What’s Herro’s improvement plan this summer? Adebayo’s motivation and more Heat Olympic stuff
Tyler Herro knows this offseason is an important one for him, and he’s not downplaying the significance of the next few months.
“I think this summer is a huge summer for me. I’m excited,” the 21-year Miami Heat guard said via Zoom on Tuesday night after taking part in the Team USA select team’s first practice in Las Vegas. “It’s my first real offseason where I’m able to focus on different things that I want to work on.”
After Herro’s impressive rookie year that ended in the 2020 NBA Finals, he went through a pandemic-shortened offseason that lasted just 71 days — the fewest between the end of a season and the start of the next season in NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL history, according to Elias Sports.
Herro’s offseason this year began in late May after the Heat was swept out of the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks and NBA training camps aren’t scheduled to open until Sept. 28. His summer also includes an invaluable experience in the USA Basketball program as a member of the 17-man select team, which is a group consisting mostly of up-and-coming players who are at the national team’s training camp in Las Vegas to practice and scrimmage against the Olympic roster this week.
“I think it’s a great confidence boost. It’s a great basketball experience,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who is serving as the select team’s head coach. “It’s a great competitive experience for him. Just the practice time today to learn different terminology. We’re using similar terminology that the main team is using, so that’s different terminology than Tyler was using with us. Slightly different speeds. I think this is really important for a young player to be able to go through that learning process, particularly if it’s a little bit different. It helps you grow and expand in different ways.
“Then of course, the competition. C’mon. When we do get an opportunity to compete against the main team, there’s absolutely nothing you can do during a summer in terms of workouts, player development or open gyms that can surpass the type of experience.”
Of the opportunity to scrimmage against the Olympic roster that features NBA stars like Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard, Herro said it’s “going to be an experience that no one can take away.”
“I’ll be able to really just see where I’m at and where I need to be,” he said. “I’m excited to just be able to take this whole week and just focus on basketball and continue to show myself and continue to get better.”
Herro, who is preparing for his third NBA season, averaged 15.1 points while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 36 percent on threes, five rebounds and 3.4 assists in 54 regular-season games (15 starts) this past season.
In the playoffs, Herro averaged 9.3 points on 31.6 percent shooting from the field and 31.6 percent shooting on threes, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
It was an up-and-down sophomore NBA season for Herro, who moved to a bench role after starting in his first 14 appearances. He was then forced to miss seven games in January with neck spasms, sat out a Feb. 11 win against the Houston Rockets because of a false positive COVID-19 test, was unavailable for three games in late February with a right hip contusion, and missed seven games in the final weeks of the regular season because of right foot soreness.
“Not in any way do I think I’ve regressed at all,” Herro said. “I think obviously I wasn’t really excited with my performance. But I think I’m not regressing in any way. So I’m excited to have a full ofseason where I can lock in and really just work on some things that I want to work on and know I need to work on.”
Herro (6-5, 195) said one of his main priorities this offseason is to “get stronger.”
“Building my foundation, whether it’s my legs or my upper body,” he said. “Just being able to come into more of an NBA body and really put some weight on. And then I think just being more efficient from three, continuing to get better with my decision making in the pick and roll. Just being a lot more efficient. I feel like I can be much more efficient in the midrange, from the three, really all around.”
Herro, who is one of only five Heat players who entered this summer with a guaranteed salary for next season, will also use this week to continue to grow his relationship with Spoelstra during their Team USA experience.
“I think it’s unique because I’m able to just continue to build a strong relationship with coach Spo,” Herro said. “I plan on playing with him for a while, and that’s my plan. I hope that happens. So I continue to just build a strong relationship with him. I think this experience for both of us is big. It’s something in the summer where we can just go to Vegas for a week and just focus on basketball.”
ADEBAYO’S MOTIVATION
The Team USA Olympic team held its first training camp practice in preparation for Tokyo on Tuesday in Las Vegas, but it wasn’t Heat center Bam Adebayo’s first experience with the national team.
Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich made the decision to cut Adebayo in 2019 prior to the national team’s seventh-place finish in that year’s World Cup in favor of centers Brook Lopez, Mason Plumlee and Myles Turner. Popovich, who is also USA Basketball’s head coach for the Tokyo Olympics, told Adebayo at the time that he “wasn’t ready.”
“It was just a chip,” Adebayo said Tuesday during a post-practice interview. “I’ve always excelled when I had a chip or if I had something motivating me. Being cut was motivation to me because, like I’ve said before, I felt like I should have been on the team. But I’m glad I got this opportunity now. It’s time to show why I got this opportunity and that ultimate goal is to get a gold medal.”
As for Tuesday’s practice, Adebayo said it was a “great first day.”
Asked how much recruiting will be going on within Team USA over the next month, Adebayo said: “I don’t know. I feel like everybody will have their fair share since we’re going to be around each other so much. But for me, I’m just out here competing. At the end of the day, I’m going to end up becoming close with a lot of these dudes. So you never know what can happen.”
At least one of Adebayo’s 11 Team USA teammates is already a big fan of his game.
“He’s somebody that I really admire,” Cleveland Cavaliers veteran forward Kevin Love said of Adebayo on Tuesday. “He’s actually somebody whose jersey that I have in my locker. It’s a very select few. I love how he plays. I love what he’s about, his story, where he came from and just how great he has done in this league in a very short period of time.”
Love’s comment is especially noteworthy because he has been the subject of recent trade rumors and he would appear to fit alongside Adebayo because of his combination of size (6-8, 251), outside shooting and rebounding ability.
Love, 32, has two years and $60 million remaining on his contract.
HEAT TRIO MAKES CUT
The Nigerian Olympic team recently trimmed its roster from 49 players to 16 players. The Heat trio of Precious Achiuwa, KZ Okpala and Gabe Vincent all survived the initial cut.
Nigeria, which has already qualified for the Olympics, faces Team USA in an exhibition game on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Las Vegas. The Nigerian national team must cut its roster to 12 players for the Tokyo Games, which begin July 23.
▪ Center Omer Yurtseven will soon be returning to Miami to continue his development in the Heat’s offseason program and is now available to play in summer league. Yurtseven, 23, will not be playing in the Olympics after Turkey was eliminated by Greece in a qualifying tournament on Saturday in Canada.
