Herro blossoms with skill, stamina: ‘I feel like I’m a machine. I can keep going all game’
Heat guard Tyler Herro isn’t merely scoring at higher volumes than ever before in his NBA career.
He’s also shooting more — considerably more — while also augmenting his efficiency.
That’s important, because Herro is one of only a few Heat players who can consistently create his own shot.
His field-goal attempts per game have jumped from 16.6 last season to 21.1 this season.
His usage rate (based on how a possession ends — field-goal or free-throw attempt, or a turnover) – has jumped from 25.7 to 28.5.
But what’s critical for Herro and the Heat is his improved efficiency.
He’s shooting 41 percent on three-pointers, compared with 37.8 last season.
His overall shooting percentage (44.6) is up a tick from his 43.9 last season.
The upshot is a dramatic jump in scoring, from 20.7 as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2021-22 to 20.1 last season to 25.3 this season, which is tied with LeBron James for 15th in the league.
He said he didn’t enter the season intending to shoot a lot more.
“It’s turned out that way,” Herro said, as the Heat prepares to open a four-game road trip on Wednesday in Memphis (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “The coaches haven’t said much to me about my attempts. If they want them to go down, they would talk to me about it. I’m going to continue to play how I’ve been playing and be efficient in those shots. Some nights it might be 18 shots; some nights, it might be 25.
“Right now, it’s been around 20, 23 because I’m being aggressive and trying to give more to the team, as much as I can.”
Herro said he and coach Erik Spoelstra haven’t discussed the volume of shots he should take. But Herro said the Heat has told him they want him taking more three-pointers than a year ago. Last season, he launched 8.0 per game; this season, it’s 8.7 per game.
“I haven’t spoken to [Spoelstra] about the number,” he said. “It’s more about being efficient. I’m a shot-maker, but I also can make plays for my teammates.”
The decision to shoot or pass is based partly on “whatever the read is.” His assists are up, from 4.2 last season to what would be a career high 5.0.
“Coming off a pick-and-roll, I’m a threat,” he said. ‘So many teams are worried about my shot, my floater. I just try to make the right play. I can score. That’s what I work on is scoring, obviously. But trying to make the right play over and over again is my emphasis. I have the ball a lot. If I want a shot, I can get a shot any time.”
Herro has specific goals in mind for shooting percentage — overall, on threes and from the field.
“Eventually I want to be 50, 40, 90,” he said of his overall shooting percentage, three-point accuracy and free-throw percentage. “That’s my goal.”
That threshold has been achieved just nine times in NBA history: twice by Kevin Durant, including 2012-13 and again last season.
The others to do it: Kyrie Irving (2020-21), Malcolm Brogdon (2018-19), José Calderón (2007-08), Dirk Nowitzki (2006-07), Steve Kerr (1995-96) Reggie Miller (1993-94) and Mark Price (1988-89).
From the field, Herro is a career 44 percent shooter. “I’m [44.6] right now, which would be the best of my career, but I’m trying to be 46, 47 – around there,” he said. “I’m going to continue to try to fight for that 50 percent from the field.”
Before this season, his career high percentage on three-pointers was 39.9 in 2021-22, and he’s a career 38.4 percent shooter on threes. So 40 percent on threes seems attainable.
“Every year, 40 percent is the goal; I’m going to continue to shoot my threes with confidence,” he said. “I think I’m one of the best shooters in the league.”
Herro is a career 87.5 percent free-throw shooter and led the league at 93.4 last season. (He’s at 90.9 percent — 20 for 22 — this season.) So his 90 percent goal already has been achieved.
In a way, Herro relishes being the focus of defensive attention.
“That’s what all the great players want, to get that respect from opponents and the league to go up against different defenses, double teams, different traps, different defenders throughout the game,” he said.
“I feel like I’m a machine. I can keep going all game. I don’t feel like I get tired.”
He’s averaging a career-high 37.7 minutes per game, well ahead of his 31.7 career average.
“We don’t want teams to be able to take him out with traps or blitzes,” Spoelstra said, mentioning how the Wizards didn’t take Herro out of his rhythm last Friday despite deploying different defensive approaches. “He studies it. It’s a credit to the work he puts in behind the scenes.”
If Herro finishes ahead of Jimmy Butler (who’s averaging 19 points per game) for the team lead in scoring, it would be the first time that Butler hasn’t led the Heat in scoring.
Both arrived in Miami during the same summer of 2019, Herro through the draft and Butler through a sign-and-trade with the 76ers.
Butler averaged 19.9, 21.5, 21.4 and 22.9 in his first four seasons with the Heat.
Herro averaged 13.5, 15.1, 20.7 and 20.1 in his first four seasons with the Heat.
Over those same four seasons, Bam Adebayo averaged 15.9, 18.7, 19.1 and 20.4 points; he’s at 21.5 this season.
Butler appreciates Herro’s growth.
“He can do everything,” Butler said. “He does everything well, scoring obviously, passing the ball, rebounding. He’s been doing it for a while now. It’s showcasing so many different talents every single game. He’s going to keep doing it. That’s just who he is.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2023 at 1:05 PM.
