After their first overtime victory of the season on Thursday over the Charlotte Hornets in a hard-fought comeback victory, the Miami Heat exited the first part of the season as the number one seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Edging out the Chicago Bulls by way of the head-to-head tiebreaker, with whom they share an identical record, the Miami Heat can carry all sorts of good juju into the break.
Not only did they show all of the grit that exists in their win that sent them on vacation, but they have overcome to lead their conference.
Throughout the first half of the season though, the Miami Heat have turned to their reserves quite a bit, a huge part of the “overcoming” they’ve been doing. One guy that has really stepped up is Omer Yurtseven.
He’s making you ask the question of if he should be the backup big man—or is it safely Dewayne Dedmon‘s role? Here and in the following, we will explore that concept.
Miami Heat Minutes Battle: Dewayne Dedmon vs. Omer Yurtseven
When Dedmon was signed by Miami last season, the eight-year veteran big man immediately embraced his role and helped strengthen the team’s defensive core.
Dewayne Dedmon
This season, Dedmon has continued to key into his role, while also correcting an interesting aspect of his game. The seven-footer is having the best shooting year of his career—across the board.
With his shooting percentage from behind the arc sitting at 52 percent—a career-high—Dedmon can help space the floor for Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and of course, Tyler Herro. This allows them to be able to better penetrate the paint and make star-type plays.
Dedmon has been his usual tough and physical self everywhere else. He makes a strong case, but let’s look at the other guy.
Omer Yurtseven
This 23-year-old Turkish native has shown flashes of greatness, at points, during his rookie campaign. With season averages of 6.1 points and six rebounds per game, nearly the same as Dedmon (6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds), the question has, again, come up if Yurtseven should begin to eat into Dedmon’s minutes.
During a 13-game stretch early in the season, the rookie averaged a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds per game—while shooting over 50 percent from the field. Yet, since his career-high 22 point outing versus Philadelphia over a month ago, the big man has almost literally fallen completely out of the rotation.
Since that January 15th matchup with Philly, the big man has logged only 40 minutes across 15 games, with nearly half of those coming in Tuesday’s loss against Dallas. So, with all this information to consider, who should be the guy?
Miami Heat Minutes Battle: Picking Between Yurtseven Or Dedmon Isn’t Hard
While you absolutely love Omer Yurtseven, what he brings, and while the belief is that he could be an elite role player for years to come, I just don’t think those years are this year. While the rookie has shown those offensive flashes of consistency, it’s the other side of the ball where Omer has exhibited some issues.
To no surprise, rookie bigs tend to struggle on the defensive side of the ball as they adjust to the speed and physicality of the NBA. Dedmon, on the other hand, has been around the block and isn’t new to being a presence in the paint.
While the big man isn’t in any way, shape, or form a candidate for NBA Defensive Player of the Year (sorry Dewayne), the big man has what it takes to help solidify a strong Miami Heat defensive core.
Dedmon has recovered his role as Miami’s backup center since Yurtseven came back down to earth following his solid New Year’s stretch of play and Miami should look to keep it that way. Even if The Big Yurt wouldn’t have calmed a bit, production-wise, Dedmon’s physicality, defensive instincts, and presence were too valuable to leave on the pine.
Dedmon shows a slight edge in versatility on both sides of the ball too. Look for Erik Spoelstra to allow Yurtseven to thrive as the regular season winds down, further building his confidence but when push comes to shove, Dedmon should play in the relief center role in big-time games.
It’s not that hard and comes down to simple things. Dedmon does the important things better.
Omer’s rebounding dominance can be downright astronomical, at times, but Dewayne just knows how to play the center position in the NBA. He’s a pro’s pro and a Miami Heat guy, through and through.
Yurt is too though or at least, you hope he’s growing into one. Dedmon is already there and should, rightfully, be the man right now though.