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The Miami Heat will soon open a new chapter after falling short with a 40-32 record in the 2020-21 NBA season, only a year after making it to the NBA Finals. Pat Riley began the offseason with two huge acquisitions in point guard Kyle Lowry and veteran forward P.J. Tucker who just won a title with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Miami's reinforced squad will certainly aim better than they did last season and they will need their core players to step up more than ever. The Heat will also lean on the contributions of Tyler Herro who is poised to have a breakout year heading to his third campaign in the league next season.
The Kentucky talent began his pro career back in 2019-2020 where he averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 55 games played in the regular season. He kicked it up a notch in the playoffs held in the Orlando bubble where he emerged as a pivotal piece for the Heat's postseason run. Herro tallied career-high numbers bannered by 16.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists to power the team to a Finals appearance, only to lose to the Lebron James-led Los Angeles Lakers.
After an impressive performance in the bubble, Herro was expected to take a huge leap heading into his sophomore year. He did bump his averages to 15.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 54 appearances. However, his shooting touch had gone cold as his three-point percentage went down from 38.9% to 36.0% as well as his free-throw percentage which regressed from 87.0% down to 80.3% last season.
His shooting slump led him to have a poor showing in the Heat's first-round playoff series against the Bucks. Herro failed to make his presence felt as he merely recorded 9.3 points on 31.6% shooting from beyond the arc in a four-game losing sweep.
Certainly enough, Herro is one of the players who was expected to deliver for the Heat but he fell short in living up to their expectations. Additionally, after his subpar outing last season, he has already gone under-the-radar among the team's main contributors, especially with the arrival of both Lowry and Tucker.
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Herro will be poised to come off the bench when the season begins, since Butler, Lowry, and Duncan Robinson are all expected to lead the backcourt rotation. With this dynamic, Erik Spoelstra can maximize the shooting guard's scoring and playmaking abilities in order to have a spark plug in their second unit.
In preparation for the upcoming season, Herro kept himself busy and worked on his physique as he added 10 pounds of muscle in order to be able to stay healthy and keep up with the league's stronger players, per Sports Illustrated. Aside from strengthening his body, he should also work on the accuracy and consistency of his shots as he will continue to play the role of being a shooter and shot-maker for the Heat moving forward.
At the age of 21, the Wisconsin native still has a lot of time to develop and improve his level of play as his career progresses in the league. It will take time for his game to mature but he has already shown glimpses of the potential that he can reach, dating back to the Orlando bubble two years ago.
Hopefully, seeing an underwhelming performance in last year's playoffs will serve as a motivation for Tyler Herro to do better on the court and play at a higher level for their upcoming campaign.
