Getty Tyler Herro in February 2023.
With another playoff run looming, the Miami Heat are getting healthy and whole. Tyler Herro returned to the lineup on April 5 against the Houston Rockets and looks ready for the postseason.
The 2021-2022 Sixth Man of the Year scored 17 points on seven-of-14 shooting, dished six assists, and grabbed five rebounds coming off the bench in 25 minutes.
The Heat have been without Herro since February 23 when he suffered a hyperextended left knee. This was his first game off the bench this season, and it may stay that way.
But the 24-year-old isn’t worried about that. He knows the ins and outs of the NBA’s business, as he expressed to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald in an April 6 column.
“Look, there are six games left,” Herro told Chiang. “I just missed 20 games. It’s hard to just implement me into the starting lineup at this point.”
Even harder than normal, as Miami is hitting their stride, winning four of their last five.
Herro views himself as a starter, and he repeatedly said so when speaking with Chiang and other reporters postgame.
But for now, he’ll play however and whenever head coach Erik Spoelstra calls his number.
“Whatever Spo decides to do is ultimately up to him,” Herro told reporters. “It’s not an easy decision. Obviously, everybody knows I’m a starter in the league. But like I said, to come back with six games left, it’s tough to just implement me into the lineup like that. But ultimately, I’m going to get starter minutes and that’s all that matters. I’m a starter, but I’ll come off the bench for now.”
With five games remaining, and the Heat “streaking,” to quote Jimmy Butler, chemistry has to be the top priority.
One teammate in particular is benefitting from it, and they’ll need him down the stretch.
Terry Rozier Has Found His Rhythm After a Slow Start
A big reason for Herro’s potential mainstay on the bench? Terry Rozier’s level of play.
Miami acquired the combo guard from the Charlotte Hornets on January 23, in exchange for Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick.
That’s a month before Herro was injured. Rozier has proved an invaluable insurance policy.
But that wasn’t always the case.
In his first 10 games with the team, Rozier averaged 12.6 points on 36 percent shooting from the floor and 23 percent from three.
He injured himself against the Boston Celtics in that 10th game, and missed the next four games. It was during that time that Herro himself was injured.
But since returning from that four-game absence, Rozier is averaging 19 points on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 42 percent from three over a 20-game span.
His net rating in those first 10 games was -3.1. In the 20 games since he returned to the lineup, it’s jumped to +1.4.
Per Cleaning the Glass, with Herro off the floor and the Heat’s “big three” of Butler, Rozier, and Bam Adebayo on the floor, they have a +6.1 net rating over 761 possessions.
They’re scoring 116.2 points per 100 possessions, but more importantly, are holding their opponents to 110.1, which ranks in the 91st percentile in the NBA.
With both of Herro/Rozier off the floor, and over 462 possessions, those numbers drop to just a smidge: +4.8 net rating, 116.5 points offensively, and 111.6 defensively.
And that’s not a knock on Rozier, or simply a byproduct of playing for a great team.
That is evidence of a job well done, that he’s playing apart of, not apart from this Miami team, and improving it around the edges.
For now, Coach Spoelstra will keep it that way.
He’s not looking for a way to penalize Herro, but rewarding a player who adapted and adjusted in real-time.
Until when/if Rozier gives him a reason not to.
But Herro’s not the only key member of this Heat team who’s returned from injury.
Kevin Love Returns for Miami
Kevin Love injured his heel in a February 27 game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
He missed 16 consecutive games before returning on April 2, just days before Herro.
Love, like Herro, is familiar with this Miami system, and has resumed his role difference maker despite his apparent minutes restriction.
Coach Spoelstra sang the veteran’s praises to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel ahead of an April 3 matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Kevin gives us something different,” Spoelstra told Ira. “It spaces the floor in a different way. It gets overreactions that lead to open shots, either for him or for somebody else, that you can’t necessarily script or make a play call for.”
Everything is clicking for the Miami Heat, at precisely the right time.
Managing returning players and their roles will prove the next big test, as they enter the familiar water that is the NBA playoffs.
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