Miami Heat Need Tyler Herro ‘The Playmaker’ To Stick Around

The Miami Heat’s Title Chances Go Up As Tyler Herro’s Multipleness Grows

Right now, his assist percentage and usage to assist ratio are rather low. That isn’t necessarily a problem, as his job is scoring and there are other playmakers on the floor for that, but maybe they are a little bit lower than they could be.

He’s had several games this year with eight and nine assists, averaging four on the season. If he can get that to around six for the playoffs, it could really open things up a bit more.

And playmaking doesn’t just revolve around passing, as he needs to tighten up his pick and roll game. In the home closer against Atlanta, Herro didn’t utilize screens as tightly as he could have.

This gave the defense more opportunity. A lot of times, the focus is on the screener, but the ball handler has a significant responsibility to run his man into the big, thus causing the defense to think and force them to make a decision.

Giving the defense pause like that is what opens up the opportunities to, sometimes, score but also to create great passing lanes and playmaking opportunities. Again, Herro is a scorer and everyone knows it.

Now though, it’s also his responsibility to take things up a level. He has the clear ability as a bucket getter, which means he needs to get the defense to collapse around him to open things up for others.

He’s attacking the rim for only 20 percent of his shots this year, per cleaningtheglass.com, but that could rise in the playoffs.

Most of his shooting this year has been in the mid-range, which is good because those shots are still going to be there when needed (and they will be needed), but think about how much easier the flow of the game can be with him attacking just a little bit more while looking to find open teammates.

The playoffs are a grind where the game slows down and your reward for winning a tough series is another tough opponent. If the Heat are going to make an NBA Finals run, they need to use every weapon they have, while also finding a few new ones.

Herro could be that new one—again. The Miami Heat offense needs to be as dynamic as possible and having a skilled scorer with improved playmaking could be the difference between a Conference Finals berth and an NBA Finals victory.