Tyler Herro's first-ever season as an NBA All-Star was also his best to date in terms of volume scoring, field-goal efficiency, and assists per outing.
But if he's going to launch himself into superstardom—the simplest way in which the Miami Heat emerge as title contenders—he must continue to evolve as a playmaker and earn more trips to the foul line.
Those are the checklist tasks that can take him from really good to great. And while both would require skill developments he has yet to conquer, neither seems totally out of reach.
One more leap year from Herro could put the Heat on a path toward championship contention.
Maybe it's just the inherent mystery tied to this point on the NBA calendar, but it feels as if Miami's offseason could go any number of different directions.
Perhaps Pat Riley embarks on his annual whale hunt and lands a true difference-maker. A familiar trade target is bouncing around the rumor mill, after all, though another suddenly seems off the market. There's also an argument to be made for sitting out these star searches, taking a gap year, and attempting a summer splash next year.
It's tricky because the Heat aren't so close to contending that an all-push is necessarily the right way to go, but they're too talented to bottom out. Plus, this would be a strange time to abandon hope given the overall state of the Eastern Conference, which was just conquered by the superstar-less Indiana Pacers.
The most prudent move, then, might be to avoid significant splashes without signing off on a backward step. That could sound like stagnation to some, but it doesn't have to play out that way if Miami can coax the right amount of internal development out of this roster.
And that all leads back to Herro, who arguably surpassed Bam Adebayo in terms of organizational importance this past season. However, Herro plateauing at this point wouldn't accomplish much for Miami. While he just engineered his strongest season to date, the Heat essentially sweated out a marathon on the treadmill of mediocrity, winning just 37 games and getting swept out of the opening round.
They weren't good enough to make major noise, which means Herro wasn't either. The 23.9 points per game and 47.2 field-goal percentage were both encouraging to see, but for the top offensive option on a championship-hopeful, it's fair to want more than 5.5 assists and 4.2 free-throw attempts.
Because he's a scoring threat from well past the three-point arc, he demands defensive attention all over the court. That also gives him access to wider passing lanes than the ones available to his teammates. If he can better take advantage of these opportunities, he can up both his assist count and the overall potency of this offense, which was bottom-third in efficiency for the third consecutive season, per NBA.com.
He's also slippery enough off the dribble to snake past defenders and get into the teeth of the defense. Hearing more whistles upon arrival there would be hugely helpful for his scoring and overall efficiency. While those 4.2 free-throw attempts were a new personal-best, they were also the third-fewest among the 30 players who averaged 23-plus points, per StatHead Basketball.
Herro's game needs to continue growing, but there are realistic, obtainable ways to make that happen. He might be one awesome offseason away from joining the league's elite tier, and he could make the same thing happen for the Heat overall.