Tyler Herro has spent his career pining for more respect. He’s openly lobbied to start for the Miami Heat and declared his goal of being named an All-Star.
Herro has long established himself as a starter and, this season, earned his first All-Star selection. Now, that respect is starting to arrive, so much so that he’s considered one of the top 50 players in the league and ranks ahead of last season’s Finals MVP.
In FanSided’s NBA 99 player rankings, Herro was listed as the league’s 38th-best player, eight spots ahead of Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who came in at 46. Here’s more from FanSided’s Quinn Everts:
Tyler Herro ranked eight spots ahead of Jaylen Brown in FanSided's player rankings.
“Tyler Herro has never gotten a fair reputation around the NBA — okay, maybe no one said that last one — but as the Heat’s top option with Jimmy Butler out of the picture, Herro has blossomed into an all-around threat. The former Kentucky Wildcats star is a perfect example of trusting your talent, believing in what you can be. He’s steadily improved throughout his career, and he can now add a new label to the list: All-Star. No Jack Harlow cosign necessary.”
Herro is posting career highs in points (24), assists (5.7), rebounds (5.5), 3-point makes (3.6), free-throw attempts (4.4) and field goal percentage (46.1). So, yeah, he’s become an all-around offensive player.
Meanwhile, Brown’s numbers have dipped from last year. He’s averaging 22.9 points while shooting his lowest percentage (46.4) since his rookie season. But last year’s NBA Finals MVP remains a very good player, and these rankings might not have been entirely fair to him. (Worth noting that I was part of creating these rankings and I lobbied for Brown to be a bit higher… but not higher than Herro.)
Here’s what FanSided’s Ian Levy wrote about Brown:
“And you can always come back to the basics — reliable 20-point-per-game scorer and secondary creator, reasonably solid 3-point shooter, good defender, unimpeachable motor, fantastic finisher and a player who, at age 28, continues to make noticeable improvements on some of his biggest weaknesses. Don’t miss the forest for the trees — Brown is a very, very good basketball player.”
I agree that Brown is still a very good basketball player who may have taken his foot off the regular-season gas after last year’s Finals run. But this is more about Herro, who has undeniably been better than Brown this season.
Ditto for Bam Adebayo, by the way, who was ranked as the league’s 32nd-best player. Here’s more from Everts:
“Adebayo continues to make a name for himself by doing all the dirty work Miami requires of him. It’s seldom flashy, but it’s always productive for the Heat big man, who lives near the top of all defensive efficiency metrics you can think of. Adebayo isn’t quite the player who you build a team around — but he’s an irreplaceable part of team-building.”
A pretty good description of Bam, if you ask me.
In case you were wondering, Jimmy Butler comes in one spot ahead of Adebayo at 31. I have a feeling he might rank higher if we were to do these rankings again after his recent run in Golden State.
But the takeaway here is that the Heat have two of the best 50 players in the league to revamp the roster around in the post-Butler era. Adding one more top player (maybe someone ranked seven?) could be what the Heat need to reopen their championship window.