One of Heat’s Tyler Herro’s goals after another summer of trade rumors? ‘Get my name untouchable’
Yes, Tyler Herro had to deal with another summer of trade rumors. But Herro also still managed to enjoy another summer of uncertainty and speculation.
There was extended time spent in Los Angeles, a vacation in Turks and Caicos and memorable moments with his two children while his NBA future was being discussed by others.
“I had a great summer, honestly,” Herro said to the Miami Herald this week, as the Heat wrapped up training camp at Florida Atlantic University on Saturday. “Having my daughter, she turned 2 in September and my son will be 1 in January. Lots of moving parts, but family is growing up. The trade stuff was circulating, but I got a great support system around me. We can enjoy time together and get stuff like that off my mind.”
At the end of the offseason, Herro again found himself in Miami for the start of his fifth NBA season even after finding himself at the center of trade rumors for the second consecutive summer. Herro was linked to the Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell trade noise during the summer of 2022 and the Damian Lillard trade talks this summer.
That seemingly endless speculation has left Herro’s game and trade stock under a constant microscope that has created a divide in the basketball world between those who believe he’s overvalued by the Heat and others who believe he has All-Star potential. ESPN’s Zach Lowe called Herro last year “perhaps the most polarizing high-wattage player in the NBA.”
“I’m not too sure,” Herro said when asked why he feels he’s become such a polarizing player. “If you look around the league, I’m right there with every young guy that they say is the next thing or whatever it is. As I get older, I don’t even pay attention to that [expletive]. I know my value, I know I’m one of them ones and I don’t need to say it. I’ll show you.”
Herro has already built an impressive resume in his first four NBA seasons. He became the first Heat player to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2022 and he’s statistically one of the league’s top young scorers.
Among those drafted into the NBA since 2019, Herro is one of only six players who have averaged at least 20 points per game in the regular season at least twice during their careers. The others are Zion Williamson, LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Darius Garland and Ja Morant.
While playing as a full-time starter for the first time in his NBA career, Herro closed last regular season as the Heat’s third-leading scorer with 20.1 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 37.8 percent shooting from three-point range. Heat stars Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler were the only Heat players who averaged more points than Herro.
But last season didn’t end the way Herro hoped, as he essentially missed the Heat’s entire playoff run to the NBA Finals after breaking his right hand in the opening game of the playoffs. He rushed his recovery and rehab process to return in time for the NBA Finals and was in uniform for the Heat’s season-ending loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the championship series, but coach Erik Spoelstra made the decision to hold out Herro even though he was available to play in that contest.
“It wasn’t easy,” Herro said of not returning in time to help the Heat in the NBA Finals. “There’s a bunch of moving pieces. I understand it’s not easy bringing me back after six weeks of being out and we’re in the Finals. I’m not like a player that you just plug in. I average 20 points, so the offense is around me a little bit. So I understood that.
“Obviously, I wanted to be in and help the team. I felt like Denver, I think I had 30 on Denver the first time we played them in the regular season. So I just felt like I was a mismatch for them and our team just needed a little boost scoring. I think I could have given that. But Spo is human, too. So at the end of the day, he has to make the decision that he thinks is right. And we talked about it and we’re over that. So we’re good.”
Herro hopes to continue his upward trajectory this season. Even after setting a new career-high with eight three-point attempts per game last regular season, Herro wants to put together a more efficient shot chart.
That means more attempts from three-point range and at the rim, while also generating more free-throw attempts.
“I wouldn’t put a number on points,” Herro said when asked about his goals for this upcoming season. “I wouldn’t put a number on anything, really. I just want to make a jump, similar to what I did in my third year. A similar jump in that regard. More free throws, getting to the line more, shooting more threes.”
So, fewer midrange looks?
“Not necessarily less, but knowing when to take them,” said Herro, who ranked in the 73rd percentile among NBA guards last regular season in terms of midrange efficiency, according to Cleaning The Glass. “The context of the game and just being efficient in the midrange. I think I can be one of the better midrange shooters in the league. So just being efficient in that area. I think that comes with context of game and when to shoot it, and more free throws and more threes.”
There’s also another item on Herro’s list of goals this season.
“Honestly, my goal this year is to get my name untouchable. That’s my goal,” Herro said. “At the end of this season, they won’t want to trade me. That’s my goal.”
Herro added that he never requested a trade during this summer’s Lillard saga because “[the Heat] told me it wasn’t going to happen.”
After Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks a few weeks ago, Herro said he spoke to Spoelstra and Heat president Pat Riley. Herro received the clarity he was looking for from those conversations.
“It’s the process of me coming back and being open to this,” Herro said. “I’m happy I’m here, I’m grateful I’m here. I understand it’s a business.”
Happy, grateful and motivated.
“Tyler’s been on,” Spoelstra said of Herro’s play in training camp this week. “There’s no off button on him this week and that’s both ends of the court. I think everybody immediately sees his skill level. It’s not hyperbole when the coach is saying he’s one of the most skilled players in this association. He is. Enough talk about it, he’s going to show it and we need it. The things that he can do fill in so many gaps for us that help our offense exponentially go.”
