How Caleb Martin has emerged as a star player for the Miami Heat

How Caleb Martin became a star for the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

Although Jimmy Butler was named the Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player, there was certainly an argument that Caleb Martin deserved the award for his incredible play throughout the series.

In fact, Martin nearly won the award. Of a nine-person voting committee, he received four of the votes to nearly snatch it from Butler. Martin had an amazing series, averaging 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals on absurd efficiency: 73.8 TS% (60.2/48.9/87.5 shooting splits).

Unlike the Miami Heat’s stars in Butler and Adebayo, Martin was a model of consistency throughout the Conference Finals. He failed to score below 14 points in any of the seven games and had over 20 points in three of them. In addition, he shot above 50% from the field in six of the games and above 60% in four of them. He was always reliable for Miami, whether he came off of the bench like in the first five games or as a starter in the final two games.

Martin was certainly a quality role player for the Heat in the regular season, averaging 9.6 points on 57.1 TS% (46.4/35.6/80.5 splits) with his typical gritty on-ball defense, but he certainly wasn’t the Martin we saw in the Conference Finals. It’s like we were watching a different player: a player that had been unleashed to his full potential.

There’s nothing to dislike about Martin’s offensive game given his role with the Heat. Aside from criticizing his playmaking ability for just not being there, he has truly been amazing in every other facet of offense this postseason. His offensive production is why he has clearly been the Heat’s third-best player this postseason – and arguably second.

Caleb Martin was an elite shooter in the Eastern Conference Finals

Some of Martin’s success is certainly the variance of shooting, sure. He, of course, is not a 48.9% 3-point shooter like he was in this Celtics series. He drained 62.5% of his catch-and-shoot 3’s on four attempts per game, which is just ridiculous. In the regular season, he shot a measly 33.3% on catch-and-shoot jumpers from long range.

Hitting these shots opened up everything for Martin. He has been elite at attacking closeouts (arguably one of the best in the postseason), which have been more aggressive by defenders because of the way that he has been shooting, by getting to a variety of spots on the floor: mid-range pull-ups, one dribble step-back threes, to the rim. You name it, and Martin has gotten to that spot after beating a closeout.

And that has opened up Martin’s pull-up game, which was quite solid in the low volume it was in the regular season; he drained 46.5% of them on 1.4 attempts per game. This past series, that volume was completely cranked up to 3.1 per game, where he nailed 50.0% of them.

On pull-up twos, Martin literally shot a video game-esque 8-9 (88.9%). Look at some of these amazing shots he hit, just in Game 7 alone.

Is that really Caleb Martin out there? And of course, to become a full three-level scorer (like Martin transformed to in this past series), you need the finishing. Throughout the series, Martin used forceful, physical drives to get downhill toward the and finished his shots at the rim at an efficient 72%.

Because Martin proved a legitimate ability to create off of the bounce for himself, the Heat couldn’t help but give him more touches in the series. Compare these numbers from the post-All-Star Break portion of the regular season (22 games played) and this series:

• Post-ASB: 37.6 touches, 2.57 average seconds per touch, 1.72 average dribbles per touch, 3.8 drives (38.5 FG%, 47.6 pass%)
• ECF: 50.3 touches, 3.10 average seconds per touch, 2.17 average dribbles per touch, 4.1 drives (66.7 FG%, 17.2 pass%)

What may stand out most here is the statistics associated with the drives. Martin is passing much less and scoring much more. This is certainly part of the fact that the Heat is shooting better, so Martin has more spacing, but it’s also that it’s better that Martin is looking to score. He absorbs contact from his defenders on his drives and looks to get to the basketball at will.

The Heat are giving Martin the chance to bring the ball up the floor and initiate the offense, too. They are placing huge trust in him, as they expand his role in the season’s second season.

It would be a disservice not to mention Martin’s transition attack. Although the Heat rarely gets out in transition, Martin is the best player on the roster in this context. He uses his combination of athleticism, strength, and ball-handling to be an incredible threat against a recovering defense.

The Heat’s offense has been 8.8 points per 100 possessions better in the postseason with Martin on the floor (120.4) versus off of it (111.6). Everything that Martin has done as a spacer and scoring threat has supercharged this Miami offense, which was one of the league’s worst during the regular season.

All of this praise has already been made for Martin, but his defense hasn’t even been mentioned. He is a gritty, on-ball stopper. His 6-foot-10 wingspan enables him to guard bigger wings despite being 6-foot-5. As a whole, he certainly plays taller than his height on both sides of the floor. His primary matchups in each series thus far have been Jrue Holiday, Jalen Brunson, and Jayson Tatum.

In this incoming Finals series against the Nuggets, it’s hard not to expect Martin to remain in the starting lineup in place of Kevin Love. Coach Erik Spoelstra can’t really move Martin back to the bench after scoring over 20 points in back-to-back games as a starter.

It’s hard to guess who the Nuggets will assign the Martin matchup, but the best guess may be Michael Porter Jr. If the Nuggets are in their two-to-the-ball scheme in the pick and roll, Porter Jr. is typically the low man that helps over. Because of this, Martin needs to be ready to continue hitting shots, attacking long closeouts, and adding some movement off the ball to stress the Nuggets’ defensive scheme. If (when) Martin continues to hurt opposing defenses, the Nuggets will likely need to find some adjustments.

On the defensive side of the floor, Martin could see matchups all over the place. He will see time as the Jamal Murray defender, certainly, but he may not start as the primary defender on Murray. Miami has lots of ways to go with their defensive matchups, as they could place Martin, Gabe Vincent, or Jimmy Butler on Murray, though my bet would be that they start with Vincent.

It feels more likely that Butler gets the Aaron Gordon matchup to roam, placing Martin on either Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Michael Porter Jr., the more likely option. Of course, this all goes over the top rope if Spo and company elect to not have Bam Adebayo on Nikola Jokic.

Speaking of Jokic, Martin may have to battle with Jokic on switches or straight-up get shots with the Jokic matchup if the Heat want Adebayo to be a roamer, similar to the defensive scheme that the Lakers put out there to counter Jokic.

Regardless, Martin will have to continue to perform like a legitimate, bonafide All-Star similar to what he did in the Eastern Conference Finals if the Heat wants a good chance to tack on the fourth ring in their franchise history.