Miami Heat: Why Tyler Herro could be a key cog in the rotation next season
The Miami Heat drafted sharpshooter Tyler Herro of Kentucky at 13 in the NBA Draft. Here’s why he could be a key player as soon as next season.
The Miami Heat entered the offseason with very clear objectives. On top of the many vague objectives that they could possibly seek to accomplish, including perhaps a magic trick to bring in a star player, they knew that they needed to add more perimeter shooting and scoring punch to this roster. Well, they did just that when they drafted Tyler Herro out of Kentucky with the 13th overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft.
While most highly drafted NBA rookies have at least a minimal role on the teams that go on to select them, this particular rookie could have a bit of a larger role than most. Here’s why the former Wildcat flamethrower could have a substantial role for this Miami Heat team next season, possibly becoming a key cog in the rotation early on in his career.
The Miami Heat don’t have that many knockdown shooters on their roster, if any could be considered that at all. Josh Richardson has continued to develop his shot and overall offensive game, but if this past season proved anything, it’s that relying on him to be him on the defensive end while asking him to take on a much larger offensive role is still a very big question mark.
Dion Waiters is a very capable shooter from the outside, but he is more the pure scorer type than a flat out shooter. Goran Dragic, who will be returning after picking up his player option for this season, is also a guy that is more a scorer/bruiser than a shooter.
The arguably best consistent three-point threat on the roster was acquired midseason and if rumor and actuality point to anything, it’s that he was just a throwaway pickup to try and acquire more cap space in this upcoming season while simultaneously removing salary in this past season to get under the Luxury Tax Threshold. The “he” was Ryan Anderson, who was acquired midseason in a trade that saw the Miami Heat ship out one of their best shooters in Wayne Ellington and Tyler Johnson.
When looking at the three point shooting percentages of the entire Miami Heat roster from last season, the numbers really kind of mimic the narrative that’s already been painted, but also presents a bit of a surprise. The best two shooters by percentage were Dion Waiters at 37.7 percent from deep, which is a notion hinted at earlier in this piece and surprisingly enough, the new and improved Justise Winslow(#JUSTISEBETTER) at 37.5 percent from deep.
With Herro’s ability to knock down the long ball, he should be able to step in and contribute in a meaningful role right away. This isn’t to say that he will absolutely become the best shooter from distance on the team, but he definitely has a chance to be that.
With the way the league has gone now, where three-point shooting wins games just as much as overall efficiency as a complete offense, Herro should be a plug and play guy immediately and that’s even if he just sits in a corner or along the wing to start out. Regardless of where he positions himself on the court, he should be able to find enough space to do what he does best, which is knock down jump shots.
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The Miami Heat definitely need to improve on the offensive end heading into next season if they want to improve on this past season’s results, which saw them not making the playoffs. Tyler Herro and his shooting ability should go a long way to helping them do just that. That is why he could have a very substantial role and be a key rotation cog in just his very first season with the Miami Heat and in the NBA.