Miami Heat: Erik Spoelstra Facing Familiar Challenge With Lineup Improv
By Isiah Curry
Miami Heat: Many Want Tyler Herro To Start… Spo Will Make The Right Call
To address the elephant in the room, there probably isn’t a larger concern on how Spoelstra will handle his lineup decisions going forward, than how he deploys third-year guard, Tyler Herro.
Showing strong improvements in nearly all facets of his game, Herro has demonstrated growth in his shot-creation, handle, finishing, defending, and most importantly, is simply making the right reads with the ball in his hands.
Although a six point effort during Thursday’s loss won’t encourage any of that, the question looms whether he should provide those abilities right at the opening tip.
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While Herro has undeniably become an important player going forward, coach Spoelstra shouldn’t feel any pressure to insert his highest scoring reserve directly into the starting lineup.
Despite improving overall as a player, having a balance throughout a long 82-game season is vital, especially with Tyler playing north of 30 minutes a night. In 15 games as a starter last season, Herro averaged 17.1 points on about 45 percent shooting.
However, he struggled in many of those starts as Miami’s starting point guard, particularly handling the ball and reacting to double-teams. Since then, Herro has looked comfortable as the first player off of Spoelstra’s bench and is already leading all Heat players in second and fourth quarter minutes (10.7 and 9.2 per game).