BREAKING NEWS: Miami Heat to be Without TYLER HERRO To Start the Season

BREAKING NEWS: Miami Heat to be Without TYLER HERRO To Start the Season

All right, we have breaking news. Talahiro will be sidelined to start the season. We’ll tell you what happened and what this means for the Heat on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast staff. Thanks so much for making Lock on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real GM radio. Here with David Ramil. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. And we are back for a bonus episode this Friday morning because we have breaking news that Tyler Herro will miss the start of the season after undergoing surgery on his left foot and ankle. This is a developing story, David, as we’re sitting here talking about it. We are hopping on. you are hopping on by your phone because this is an emergency. This is huge news. Um, first reported by five sports, uh, Anthony Chang of the Miami Herald, uh, tweeting it and confirming it that this ankle/foot impingement had been bothering Tyler Hero since the middle of the summer. He apparently was experiencing some discomfort during a workout recently. He received PRP and cortisone injection injections in recent weeks in hopes of avoiding this surgery. But the discomfort has never subsided and um they decided that they were going to have to undergo surgery to repair this thing and uh quote avoid more issues down the road end quote. So, look, on one hand, I guess it’s a good thing that they’re trying to get ahead of this uh in terms of it being potentially a long-term issue, but there’s uh obviously no question that this is a tough blow for the Heat. Should mention still no timetable uh for when Talah will return. He’s undergoing the surgery today. Hopefully, we’ll get some more information over the next couple of days. David, it was unfortunate to hear that news early on cuz I think one of the big questions entering the season is how Hero and Norm Powell, who we project will both be starting or they would be starting had they both been healthy and available, how they fit together, whether or not that’s a backcourt option that works for Eric Spolstra because there are concerns about how they play off each other, who takes on what role in terms of initiating offense and creating offense for themselves and others. and then how would they mesh defensively because I think they both have question marks in regards to whether or not they’re capable enough defensively where that’s a viable starting lineup because you do have at least again as we project it to be Andrew Wiggins Bamio and Khil wear in that starting lineup those are all good defenders and yet you have two negative defenders in Powell and Hero and so there are concerns and now we don’t know how they’ll mesh together and now that’s going to change how Eric Spolster starts the season whether or not he goes with DaVon Mitchell or another potential option as starters and and then again once Hero does come back he’ll be playing with Powell for the first time. They haven’t shared the court together in a game type situation and that’s not exactly a good place to start. We talked about the beginning of the schedule, the season schedule. It’s a tough stretch. You need to be at full strength. You need to have your best personnel out there, not be learning on the fly as you’re taking on these incredible challenges early on in the season because this team might not be good enough to withstand the challenges of a losing record to start the year and then have to claw their way out of it as they have in the past. Yeah. So, you’re hitting on a lot of things there. It is clear that this is a big deal. This is not a minor thing. And this, for all the reasons you’ve already laid out, David, has a tremendous impact on Miami’s ability to make the playoffs. I mean, if Tyler, we don’t know how long Tyler Herro is going to be out, but these kinds of injuries aren’t quick recoveries. This is not a quick turnaround type of thing, right? We’re talking about a foot and an ankle. For a basketball player, that’s that’s your livelihood, right? Like, this is this is um this is a this is a serious concern. It’s why I think that they were trying to avoid surgery for as long as they were trying to avoid surgery. They literally went through all the other options before they had to go with the surgical option. Um, so there is a lot of things that we can get into here. The beginning of the schedule is a big one, right? Six of Miami’s first eight games are on the road. Um, 11 of their first 15 games are against playoff teams. They have that early West Coast trip in like the second week of the season. Yeah, this is all really hard without your leading scorer, your leading playmaker, the guy who stretches the floor for you. It is the kind of thing that gets them behind the eightball pretty much right away. even considering that they might have been that anyway considering how hard this the the first part of the schedule is. Um, luckily they did trade for Norm Pal, right? Pal isn’t Tyler Herro, but he could do some of those things. He’s a 20 point per game scorer. He’s a knockdown outside shooter. He can get to the rim. But Miami’s offense was sort of built on this egalitarian thing of we’ve got Hero, we’ve got Powell, we’ve got Bam, we’ve got Wiggins, we can kind of do it all. losing hero that removes a huge cog out of sort of that everybody eats scenario and now there’s big question like now this the starting lineup all of a sudden I’m assuming I mean I guess we can get into this part but it just it doesn’t feel as potent anymore right it the egalitarian thing doesn’t work when you have one of the most important guys out of the lineup yeah you’re missing 20 point you know 20 plus points per game almost yeah that’s that’s a big chunk of your offense and in recent weeks we’ve been talking about how this offense could be altered in order to reflect the strength of this roster. And a big part of that was knowing, well, maybe you might not be good defensively as they have in years past without Jimmy Butler in the lineup. You can’t rely on that slow offense and and timely defense to help you win games. You might have to beat people by just putting up a lot of threes and scoring a lot of points and hoping that that might work in your favor and playing just well enough defensively. Guess what? That’s not going to work anymore without your best scorer on the roster. Uh Powell, as you said, can take on some of that load, but that’s asking him to do a lot early on, and maybe he’s up to the challenge. I mean, that might be the ultimate test, especially for a player who’s entering free agency and whether or not he wants to be able to get the kind of extension he feels he deserves and and and be uh the kind of player even at age 32 that is capable of leading an offense. He did a admirable job last year, but it’s one thing playing alongside Andrew Wiggins as it is opposed to playing alongside James Harden as he did last year. So, completely different scheme, different role, etc. So, and there’s no established chemistry, right? Duncan Robinson’s gone. Pal hero is out to start the year. Norm Pal has never played with Bam. He’s never played with these guys. He’s never played for Eric Spolstra. Um, and like you said, now Hero and Pal have to figure this thing out. They don’t even have the benefit of a training camp to install this offense. You’re absolutely right. I didn’t even consider that. like the pairing the duo of Bam and Wear that started what 30 something games together last year. That’s the most experienced twoman lineup on the team right now. Like that’s ridiculous because Wiggins joined the team after the All-Star break. He only played a handful of games. Norm hasn’t been there at all. Mitchell again joined the team uh if he expected to start or at least we projected to start. I mean, this is not an experienced group that is capable of playing at this high level and and knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s a tough stretch to be in. Um, I want to talk about what the starting lineup looks like uh in a second. But first, today’s bonus episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here. FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however you like to bet. They have player props. You can build the same game parlay. You can even jump in live as the action unfolds. makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup, it is quick, it’s easy, and it’s the best way to add a little bit more energy to your Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. Okay, so for the starting lineup with Tyler Herro out and we already had questions about what the starting lineup was going to look like, David. Um, now we we just recently discussed do you start Da’Von Mitchell or do you not? Well, that becomes a little bit easier. I think you have to start DaVon now only because without complicating things, he’s the other best guard on the team. All right, just start the better guy. So you’ve got I think DaVon obviously Powell Wiggins Bam and then as that fifth starter now the calculus changes a little bit because with Hero and Pal you just had so much of this spacing out there on the perimeter. That’s not the case with DaVon and Pal. So, do you go does does this actually help Nico Yoic’s chances of starting in order to add a little bit more offensive juice to that starting lineup or you know DaVon had started with Bam and Kell Wear. We’ve seen that that can work right. They made it through the playing tournament with basically that lineup. Do you go DaVon Pal Wiggins Bam where or do you go Da’Von Pal Wiggins Bam Yovic Bam where? It’s an interesting question because what you’re sacrificing offensively with Hero, you’re making up for defensively with Mitchell. And so maybe you might in offensive prone player like Nico rather than say a defensive a defensively strong player like um and I think a lot of it depends on on Bam’s mind. Does he want to lean back in into the center position? If he’s willing to accept that role, then you can have him and Nico sharing the floor. But again, this front court is lacking depth. And so now you’re you’re basically starting your top two two of your top options in the front with wear being your backup now. And uh I don’t know if he wants to regress at that point. So I would say I’m leaning more towards keeping where in the starting lineup and hoping that he takes the leap offensively that maybe with a player like Mitchell can kind of try to get Wear going a little bit more effectively him in a certain way to ignite or spark his offense because we need to see that kind of continued development. the shot blocking and defense is going to be there just because of, you know, the sheer size, but can somebody find him effectively? Can they develop the kind of two-man chemistry where he can be a consistent vertical lob threat? Uh, will he have a consistent three-point shot so that he earns minutes whether as a starter or as a reserve? And all these questions need to be answered immediately because you’re missing such a large chunk of your offense with a hero gone. It was an open question about whether it was going to be Yoic as that fifth starter even before the Tyler Hero news. I do think that this might nudge things in Nico’s direction a little bit because we know what he could do offensively because of the shooting and how important that is. Um, and with DaVon, you do have perimeter defense that you didn’t have there with Tyler Hero and Norm Pal as a starting backward, right? Like with DaVon, you do have a plus defender. So maybe you don’t need wear. Uh, at the same time, this team could decide, you know what, we want to lean into defense. We actually want to look at this as maybe a feature as opposed to a bug as much as we possibly can and say, “Okay, well now we could start zero negative defenders, right?” Because Pal I think that the Heat will tell you they believe Pal could be at least an average defender, even though I don’t know that he was last year for the Clippers, but you given his athleticism, his wingspan, the fact that he was that in Toronto, I think they hope that they could tap into that. So, let’s just call Pal an average defender. Da’Von Powell, Wiggins, Bam Wear, if you if you believe in Wear’s shot blocking as a deterrent there, those are all positive defenders. And so now you’re not playing with a minus defender in the lineup in Tallahero, maybe they can lean into that. But I do think that this might help Nico’s chances in terms of potentially starting here. The other question is, does this open the door for Terry Rosier to play minutes? Because I don’t know that Ros I I think we were going into the year with Rosier pretty much glued to the bench there. I mean, they’ve got D’Von Mitchell, they’ve got Drew Smith, who they resigned, Kasparus Yakonis, he’s not available either. He won’t be available either. At least the time is not available either. That’s true. Um, as far as we know. Uh, and so yeah, I mean, there’s there’s minutes there at that guard spot. Yeah. Um, they’re going to ask a lot. I think Pella Lararsson gets a bump in his playing time. Rosier certainly does. And and look, the hope can be that Rosier has a bounce back. We won’t know. We just don’t. Uh I don’t think we I don’t think anybody including Terry himself expected such a incredible drop off in his production and efficiency last year. Even for a player who has been widely known to not be so effective, he was just plain bad last year. So the hope is that maybe he’ll be at least somewhat normal back to what he was earlier in his career. And if that’s the case, that’s not a bad option to have to take up some minutes because you’re going to need somebody to take over the playing time. Drew isn’t available. Pella is not ready. Norm can’t play 40 minutes a game to start the season because he’ll break down later on. He doesn’t want that. So, um, not a good place for Miami to be in, but a good opportunity for Terry to show maybe that he’s capable again. And for Casper, Yakonis maybe to get some minutes here where it looked like he might be headed to the G-League to start this year because there wasn’t that much playing time available. Maybe now there is, right? That that can be an option. Something that uh spoke can dabble with in training camp. Before we get out of here, just one more important note in terms of Tyler Hero. This he was extension eligible starting October 1st. Um there was he had he was eligible potentially to tack on three years about $150 million to his current deal. Um and uh it does not seem likely. We didn’t know that that was going to happen in the first place. We had already heard from the Heat and from Tyler that they could wait until next summer to sign that extension. There wasn’t really a rush here. Um that maybe becomes a little bit less likely now that Hero got hurt, but at the same time, Hero could go to the the Heat and be like, “Hey, by the way, I kind of want that extension now.” Okay. Well, you know what? To echo Pat Pat Riley’s comments, looks like he’s showing up, he’s showing signs of fragility again, you know, after maybe addressing some of those concerns last year to start the season this way. And again, through no fault of his own, sometimes you just can’t predict when these injuries take place. But, uh, it’s not a good look, especially if you’re going to be demanding or expecting a certain amount of money. This puts Miami in a very good position where they don’t have to overpay for a player. And if he wants to get that money somewhere else and somebody wants to say, “Look, we’re willing to offer a player with a slightly limited ceiling and maybe a history of injuries a little bit more money or get it somewhere else to pay that.” Or it puts him in position to maybe low not lowball him, but he’s eligible for $150 million three years. He doesn’t have to. It It could be less than that. Do they do the Heat say, “Hey, you know what? We’re going to do good by you because we believe in you. We’re not going to give you the $50 million a year because frankly, we weren’t really going to give you the $50 million a year anyway before the injury. Let’s come in now. We’re going to give you a $10 million raise, $35 million a year because we believe in you. We believe in your ability to bounce back. And we’re kind of getting this. And for you, if you’re Tyler Hero, you get that long-term stability. You get that that reassurance that no matter how this surgery goes and how my recovery goes from it, I’ve got three years tacked onto this deal, making quite a bit of money. So, there’s another option there, too. So, that’ll be fascinating to watch uh when October 1st rolls around when when Hero becomes extension eligible. Um, again, we are just now reacting to this news. It’s breaking news. It’s a developing story. We just jumped on here for a bonus episode on a Friday to get the news covered and and to kind of dabble in some of the the immediate reaction stuff. I’m sure we’ll get more details over the course of the weekend. We’ll have a lot more to talk about um on Monday. So, for now, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Okay, let us know what you think in the comments section. Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend.

Tyler Herro will miss the start of the Miami Heat season after undergoing surgery on his left foot and ankle. What does this mean for the Heat’s playoff hopes, who steps up and how does Erik Spoelstra adjust his starting lineup? Wes Goldberg and David Ramil react to the latest news. Plus, how does this impact Herro’s potential extension? #miamiheat #tylerherro #nba

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