The Miami Heat's offense has changed, but so have how their top players score

Tyler Herro

Surprisingly, Herro has remained roughly the same in almost all seasons after his rookie year. There has been an increase in his on-ball usage and how much of the offense he’s responsible for. But for the most part, both his play types and shot profile are all within a similar range:

Starting from 2021, his usage and tracking stats look around the same. He had that 2022 season which was his most ball-dominant, most-used, and most involved season.

There isn’t any number or change that stands out. His PNR usage hovers around 30%, with some upticks here and there, particularly in 2023 and this years playoffs. When it comes to his efficiency:

• 0.71(39.2% eFG) → 0.91(50.5%) → 0.88(46.2%) → 0.93(50.8%) → 0.96(50.4%)
  

It has improved but it improved to around average. The shot profile and shot selection hurt him, as well as some deficiencies in off-dribble game. But one thing you can see is the big difference in his eFG and overall efficiency. He scores better than what number says, but he’s *awfully* turnover prone in the PNR.

The best thing about him is how consistent he’s been with the spot up efficiency:

• 1.31(68.0%) → 1.06(53.5%) → 1.23(65.4%) → 1.15(58.7%) → 1.11(57.7%)
  

Unfortunately, we again haven’t seen a change in the frequency:

• 17.4% → 20.2% → 15.0% → 18.9% → 18.0%
  

He only had one season with a fifth of his offense as spot ups. He’s *too* good of a shooter to have that be the case. This is also the case with his corner shooting. He’s been consistently elite at it.

With his shot profile, it’s another case of it’s roughly the same. There hasn’t been significant change in the same way it has been for either Butler or Adebayo.

Though, similar to Adebayo, there has been that preference for that short mid-range with 30.2% of his shots being there. But also, he has improved drastically in that area. He’s shooting 50% there! That’s almost 10% better than his rookie or sophomore season.

One concern about the lack of change is the split between pull up 2s and 3s:

• 27.4% vs 21.1% → 25.2% vs 20.5% → 28.1% vs 20.0% → 25.2% vs 23.4% → 24.4% vs 21.4%
  

Not a single season with more 3s than 2s. Math don’t like that.

Overall, there just hasn’t been much change in Herro’s game in terms of different shot profiles or play types. There has been a change in terms of simply getting better and developing those strengths.