Should Omer Yurtseven immediately play over Cody Zeller for Miami Heat?

Heading into their Monday contest with the Atlanta Hawks, the back half of a two-game set between the two teams where the first took place on Saturday, the Miami Heat have some bad news to deal with.

One of their latest acquisitions, Kevin Love, won’t be going for them on Monday due to a rib contusion.

However and as notated above, the Miami Heat also have some good news to look forward to heading into Monday’s contest. For the first time this season, Omer Yurtseven will be available for them.

But when considering the Heat’s latest acquisitions overall, that brings another key question into consideration as well. Along with Kevin Love and making just as big as an impact since his arrival, Cody Zeller has firmly planted himself into the Miami Heat rotation as their secondary big man.

The Miami Heat won’t have Kevin Love Monday, but they will get Omer Yurtseven back. And with that, should he supplant Cody Zeller as the core backup big?

And with Yurtseven’s return, it begs of this question. Should he supplant Zeller as the backup big?

The answer is no, at least, in the immediate term anyway, and here’s the reason why. Prior to this season, it’s been a struggle to stay on the floor at times for The Big Yurt defensively.

Specifically, one combined issue has been a lack of perceived footspeed and a certain defensive ineptitude when it came to his awareness to be able to account for said physical deficiency in situations. Zeller, on the other hand, has come in and not only shown you that he can hold his own and fit in but has excelled and even added to what the Miami Heat are trying to do on both sides of the ball at times.

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Perhaps it all comes down to this right now.

Zeller is a veteran and Yurtseven is still young, almost still a project, some could say. But with what Zeller has shown, he’s been good enough where you probably don’t tinker with things at this particular moment, a nod to why the word “immediate” was used.

Unless Yurtseven comes in and, flat-out, beats Zeller in game opportunities and during practice, this is why there shouldn’t be any changes right now.