Tyler Herro making NBA history as the Heat’s sixth man — a role he now feels ‘comfort’ in
The first two weeks of the season have gone very well for the Miami Heat.
The Heat entered Wednesday with the NBA’s top defensive rating and second-best offensive rating on its way to a 6-1 record that matches the best seven-game start to a season in franchise history. Each of Miami’s victories has come by double digits, as it has outscored teams by a league-high 16.7 points per game this season.
But among the most encouraging early season developments for the Heat is the growth of 21-year-old guard Tyler Herro.
“You’re just talking about somebody who’s becoming one of the more skilled players in this league,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat taking its five-game winning streak into Thursday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics at FTX Arena (Bally Sports Sun, NBA TV). “This league is becoming a skill league. If you’re one of the most skilled players in this league, you’re going to be extremely effective and efficient. He’s reading defenses, reading coverages, taking what the defense gives him. All of these things are much further along from his first two seasons.”
In a sixth-man role, Herro has averaged 22.4 points while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 40.8 percent on threes, six rebounds and 4.4 assists in the first seven games of his third NBA season. Herro is one of just six players in the NBA who entered Wednesday averaging at least 20 points while shooter better than 47 percent from the field and 40 percent on threes, along with Los Angeles’ Paul George, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan, Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes.
Herro scored 25 points in Tuesday’s road win over the Dallas Mavericks to bump up his point total for the season to 157, which is the most points through the first seven games of a season by any reserve in NBA history. The previous record was 156 points by Mavericks guard Jason Terry in 2007.
“I mean, that’s cool, I guess,” Herro said with a grin when told about the record. “I mean, I’m just continuing to do my part and do my job and it’s still really early.”
Herro is right, it is still really early. However, there’s no denying that he’s likely going to be a candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award this season if he remains healthy.
A Heat player has never won the Sixth Man of the Year Award. It’s an honor that Herro wants to earn, along with a few others.
“I just want to win a championship,” Herro said to the Miami Herald when asked to list his goals for the season. “Obviously, Sixth Man of the Year, for sure. Most Improved. I feel like I can compete for those two, for sure.”
With Herro as the NBA’s scoring leader among reserves, the Heat’s bench is averaging a league-high 47 points per game this season.
The irony behind it all is the fact that Herro was uncomfortable playing as a reserve at times last season, when he was moved to a bench role after starting in his first 14 appearances. He finished his second NBA season averaging 15.1 points on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent shooting on threes.
“I think I have a definitive role as the sixth man,” Herro said when asked why he’s comfortable in a sixth man role this season. “Last year was kind of like some nights sixth, some nights ninth man. Now that I know I’m the sixth man, just the comfort in that role makes me want to keep going.”
Herro still aspires to be an NBA starter and will likely get his wish one day. But Herro also now understands that’s just a label.
In fact, Herro is hardly being used like a reserve this season.
Herro is averaging a team-high 18.1 shots per game and the fourth-most minutes (31.5) behind only Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. Herro also owns a team-high usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) of 28.3 percent this season, which is comparable to the current usage rate of stars like Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton (28.1 percent), Chicago’s Zach LaVine (28.7 percent), Los Angeles’ LeBron James (28.8 percent) and Portland’s Damian Lillard (28.9 percent).
“Just one day at a time. Like right now, that’s my role,” Herro said of playing off the bench. “Roles are always evolving and changing every single day. So just continuing to get better. Worry about my improvement and my development, and seeing where that takes me.”
Herro proved in the first two seasons of his NBA career that he can score in bunches, and that’s still what he does best. He has improved other areas of his game, too, though.
“I feel like my handle is a lot tighter,” Herro said. “The game has really slowed down, so I’m able to read defenses better and just being able to get to my spots offensively, and defensively just being able to make plays and be in the right spots.”
Herro is averaging 9.1 potential assists (any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball) this season compared to seven potential assists last season and 4.5 potential assists as a rookie in 2019-20. His reads out of pick-and-rolls and traps have been impressive to start the season.
“It’s just been a point of emphasis for me,” Herro said. “Like pregame, just being able to lock in mentally and know the second units on these other teams are going to send guys at me to try to stop me, and send different schemes, whether it’s a blitz, a switch, whatever it is. So slowing down and mentally just being prepared knowing that they’re going to throw something at me.”
One thing Herro has not necessarily figured out yet is how to consistently get to the rim. Most of his points have still come on jumpers this season.
That has left Herro scoring off a lot of midrange and three-point shots. He has been ultra-efficient from both areas, shooting 19 of 31 (61.3 percent) on midrange attempts and 40.8 percent from three-point range.
“The world knows that he can score the ball with the best of them,” Butler said. “We need him to keep doing that, keep that confidence high and come out and jack them up there like he always does. That’s what we tell him to do. We love that Tyler. Keep that confidence high because we’re going to need it all year long.”
There will be some ups and downs along the way just because Herro does depend on a lot of outside jumpers to score his points. But the Heat is relying on Herro to have more ups than downs this season.
So far, so good.
“It’s his third year,” Adebayo said of Herro. “He’s making that growth and he’s making that next step. He can do it at all three levels and he can also pass. I’m proud of the young fella. I feel like he’s going to be great.”
▪ The Heat ruled out Marcus Garrett (G League assignment), Max Strus (sprained left knee) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) for Thursday’s game against the Celtics. KZ Okpala (sprained right ankle) is listed as questionable.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 11:47 AM.
