Riser: Caleb Martin
Caleb Martin has been on a tear since the All-Star break, shooting 56.4% on 3s and averaging 12.1 points over his last nine games.
It had been a bit of an up-and-down season for Martin before this recent hot stretch. He started the season with lower body injuries that sidelined him for 10 games, then missed seven more from December to January with an ankle sprain. Even now, he’s playing through a sprained thumb on his left hand.
But he’s rounding into the form that helped propel the Heat to the NBA Finals last season. Calling him “Playoff Caleb” probably isn’t fair, but Martin does know what it takes to succeed at this point of the season.
His shooting and defensive versatility complement Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, and Spoelstra has routinely turned to him to be part of the closing lineup despite coming off the bench.
If Martin is playing like this come playoff time, it will make a big difference in the crunch-time moments that the postseason is bound to create.