The Heat not only won in Phoenix Saturday night against a Suns team with the league’s best record, they did it with a starting lineup that included Max Strus, Caleb Martin and Omer Yurtseven. The big win came a day after John Hollinger of The Athletic highlighted that trio for the work it has done in the absence of Heat stars like Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo . That trio makes up part of Hollinger’s “Dog Days Heroes,” recognizing under-the-radar players who have excelled in December and January.
Yurtseven signed with Miami in the final week of last season after a strong showing in the G League. He was the third center on the depth chart when the season began, but the Heat’s injuries and COVID-19 absences have given him an unexpected workload. He has responded by ranking second in the league in with a 23.8 rebound rate, along with a 4.1% block rate. He's averaging 5.6 points and 6.4 rebounds across 31 games, including seven starts.
Strus, who spent most of last season recovering from a torn ACL, is shooting 41.8% from three-point range. He has also doubled his rebound rate this year and has improved on defense. Strus has chipped in 11.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He's made 29 appearances and five starts for the Heat so far this season.
Martin, who signed a two-way contract after the Hornets waived him in the offseason, has become a defensive presence in Miami and is getting points in transition. Hollinger expects him to get a standard deal later in the season when the Heat have enough room under the luxury tax to fill their final roster spot. Martin has added 8.9 points and 3.6 points across 30 games, eight of which were starts.
Lowry has missed four games this season while Butler has only played in 23 of the team's 40 games and Adebayo just 18. Despite those absences, the Heat are 25-15 and third in the East.
There’s more from Miami:
- Kyle Guy has been outstanding, but the Heat don’t appear to have a roster spot for him after his 10-day hardship contract expired Saturday night, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Guy averaged 9.8 PPG in five games and shot 45% from three-point range. However, the open roster spot is likely being saved for Martin, and the Heat like the potential of Marcus Garrett, who holds the other two-way slot. A second 10-day deal for Guy may be unlikely because Garrett is the last Miami player in the protocols and he’s expected to be cleared soon. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and making the most of it,” Guy said Friday. “So they’ll tell me when they think they need to tell me. Whether that’s at the end of the 10-day or today or tomorrow, I don’t know. So we’ll see. But I have no idea.”
- Veteran guard Mario Chalmers will see his 10-day hardship contract expire Sunday, Chiang adds. He’s not ready to give up on playing yet, but he’s considering a future in coaching. “My mom was a coach, my dad was a coach, so I’ve been around coaches all my life,” Chalmers said. “It’s just something that I love the game of basketball so much that I’ll always want to be around it.”
- The Heat are in a strong position as the February 10 trade deadline approaches and shouldn’t feel any desperation to make a deal, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel.
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