Caleb Martin talks Heat role. Also, ticket info for Monday scrimmage and Tyler Herro impressing

Though Caleb Martin has great value as an offensive and defensive spark plug off the bench, his production as a starter shoudn’t be overlooked.

Martin ended up starting four of the Miami Heat’s 23 playoff games, and he produced big offensive numbers in three of those four starts: 22 points against the New York Knicks and 21 and 26 against the Boston Celtics.

During the regular season, he shot three-pointers better in his 49 games as a starter (36.1 percent) than his 22 games off the bench (33.9). His points per 48 minutes were similar in both roles; he averaged 10.1 points in 30.3 minutes as a starter, then 8.6 points in 26.9 minutes as a backup.

So which role is easier?

“It’s easy to say it’s easier to come off the bench because you kind of let the game play out more and get a feel before you come out there,” said Martin, who was held out of part of the Heat’s final training camp practice on Saturday at Florida Atlantic University because of left knee tendinosis. “But I’ve had a great amount of time starting. The more opportunities I get to start, I’ll figure out how to do that pretty effectively too.”

Though he’s happy to toggle between roles, he admitted this week that “the more I knew what I was going [to do role-wise going] into each game, that helped me a lot.”

Martin made a case for MVP of the Eastern Conference finals by averaging 19.3 points per game on 60.2 percent shooting from the field and 48.9 percent shooting on threes in the seven-game series against Boston. He believes he can replicate something similar to that type of offensive production more often this season.

“For sure,” he said. “As long as you get the freedom, minutes, opportunities, scoring will come. Some nights it will be more than others. But my focus isn’t on scoring. It’s impacting the game.”

If the Eastern Conference finals version of Martin makes more regular-season appearances, he could stand to earn far more than his $7.2 million player option for 2024-25.

“Seeing the same team seven times in a row helped me a lot” in the Boston series, he said.

The Heat preferred not to include Martin in offseason trades. He said the fact several Heat players were mentioned in trade rumors is “the good and bad thing about having value. We have a lot of guys on this roster with value. To get somebody like him or anybody else, you have to [give up value]. You can’t take anything personal.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ Heat guard Tyler Herro impressed in training camp this week.

“He’s off the charts scoring the ball,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said when asked what stood out about Herro in camp. “I know that sounds cliche because Tyler is a scorer, but he’s minimized extra dribbles. He’s getting his shot off faster, reading the game, making the right pass. You can play him at the point guard spot if you need to.”

▪ With the Heat closing its five-day training camp on Saturday, next up for the Heat is the “Red, White & Pink Game” intrasquad scrimmage on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Kaseya Center. Tickets for the scrimmage remain available through Ticketmaster and cost $5 each, with proceeds benefiting cancer care and research at the Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.

Martin’s status for the scrimmage is in question because of the knee issue that made him a limited participant in Saturday’s practice.

The Heat opens its five-game preseason schedule on Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and NBA TV).