Tyler Herro stepping forward for Miami Heat in NBA preseason
MIAMI – Even as the chip on his shoulder has grown after yet another offseason of trade rumors, Tyler Herro has shed much of what had created previous doubt.
Sturdier and slimmer in a more muscular frame, the fifth-year Miami Heat guard also has cast aside the wasted energy, empty dribbles.
Now there is no-hesitation Herro.
“The game’s slowing down,” he said after scoring 30 points in 31 minutes in Sunday’s exhibition victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at Kaseya Center. “Staying low on everything and then rising up and being aggressive. Just taking what they give me. Not burning so many calories.”
The scoring has not been in doubt since the Heat made Herro the No. 14 pick in the 2019 NBA draft out of Kentucky. But the efficiency has.
Sometimes it meant dribbling to nowhere. Often it meant creating an expiring shot clock. Frequently, the percentages suffered.
But Sunday the 30 points came on 11-of-19 shooting, an outgrowth of offseason interaction with coach Erik Spoelstra.
“Spo has helped me tremendously since we started working together this summer and into the season,” Herro said, “just on back cuts, pump fakes, not having to dribble, just being real patient with the ball in my hands or off the ball, just being patient and taking whatever they give me.”
Sunday the shots were there with Jimmy Butler missing his third game in as many exhibitions, due to a dental issue. But this style of Herro ball makes it easier for himself, Butler and Bam Adebayo all to explore their possibilities within the context of the shot clock.
“Our offense just looks a lot different when he is on the court,” said Spoelstra, with the Heat moving on to a Wednesday night exhibition against the visiting Brooklyn Nets, before closing out their preseason Friday on the road against the Houston Rockets. “Tyler studies the game. It takes time. And sometimes after a few years, things just really start to slow down. And each year it becomes more so about that.
“He’s playing very efficient and assertive on the catch.”
Adebayo seconded that notion.
“Man, he’s just so efficient now,” the seventh-year center said. “His movements, less dribble, not trying to do much, and get straight to his point and get straight to his shots.”
So layers added, streamlined layers.
“That’s my job,” Herro said. “They didn’t draft me to be the same player I was when I got drafted. They drafted me to come here and improve, make my teammates better, be a good person around the community. That’s what I am; that’s what I do. And I am improving on the court, something I do every year, as well.”
Improvement embraced by his coach.
“He’s so skilled and he can do it off the ball, on the ball,” Spoelstra said. “His reads are getting and better each year. And he’s so eager to get out there. I asked him after the game, it’s probably been six months since he played 30-plus minutes in an NBA game. And he just makes our offense so much more dynamic.”
This year, of course, is different. For three months, it was as if the charismatic 23-year-old was going, going, going, gone, as the Heat were linked to Lillard’s desire to relocate from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Instead, Lillard was relocated to the Milwaulkee Bucks.
Sunday, Lillard scored 14 points on 3-of-10 shooting in his Milwaukee debut, a game that was airing on an interview-room monitor as Herro entered for his postgame interview after his 30-point performance.
“I mean, I’m always ambitious and motivated,” he said when asked if this season stands somewhat as Herro against the world. “That kind of drives me into who I am. That’s who I am. So that’s me every day, just being myself.”
The added motivation also comes from being limited to the first half of the first game of Heat’s playoff run to last season’s NBA Finals, sidelined in that postseason opener in Milwaukee by a broken hand.
“This year is obviously, I wouldn’t even call it revenge or a bounce back, it’s just a year to be myself and just have fun, enjoying what I love to do, which is playing basketball,” he said. “And (Sunday) was a little of it.”
And then perspective, with the games not counting until the Heat’s Oct. 25 opener against the visiting Detroit Pistons.
“But,” he said, “it’s still preseason.”
