense, get our offense more offensive rebounds. There’s a lot that I can help.”
Now seemingly with no one standing in his way.
“I think every time,” he said, “is going to be exponentially better.”
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