How Jimmy Butler’s influence is turning rookie Tyler Herro into a fully rounded player

Tyler Herro has learned quickly in his first season in the NBA not all nights are going to be like Friday against the Washington Wizards. It’s not every night when he’s going to score 22 points and make more than half of his shots. It’s not every night the stepback jumpers are going to be falling with ease and nearly all of his drives to the rim are going to end with successful layups.

There are going to be nights like the prior game Wednesday, when he went just 2 of 8 in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics. There are going to be nights like the one against the Denver Nuggets in November when he went 1 of 4 and his offense was so suspect he could only be on the court for 15 minutes.

The best shooter sin the game go through games where the ball’s not going in and sometimes it’s the defense, sometimes it’s just the way the game goes,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after practice at AmericanAirlines Arena.

There will also be games like the one which immediately preceded the blowout loss to the Nuggets in November, when Herro went just 3 of 10 for 12 points, but still managed to grab seven rebounds and dish out a career-high seven assists. Those are the sort of nights the Heat (16-6) is starting to see more often from its star rookie, whether the shots are falling or not. On Friday, he grabbed seven rebounds and took on an expanded playmaking role with point guards Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow both out.

In 22 games, Herro has already grabbed at least seven rebounds five times and handed out at least three assists six times.

Jimmy Butler’s influence has been outsized all across the roster in his first season in Miami and Spoelstra can see his all-around play rubbing off on Herro. Butler is currently posting the worst shooting percentage since his rookie year, but the star wing has made up for it by averaging career bests in assists and rebounding, and playing lockdown defense.

Every day, Herro gets to watch one of the players in the NBA who most influences games without scoring.

“He’s a smart kid, so he sees what Jimmy’s doing and he sees that Jimmy can impact the game virtually at every level that you need him to,” Spoelstra said. “He’s a great role model to a young player like Tyler to see how you can impact winning all across the board.”

The influences of Butler and Dragic were particularly important Friday. With Dragic and Winslow both sidelined by injury, Herro played more than 30 minutes as the sixth man and got his most extended look as a primary ballhandler.

With Winslow questionable and Dragic already ruled out for the Heat’s game against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday at 6 p.m in Miami, Herro could be called upon as a playmaker once again.

“He’s got something to him, man. He can score the ball obviously, but he was getting everybody involved. He was defending tonight. We want him to continue to be that way,” Butler said Friday. “If he gets to handle it, if he doesn’t get to handle it — be that player.”

Herro felt his playmaking underrated when Miami drafted him with the No. 13 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Playing for the loaded Kentucky Wildcats always prevents players from being able to showcase their full complement of tools, so Herro was pigeonholed, to an extent, as a three-point shooter.

So far with the Heat, Herro is averaging 14.0 points per game — exactly as many as he did at Kentucky — and his assist and rebound averages are only 0.5 off from his college totals, at 2.0 and 4.0, respectively. He’s also attempting more shots per game in Miami than he did in Lexington.

“I’ve always been able to have the ball in my hand, make plays for others and stuff like that, ever since high school, so I just needed the opportunity,” Herro said. “Coach has definitely given me it and definitely appreciate the trust that he has in me.”

While the skill was always there, Herro said simply watching Butler and Dragic up close has furthered his development, particularly as a playmaker. With Dragic out against the Bulls (8-15) again, Herro will get to keep doing his best impression of the guard.

“All of us have different games, but I think we can all take things from different parts of each other’s games,” Herro said. “Me being 19 and them being their age just helps me with the experience that they had, so I think not only just our games, I think it’s just the reads that are for everybody.”

This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 3:51 PM.