It has been a ‘long, weird, awkward season’ for Heat’s Herro: ‘I need to get out of the play-in’
This season hasn’t gone as planned for the Miami Heat. It also hasn’t gone as planned for Heat guard Tyler Herro.
With the Heat already locked into needing to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA’s play-in tournament for the fourth year in a row, Herro is nearing the end of a season that has included too many injuries and too few games played.
“I’m here,” Herro said when asked where he’s at mentally and physically in the final days of his seventh NBA regular season. “It’s been a long, weird, awkward season. Different injuries, in and out. I started the season out, obviously, for kind of like an indefinite time, not really knowing when I was coming back. So it’s just like taking it one step at a time, one day at a time and one game at a time.”
Herro, 26, has missed 48 of the Heat’s first 79 games this regular season ahead of Thursday night’s matchup against the Raptors in Toronto. He missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion, 15 games because of a rib injury, two games because of left quadriceps soreness and one game because of personal reasons.
Herro, who still has one more year left on his current contract but is eligible to sign an extension worth as much as $206.9 million over four seasons this offseason, entered Thursday averaging 21.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and four assists per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 37.9% from three-point range in his first 31 appearances (26 starts) this season.
This comes right after the healthiest season of Herro’s NBA career, as he played in a career-high 77 games to make his first NBA All-Star Game last season. It’s the only time he has reached the 70-game mark in a season during his career.
While Herro admits this season has been challenging for him, it’s not the toughest he has endured. He still points to his second NBA season as the hardest of his career.
“I would say I’m in a better mind-set than I was my second year, obviously being so young [back then],” Herro said. “I obviously appreciate everything and everyone around me, my family, my kids and all that stuff. But my priority is to be on the floor. So anytime I’m not on the court, it’s extremely tough on me.”
Herro’s limited availability paired with Heat guard Norman Powell’s various injuries this season has led to limiting playing time together for the team’s top two scorers. And when Herro and Powell have shared the court in their first season as teammates, the results have not been positive.
Entering Thursday, the Heat has been outscored by 6.9 points per 100 possessions in the 257 minutes that Herro and Powell have played together this season. This has led to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra staggering their minutes recently, as Herro and Powell only logged nine minutes together in Tuesday’s road loss to the Raptors.
“I feel like I get asked this question every time either I come back or Norm comes back,” Herro said when asked if he’s still learning how to play alongside Powell. “But at this point, it’s about wins and whoever is out there to win the games. Obviously, we all want to play with each other. We all play the right way. I think Norm and I can play together, but whatever works.”
Powell said the conversation between him and Herro “is always about how we can play off of one another, using each other’s abilities and talents on the offensive end to open up the game for not only us two, but the unit as a whole.”
“We have two different guys that can attack the game very efficiently and in different ways that can cause headaches for the defense, and that allows everybody else on the floor to be able to play their game as well,” Powell continued. “So just figuring out that piece. And then defensively taking the challenge every single night, no matter who we have or where we’re at in the rotation, things like that. Being really good in what the team is asking us to do.”
But time is running out for the Heat, with just two games left to play this regular season after Thursday’s contest in Toronto. Miami will finish the regular season with a game against the Washington Wizards on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) before returning home to close the regular-season schedule on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Heat and Herro will then take part in the play-in tournament for the fourth straight season, with its play-in opener coming on either Tuesday or Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Heat has escaped the play-in tournament in each of the past three seasons to qualify for the playoffs as the East’s No. 8 seed, but has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
“I’ve performed in the play-in multiple years. So that ain’t my goal,” Herro said. “We’ve got to get in the playoffs and win a playoff series. That’s obviously the first objective. Getting into the playoffs is obviously our goal. But I feel like I’ve done enough in the play-in. I need to get out of the play-in.”
