There has been a significant amount of questions surrounding the future role of Miami Heat center, Ӧmer Yurtseven. A Heat fan asked Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, during his Q&A column, who would be the backup center, Yurtseven or Dewayne Dedmon next season.
The questions surrounding Yurtseven’s role are related to his exceptional Summer League performance. Yurtseven shot 50.6 percent from the field during 5 California and Las Vegas Summer League games on 17.4 shots per game. He averaged 22.4 points per game during this span.
Let’s take a look at why Miami Heat center Omer Yurtseven won’t replicate his Summer League performance during the 2021-22 regular season.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Yurtseven will be able to replicate his Summer League performance during the regular season as he is not expected to be in a position to accentuate his strengths. Yurtseven is a player that excels when he is close to the basket. He shot 76 percent as a roll man during the 2017-18 college season with NC State. Yurtseven’s shooting percentage allowed him to average 1.68 points per possession during that season.
Yurtseven continued to have success near the basket as a pro. He shot 68.6 percent from the field on shots less than 8 feet from the basket with the Oklahoma City Blue on 7.3 shots per game in the G League. He averaged 10 points per game on attempts within 8 feet: 65.8 percent of his production.
Yurtseven continued to dominate within 8 feet in Summer League. For instance, Yurtseven came to set a screen during the third quarter of the Heat’s California Summer League game versus the Lakers for Javonte Smart. When Yurtseven came to set the screen, his defender, Devontae Cacok, came up with him as well.
Unfortunately, when Smart went over the screen, Cacok decided to help his teammate double-team Smart instead of staying with Yurtseven, allowing Yurtseven to roll to the basket unimpeded. These types of plays allowed Yurtseven to shoot 55.4 percent inside the arc in Summer League on 13 shots per game.
Unfortunately, he won’t be close to the basket if he plays for the Miami Heat next season, as the team already has two centers who spend most of the minutes close to the basket. Bam Adebayo spent 17.1 percent of his possessions last year as a roll man, averaging 3 per game.
The rest of those possessions went to backup center Dedmon, who spent 22.5 percent of his possessions as a roll man, averaging 1.3 per game. It is unlikely that head coach, Erik Spoelstra, will ask both of these players to play away from the basket.
Consequently, if he plays, Yurtseven will be relegated to floor spacer duty, as players who play next to Miami Heat centers spend most of the time from behind the arc. For instance, last season, Trevor Ariza attempted 59.3 percent of his shots from three, averaging 4.8 per game. 54.2 percent of those threes came from above the break as he averaged 2.6 per game.
Yurtseven has shown an ability to excel as a three-point shooter, converting 42.6 percent of his attempts in college at NC State in Georgetown on 0.8 shots per game. Yurtseven continued to thrive from behind the arc in the G League, shooting 38.1 percent on 1.5 attempts per game. All of the attempts came from above the break.
Although Yurtseven can thrive off the ball, the presence of Bam Adebayo and Dewayne Dedmon won’t allow him to reach his full potential as a player. If Adebayo and Dedmon weren’t on the roster, there would be a higher likelihood that Yertseven could repeat his performance as he would get opportunities to be close to the basket.