Caleb Martin is the Miami Heat's latest undrafted success story

DENVER (AP) —Caleb Martin was undrafted coming out of college. He entered theNBA with almost no guarantees. He had to play in the G League.Charlotte let him go after two seasons.

Desperate fora second chance, he joined the Miami Heat on a two-way contract tobasically start from scratch again.

That’s whatit takes for some guys to make the league.

And that’swhat it took for Martin to make the NBA Finals.

On a Heatteam filled with undrafted contributors, Martin stood out andbecame the breakout star of the Eastern Conference finals. Heaveraged 19.3 points on 60% shooting, scored a playoff-career-high26 points on Boston’s home floor in Game 7, and the Heat needed itall to oust the Celtics and earn a trip to the title round againstthe Denver Nuggets.

“I definitelyreflect on where I started and the journey it’s taken to get here,and even as early as the two-way last year,” Martin said. “But Ithink more than anything, it’s kind of a weird feeling because I’malso understanding that as happy as I am, as grateful I am to behere, I also understand that we have four more. The job is notdone. We didn’t go through what we went through all the regularseason and my personal journey to stop here.”

That’s thecredo for so many in the Heat locker room.

The captain,20-year veteran and soon-to-be retired Udonis Haslem, wasundrafted. Starting point guard Gabe Vincent, undrafted. Startingshooting guard Max Strus, undrafted. Duncan Robinson, who has mademore 3-pointers than anyone in Heat history, undrafted. HaywoodHighsmith, who gave the Heat tremendous minutes of energy off thebench against the Celtics, undrafted.

Miami willfinish this postseason with more points and starts from undraftedplayers than the other 15 teams that made the playoffs this yearwill — combined. The Heat currently have 876 points and 39 startsfrom undrafted guys; the rest of the league has 778 points and 31starts. Denver basically doesn’t play anyone that isn’t undrafted,so the Heat margin on the rest of the league will only grow therest of the way.

“Thatstoryline is over,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said earlier in theseplayoffs about the undrafted contributors. “These guys have proventhemselves as competitors and winning players.”

They have.But pointing it out isn’t a sign of disrespect. It’s a hat tip tothe Heat buzz word — culture.

Miami’splayer development program — taking players that other teamsoverlooked, finding their strength, figuring out how to implementit into the Heat system and then working them like never before —is raved about by many in the league, and Martin is one of the bestexamples right now. He was one vote away from being the MVP of theEast finals after shooting 11-for-16 and scoring 26 points in Game7 on Monday night, after not playing at all in a Game 7 loss toBoston in last year’s East finals.

“That mighthave surprised y’all,” said Heat star Jimmy Butler, who won the MVPtrophy. “To the untrained eye, he just looks like he’s an undraftedguy who has been in the G League, who has started with Charlotteand now he’s here. Started on a two-way contract. That’s what itlooks like to y’all. To us, he’s a hell of a player, hell of adefender, playmaker, shotmaker, all of the above.”

It makessense that some longshot players helped the Heat get here — sinceas a No. 8 seed that almost was eliminated in the play-intournament, Miami was a longshot to do much of anything in theplayoffs, much less make the finals for the league-best seventhtime in the past 17 seasons.

Martin wassolid in the first two rounds against No. 1 Milwaukee and No. 5 NewYork, averaging 10.8 points on nearly 53% shooting. Against thesecond-seeded Celtics, his numbers soared. Boston took a risk anddidn’t spend a lot of defensive effort on Martin.

He made theCeltics pay for that one.

“It’ssuper-high-level competition,” said Martin, whose twin brother,Cody, has been at many Heat playoff games this spring and has spenthis four NBA seasons with Charlotte. “You can’t hide it. You figureout if you’re built for these type of environments or not wheneveryou get into them. I just I feel like I’ve just been continuouslyprepping and getting ready for these moments, and when thesemoments come, I feel like I’m ready for them. I feel like I’m builtfor these type of moments.”

Martin signeda three-year, $20 million contract last summer. For the real world,that’s a ton of money. For the NBA, that makes him an absolutebargain. It’s something he likely never saw coming when he was incollege at N.C. State and Nevada, then never heard his name calledon draft night, then got told he’d have to fight for everything hegot in the league.

But he was athis best when Miami needed him most. And now the finals await.

“I’m so proudand happy for him,” Butler said. “I think he’s going to be evenbetter in the next round, and I don’t think he’s going to be asurprise to anybody any longer.”