Miami Heat: Can Tyler Herro end Heat rookie drought?

The Miami Heat franchise have yet to honor a Rookie of the Year. In fact, only one Heat player has ever cracked the top three in the award voting: Dwyane Wade. Can Tyler Herro re-write the narrative for rookies in South Beach?

Now, I know some Miami Heat fans may be thinking “Rookie of the Year is an irrelevant award” or “The award doesn’t always go to the best player” as they consider Tyler Herro‘s impending rookie season.

Both are valid points.

However, when it comes to most rookies in Miami, the young bucks haven’t always produced in ways that analysts, fans, and the league as a whole, had anticipated.

The Miami Heat drafted University of Kentucky guard, Tyler Herro, with the 13th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Take a peak at some of Herro’s Summer League highlights below.

https://twitter.com/bleacherreport/status/1149139043516440576?s=21

Tyler Herro has the opportunity to break a negative trend among Miami rookies: average at least 20 minutes per game and ten points per game.

As mentioned earlier, Miami Heat fans aren’t accustomed to their rookies hitting the big stage running. Since 2003-04, two players whom have donned the Heat across their chest have attained the 20 minutes per game 10 points per game threshold for rookies: Michael Beasley and Dwyane Wade.

While players like Rodney McGruder, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow, Daequan Cook, Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem have all hit the former or the latter of the rookie threshold, none of the listed have achieved both sides of the spectrum.

Herro has yet to play a regular season game for Miami, but team president Pat Riley had this to say about the rookie:

According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, Herro has drawn some innate comparisons to Phoenix Suns guard, Devin Booker. Both University of Kentucky basketball alums under coach John Calipari, both share a similar physical stature, and both were drafted for their shooting and scoring ability at no. 13 in their respective draft class.

Booker went on to average 27.7 minutes and 13.8 points per game in his rookie campaign.

Some other notable selections at No.13 in recent draft classes: Donovan Mitchell (2017) and Zach Lavine (2014).

While Booker may just be scratching the surface of his offensive game, the consistent improvement of his off-ball movement and 3-point jumper has made him a reliable NBA player. Whether you choose to agree with the comparison of the two Wildcats or not, one fact remains constant, Miami has failed to get much production out of their rookies. Should we believe Tyler Herro has the ability to change that narrative?