Calipari on Heat’s development of Adebayo, Herro: ‘Someone didn’t see what they saw’
John Calipari recruited Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro as talented high school prospects and served as their college head coach in their lone seasons at Kentucky.
But even Calipari is amazed at what he has seen from Adebayo and Herro during the Miami Heat’s playoff run. With a 3-1 series lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, the fifth-seeded Heat is just one victory from clinching a spot in the NBA Finals for the sixth time in franchise history and the first time since 2014.
The East finals continue with Game 5 on Friday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.
“What they’ve done in Miami for both of those guys and what they saw in both of them that obviously others didn’t see,” Calipari said during an interview with the Miami Herald. “Someone didn’t see what they saw. I think being in our practices and how they scout and the traits they’re looking for, I’m amazed. Pat [Riley] has been a great friend of mine over the years and somebody that I’ll talk to and call. Erik [Spoelstra] has been great. But it’s more than that. It’s a culture.
“The [Heat’s] culture is about achievement. It’s about earning. There’s nothing given. The competition is what makes them go. Our players thrive in that because it’s what we try to do here.”
Herro was the star of Game 4, scoring a career-high 37 points in Wednesday’s win over the Celtics. The 20-year-old rookie was effective from all over the court, shooting 5 of 8 from inside the paint, 4 of 5 on midrange shots and 5 of 10 on threes.
That performance set a record for the most points scored by a Heat rookie in a playoff game, surpassing the 27 points Dwyane Wade scored on May 2, 2004, in Game 6 of Miami’s first-round series against the then-New Orleans Hornets.
Herro is the fifth NBA rookie to score 37 or more points in a playoff game since 1970. The other NBA rookies to do it in the past 50 years are Donovan Mitchell (2018), Chuck Person (1987), Magic Johnson (1980) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (three times in 1970).
Herro is also only the second player in NBA history to score 37 or more points in a playoff game before turning 21. The only other player on that list is Johnson (1980).
“Some of what Tyler is is just having people believe in him,” Calipari said. “When he came here, everybody said he wasn’t good enough, he was never going to play here and we would recruit over him. And this kid never left the gym. So you look at what he became by the end of [his freshman] year because he didn’t make many shots early in the year. So now it became about the other parts of his game. All of that grew, defensively and ability to pass the ball.
“But he knows what I told him: ‘You can be special at this because of your spirit.’ It takes a certain spirit that you want to be in the gym, you want to get better, you want to challenge yourself, you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself. He’s that kind of kid.”
Herro has averaged 16.5 points while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 37.8 percent on threes, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists this postseason.
Herro is on track become just the fifth player in NBA history to average at least 16 points on 44 percent shooting or better, five rebounds and three assists in the playoffs before turning 21. The others on that short list are Luka Doncic, Derrick Rose, Kevin Garnett and Johnson, according to Stathead.
“I’m just going to bet on myself. I’ve been doing that my whole life,” said Herro, who was the 13th pick in last year’s draft. “I went from, you know, Milwaukee, a small town in Milwaukee to Kentucky, and nobody thought I would survive there and nobody thought I would survive here. At the end of the day, it’s just betting on myself.
“I think someone said my wingspan was too short. They say everything, but you know, whatever they say, it’s whatever. You know, at the end of the day all you can do is work at it, perfect your craft, come in with a great attitude and just respect everybody in the building. Good things will happen from there.”
Herro has earned enough respect from Heat coaches that he’s averaging 33.4 minutes of playing time this postseason. He has also logged a team-high 146 fourth-quarter minutes in the playoffs.
“You know what it tells you?” Calipari said of Herro playing so many late-game minutes. “It tells you two things. One, the coach trusts him on the court that he’s not just going to do something crazy and he can guard and he’s rebounding. And the kid wants every shot. So you leave him in. That’s why he’s playing that many minutes.”
Adebayo is further removed from his Kentucky days, but Calipari is just as impressed at the growth of his game in his first three NBA seasons. Adebayo, 23, who made his first NBA All-Star Game this year, was drafted by the Heat with the 14th pick in 2017.
“I don’t think they knew exactly what Bam was until they got him,” Calipari said. “What they knew was he’s a warrior. Then all of a sudden the more they were with him, it wasn’t after one year. How long has Bam been there? Three years. It took over a period of time. Then after one year, they were like wow. After two, this thing is on and let’s roll with him.
“With Bam, he just has a fight in him and he’s physical. Physically can do stuff, like I’ll take five of Bams. There are a lot of other guys in the league, but I’ll take five Bams. Here’s what you’re going to find out. People say, ‘Well, his free-throw shooting can be better and his jump shooting can be better.’ Yeah, and it will be. It will be. But right now, he’s an All-Star without having that. Have you ever heard of that? How many guys have been to the All-Star Game, like they’re all scorers. They all shoot the ball. Bam did it being a basketball player helping his team win and having an impact on the game when he’s not scoring.”
Adebayo has averaged 17.8 points on 56.3 percent shooting, 11.5 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals this postseason. The Heat has outscored opponents by 11.3 points per 100 possessions when Adebayo is on the court and has been outscored 9.8 points per 100 possessions when he has been on the bench in the playoffs.
“We had to convince him that he could guard five positions,” Calipari recalls when discussing Adebayo’s time at Kentucky. “We’d have him pick up full court in drills that we did. Nobody wanted to go against him. Because even if you went to the rim and you thought you had a layup, he’d pin it on the backboard. Then as a big man, he was physical enough to hold his spot, hold his position, play angles.
“Here’s what we try to do defensively here, this is what we say: ‘Guard your man and one more, unless you’re on the ball.’ Everybody else is guarding their man and one more. With Bam, we said: ‘Guard your man and two more’ because he could guard three guys at one time. That’s what we told him: ‘You’re different, man. You guard three. You got your man and the other two.’”
Adebayo and Herro are the first two players the Heat has drafted out of Kentucky in franchise history. It has worked out pretty well for Miami.
What’s the common thread between the two besides both playing for Calipari in college?
“Like all of us in recruiting, the biggest thing you try to peg is that competitive spirit, the fight, the competitiveness, the love of the game, being in the gym all the time and being about basketball,” Calipari said. “Do you love it? Do you just love playing? Do you love the competition? Do you love all that goes with it? Those are the kind of guys the Heat is looking for.
“Literally, if Pat doesn’t lay eyes on him then Miami is not serious about you. He has got to lay eyes on you himself, too. So he’ll come to either a game, he’ll come to the SEC tournament championship. He wants to see when games matter.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 12:55 PM.
