What Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving told Heat rookie Tyler Herro
A six-pack of Heat notes on a Monday:
▪ Several prominent players have made a point to go out of their way to tell Heat rookie guard Tyler Herro how impressed they’ve been by him.
Two of the more accomplished ones: Nets teammates Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Before the Heat played the Nets last season, Durant - who is expected to miss the season with an injury - told Herro: “I like the way you play and keep working,’” Herro said.
Irving told him “he liked the way I started [the season], keep continuing to get better.”
Phoenix’s Devin Booker and Chicago’s Zach LaVine also offered praise and encouragement.
Among guards who have taken at least 15 shots in the clutch (defined by the NBA as the final five minutes of a game with a margin of five points or fewer), Herro is fourth in the league in shooting percentage at 52.9 percent (10 for 19).
And he’s 7 for 13 on clutch threes (53.8 percent); only Joe Harris and Kelly Oubre Jr. have made a higher percentage of clutch threes.
The notion of a 19-year-old playing that well in the clutch is pretty staggering.
▪ Kentucky coach John Calipari has kept in frequent contact with Herro, who played one season for Calipari.
Before a recent game, “he texted me, saying, ‘good luck tonight,’” That’s not uncommon for Calipari.
But then Calipari said something else that Herro deeply appreciates. “He said I’m a testimony for kids who want to make it with the hard work…. I hear from him all the time.”
Bam Adebayo, another former Kentucky player, says Calipari also frequently texts him.
▪ Behind the scenes, Jimmy Butler has made quite an impression on Heat employees. He recently bought many of them sneakers.
▪ As good as Adebayo is now, Heat people believe there is another yet-untapped level.
“His ceiling is really limitless,” said Kelly Olynyk, who has watched him closely for 2 1/2 years. “He moves differently for his size and his stature. You see how powerful he is and strong he is. His quickness and lateral movement and jumping ability - and you mix that with now he’s getting put in positions to have offenses run through him with handoffs, making plays off passes, ball screens, rebounding, dribbling.”
Though he’s much better this year from 3 to 9 feet (53 for 116; 46.9 percent), he’s just 28 for 79 from 10 feet and beyond.
That includes 23 for 54 shooting from 10 to 16 feet; 4 for 16 shooting from 17 feet to the three-point line; and 1 for 9 on threes. The rest of his game gets high marks in every area.
“He could develop into a legitimate threat shooting the ball and then he could be really tough,” Olynyk said. “For now, he does what he does really really well, high pace and does it hard. He’s done an impeccable job at it.”
▪ Adebayo, on his unusual but appreciated daily routine of shaking teammates’ hands: “I guess I’m a pure guy. It’s nothing really I have to do it but more so that it’s just [second] nature to me.
“You got here being that person, being a great guy, having great work ethic and staying out of trouble. And then you’re producing. I don’t think you should change up once you get to a certain point in your career.”
▪ Count ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins among those who would love to see Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo end up here - if he leaves Milwaukee.
“Giannis is a great fit [with the Heat],” Perkins said on The Jump. “[He and Butler] complement each other very well. The Heat culture is Giannis. He would be phenomenal here.”...
And ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said in general: “Players want to be in Miami. Watch out.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 5:39 PM.
