When you hear the name Omer Yurtseven this off-season, it’s probably just him being thrown into a mock trade for Kevin Durant or Donovan Mitchell as a potential sweetener. But that’s not the case here.
The Miami Heat brought back Dewayne Dedmon on a decent sized contract well above his market value, basically meaning if a trade needed to be facilitated with extra money, he could be thrown in to make it work.
But still for the time being, he is a member of the Heat’s big man room and will compete for playing time in training camp. Instead this time around, I’m not so sure that he’s the one that will come out on top.
Miami already has holes in the front-court after PJ Tucker walked in free agency, but the expectation is that they will plug the starting spot through some type of trade at some point. As for the back-up big spot behind Bam Adebayo, the Omer Yurtseven-Dewayne Dedmon battle begins.
I will say, I was a proponent last season that Dedmon deserved that spot. Prior to the playoffs, he was playing at a decent level by doing his job as a drop big, rebounding presence, and screen-dive-repeat. And well, it still felt like Yurtseven was in that development stage.
Fast forwarding to now, a full off-season for Yurtseven has commenced and an aging year for Dedmon has taken place. Yet more than anything, it’s the flexibility Yurtseven provides with his natural abilities on the basketball court.
For one, we can’t start a basketball discussion about him without mentioning his rebounding. He enters the game with 50 seconds left in the game, and fills up 4 rebounds in the stat-sheet somehow. (Seriously, I don’t know how.)
Those aren’t just lucky bounces into his hands either. Every game he has played, it’s been clear he’s a natural ball magnet, which especially takes place on the offensive boards
When Bam Adebayo went down in late 2021, which bled into the 2022 calendar year, Yurtseven had his name called and he answered. He had a 2 month stretch of true high level play on the offensive end. During that stretch, here were some of his rebounding numbers: 17, grabbed 16 on three different occasions, 15, 14, 13 two times, and 12 three times.
Simply, it’s a gift.
Over that same span, he began flourishing offensively after scoring in double figures 11 times. But it’s not about the frequency of those numbers, it’s about how he was getting those numbers.
And that begins with his comfort growing in the pick and roll game…
When it comes to bigs and screen setting, you pretty much always have one of two options. (Well at least one of two *good* options.)
The first option is stay linear with the ball handler to create that 2-on-1, simultaneously forcing the dropping big to make an instinctive decision. While the second option includes a quick and decisive dive behind that second line defense, also known as the dropping big, to have a takeoff spot without contention.
In the clip above, Lowry threw a nice lead pass over the top, but the main takeaway is that Yurtseven chose the latter option.
Those are the plays that will give him more flexibility offensively, especially for Erik Spoelstra to tweak and put in different spots. Setting good and steady screens will be a priority, but the following decisions will be big time for his development, which I’m sure is a focus as we speak.
After showcasing his game within option #2, it’s also important to fully master option #1, which is not only something he will utilize more often, but it’s something he’s much better at.
Going back to Summer League of last year, what was the main element of his game that stood out aside from the rebounding? The natural touch in the in-between game. Catch, two feet down, one hand up for the floater. All net.
That flows into the first clip above, where he sets a hard screen to begin on Tyrese Maxey, while staying patient on the roll instead of rushing which puts you in danger of a moving screen. He stays aligned with Lowry flowing downhill and immediately goes into that three-step process of his that I just said.
Catch – two feet down – one hand up for the floater.
That’ll be his home-base a lot of the time, which makes you ask yourself about the alternative. Once defenses adjust to play a bit higher or have the recovering defender muck up the catch, what is his next go-to?
Looking at the second clip above now, this is what has me intrigued: the mid-range jumper two feet back from where the floater takes place. If that can be an alternative to blitzing like they did on Max Strus there, it gives the Heat much more space with the bench unit next season.
(Oh and by the way, Gabe Vincent and Omer Yurtseven bench pairing? One of the best pick and roll combos last season for some odd reason.)
The other part about young developing bigs is their ball control. Not as a ball-handler, but where they place it on the catch. If you see any coach or trainer with a big man from high school level to the NBA level, what is the preaching comment? Keep the ball up high.
Once you bring it down on other defenders level, there’s a very low probability you’ll be coming back up top with the ball still in your hands.
Yurtseven, though, hasn’t seemed to have had that problem much in his minutes.
The clip above for example is picture perfect big man rules. Embiid blitzes Butler, he feeds Yurtseven on the cut by throwing the pass high, and Yurtseven stays at that angle to go over the top of the defender for the easy dunk.
Simple stuff, but sometimes the simple stuff is most important.
Loading...When thinking of the Heat’s developmental projects in the past, they always showcase a glimpse of something to be utilized once again down the line.
For Max Strus, it was the ball-handling reps in Summer League, which prepared him for the blitzes he would see and DHO creation off the extra dribble.
For Gabe Vincent, it was forcing him to play at the top of a 2-2-1 press whenever he entered, leading to him being a very sound defender at this stage of his young career.
And for Omer Yurtseven, it was January 8th in Phoenix. If you don’t remember what took place, it was the Yurtseven play-making breakout where he recorded 8 assists in a win. But more importantly, it was Spoelstra and the coaching staff running stuff through him against the team with the league’s best record…
No Bam Adebayo still so that means the offense runs through the creating guards, right? Wrong.
Running stuff like Chicago action, which is a pin-down into a DHO, as Yurtseven had to figure out quickly how to make initial reads. Hands it off to Strus with a solid screen, and he hits a three.
A few minutes later, we see a similar thing. Except they overplay it, and Yurtseven has to make the next read with no safety net. Strus fakes the hand-off and cuts, yet he doesn’t force the pass. Tucker cuts back-door down baseline and Yurtseven zips it to him.
That’s the stuff that made you stop in your tracks a bit.
Now it’s the second quarter, and they began handing him the keys to Miami’s post splits that were usually headlined by Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo.
A bunch of mis-directions in the lane, he takes two retreat dribbles to give him some space, and finds Herro open for the easy lay-up. The next play is the same thing, but he looks off Herro instead this time and hands it off to Kyle Guy who finds himself some space for the bucket.
Much like we always say Spoelstra always keeps something in his back pocket for big games, the Miami Heat always keep something in their back pocket for developing players.
I’m not saying Yurtseven will ever be asked to be a primary distributor, but opening up the possibility expands certain options.
Speaking of “expanding,” it’s not just about Yurtseven’s game expanding this off-season. It’s that it is simultaneously occurring with his role possibly expanding.
Training camp will be a big tell for a lot of these things, but if the positive elements of his game that have been displayed continue to grow, it’s hard for me to think he won’t be in the rotation this upcoming season if he is still on the roster.
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