Tyler Herro is still in Miami after a long summer of trade rumors and he’s determined to show the Heat that he was worth keeping, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Herro appeared on the way out when Damian Lillard asked the Trail Blazers for a trade in early July and listed Miami as his only preference. But Herro’s role with the Heat is secure now and he’s ready to make an impact, as he showed with a 30-point performance on Sunday night.
“I’m always ambitious,” he said. “Motivation kind of drives me and it’s who I am. But that’s who I am, so that’s me every day. Just being myself. 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 and enjoying what I love to do, which is play basketball. Tonight was a little bit of it.”
Herro was a productive scorer from everywhere on the court on Sunday, Chiang adds, finishing 11-of-19 from the field, 4-of-7 from three-point range, and 4-of-5 on free throws. He displayed an effective floater near the basket as nine of his shots came from inside the lane.
“Man, he’s just so efficient now,” Bam Adebayo said. “His movements, less dribbles, not trying to do much. He gets straight to his points, gets straight to his shots.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Jimmy Butler was held out of Sunday’s game after undergoing two separate dental surgeries this week, but he’s expected to return before the end of the preseason, Chiang adds.
- Coach Eric Spoelstra cited progress by Drew Peterson and Alondes Williams, who were both waived over the weekend, Chiang states in another Miami Herald story. Both players were part of Miami’s Summer League team, and Spoelstra hopes they will continue to develop with the organization’s G League affiliate. “We’re encouraged by both of them,” he said. “This was part of the agreement to transition them and get guys on to Sioux Falls. It happens in stages. These can be great opportunities still. We want to invest in them for the entire season. That’s ideally the plan. They got a lot better these last eight weeks and we’re looking forward to this next step in Sioux Falls.”
- Nagging injuries have virtually eliminated any chance that Jaime Jaquez or Nikola Jovic will be in the rotation when the regular season begins, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Jaquez has been limited by a groin strain in the preseason, while Jovic is dealing with a bruised knee.
- Justin Champagnie may be the favorite to fill the open roster spot if the Heat don’t try to sign someone else, Winderman speculates in a separate piece. He expects Cole Swider to be converted to a two-way contract, with current two-way player Dru Smith possibly the odd man out.
The way Herro will make a jump is his playmaking. If he can become good enough to function as a point guard full-time, his defensive weakness won’t be as easily exposed, guarding smaller guys with less or equal strength. His arms are short for his height, which is basically a death knell for defense most of the time. The only guy who is even decent on defense and has that problem is Mason Plumlee.
He’s a good shooting guard, but I don’t see him as a star at the position even if he’s averaging something like 23 PPG there. SGs are relied on a lot for backcourt/wing defense nowadays.
Man your comments make me you think you use 2k for your research. Tyler has improved every year and is better on defense than you size him up to be.
He couldn’t possibly have more motivation than he has to start this season.
We’re very glad he’s still around.
I’m grateful for the information that buckets is taking care of his teeth before the season starts
@HeatMike
It’s funny that people think that we’re not thrilled to have Herro still here.
It’s even funnier that, because the Blazers didn’t want him, people think Herro isn’t a good player. If all of that were true, Riley would’ve moved him regardless.
Herro is the third of our top trio. I love the possibility of seeing him further develop alongside Bam as our two younger stars. With them, once Jimmy declines with age, we will still be one franchise player away from being elite.
wtf is their gteam still in sdakota for? logistics is $#!+.
They have to grind to earn South Beach.