The Miami Heat have been tinkering with their lineups recently, out of necessity. Spo fooled us all on Monday though by starting Goran Dragic.
The Miami Heat have the luxury of having a few guys who can fill multiple roles. It was on full display in their most recent game against the Indiana Pacers, as Goran Dragic got the start in place of Kendrick Nunn, but then also came off the pine in his usual microwave like role for the second unit.
Why that was such a curious move to many of us watching has everything to do with what Tyler Herro showed us all in the Phoenix game. You know right?
The performance that saw him start and finish the game as the main ball handler for the Miami Heat. The one that saw him finish with 25 points on 10-16 shooting overall and only 1-4 from deep, eight rebounds, and 10 dimes dropped off. Yea, that one.
With Kendrick Nunn missing his second contest on Monday due to personal reasons, you just knew that Tyler Herro would reclaim his role as the starting point guard, but it was not to be.
With that in mind though, I would definitely slot Tyler Herro in as my starter moving forward. The answer is best illustrated from all three vantages, that of the starter on Monday in Dragic, the starter on Saturday in Herro, and the usual starter, Kendrick Nunn.
When you look at Tyler Herro, the game against Phoenix where he started was the absolute best game of his career thus far. With a player like Herro, who can operate as a score first guy and obviously as we have seen during the restart, a pass first guy, the better the talent is out on the floor with him should mean the better he plays.
The Miami Heat have a ton of guys who can produce. Who should be the starting lead guard though and why?
That’s what happens when you have a guy like Herro playing like this. It not only gives him better options to finish his assisting plays and passes but it inevitably creates more room for him to create his own looks, as the defense has to pay more attention to the more capable guys.
Kendrick Nunn’s vantage or reasoning in this explanation jives right off of Herro’s. As Herro’s game can be enhanced by playing with better players, Nunn’s can be enhanced by playing against worse defensive opposition.
Nunn has shown all year that he can score against first-team defense, however, that is his mentality, to score the ball. With what he does well being so dependent only on him, it really doesn’t matter who he plays alongside, be that the first or second unit.
What does or can happen though is the fact that if he is that productive against the opposing team’s first defense, then he should be that much more effective and impactful against their bench defense. It seems pretty logical.
Lastly, when you think about Goran Dragic, he pulled double duty in Monday’s game against the Pacers. He was a starter and one of the first off the pine in his usual microwave role. While I am sure Goran can do it, I would much rather have him fresh off the bench as the sixth man extraordinaire and tag-team closer with Jimmy Butler.
Again, I believe Dragic can handle it, but why put that much pressure on him when you don’t have to? He’s been one of the Miami Heat’s best offensive players all year long, a clutch creator in a pinch, as well as a key part of their closing units.
At the end of the day, it gives each player their best chance to be their best self. More importantly, it gives the Heat their best chance to be the best team that they can be.
These are the vantages from which I see it and why they should be in the roles as described. Mainly though, these situations illustrate why Tyler Herro would be my starter moving forward.