Opening up the Miami Heat mailbag with this question (comment?) about Tyler Herro and the rest of the roster.
It's wild that we've gone from the majority of Heat fans trying to throw Herro into every possible trade, to now Herro is arguably the best player on the Heat and the rest of the team is failing him.
— Brian 'BC' Castaldo (@BC_Castaldo) December 2, 2024
"It's wild that we've gone from the majority of Heat fans trying to throw Herro into every possible trade, to now Herro is arguably the best player on the Heat and the rest of the team is failing him."Brian
It is an ironic turn that Herro has blossomed into his prime just as Jimmy Butler seems to be entering a new phase of his career.
Herro is averaging career highs in points (24), field-goal percentage (47), 3-point makes (4.2) and percentage (41.9) and assists (4.9).
Meanwhile, Butler has never averaged fewer points (18.9), assists (4.8), rebounds (5.1) or minutes (31.9) in a Heat uniform.
There’s more than 10 years separating Herro and Butler, so it’s not surprising that their primes didn’t overlap. It’s just unfortunate. It’s also the reason why the Heat were willing to include Herro in a trade for a superstar during the Butler era.
But if this is all Butler can do, can we still consider this the Butler era in Miami? Or is it time to turn things over to a new generation?
You could argue the Heat already have with the way they have empowered Bam Adebayo and Herro. Those in the Heat organization continue to call Adebayo the face of the franchise, and Herro is playing himself into being untradable. Herro is on pace to be the Heat's first player to average at least 23 points since LeBron James in 2014.
Undoubtedly, Herro is Miami’s best offensive player and Adebayo is Miami’s best defensive player. Butler can still get there, as we saw in recent wins over the Mavericks and Sixers. But star power isn’t based on highs, it’s based on consistency. And Butler has already posted a usage rating of less than 20% in six games this season (the Heat are 1-5 in those games).
The unfortunate part is that the Heat still need Butler to reach their ceiling. Will they continue to bet they can get four straight series of elite Butler play in the postseason, or did last season’s disappointing end teach them a lesson?
The Heat are at a crossroads. Butler is 35, but the core of this group is 27 or younger. They could try to add veterans before the February trade deadline to make one more push, or they could conclude that Butler’s window has passed and it’s time to build around Herro and Adebayo.