REACTION: Kel’el Ware IMPACTS Miami Heat Win Over 76ers—Is This The Breakout Everyone Waited For?

REACTION: Kel’el Ware IMPACTS Miami Heat Win Over 76ers—Is This The Breakout Everyone Waited For?

Miami won their fourth straight game on Sunday and are on the top teams in the East. And with Tyler Hero set to return on Monday, can a team be even better? Adding a 24 point per game score to the mix. What’s the debate? [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, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Now, the number one sports podcast network. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Join the Cookie Gang and become an everydayer. That means subscribing. Tuning in every day, Monday through Friday, and signing up for the Lockdown Heat text line with the link in the show notes. Our uptempo take comes from Malachi who writes in, “This front court between Bam and Wear is becoming so dynamic.” We’re going to talk about that uh throughout today’s episode, plus get into some credit cookies and get to some of your listener questions. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. 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. Head to fanduel.com to get started. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Regal Gym Radio. I’m here with David Rmill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. Recording this on Sunday afternoon after the Heat’s big win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Tight one pretty much throughout the game. Then Miami pulls away, gets the win. A nice relaxing win, David, on a Sunday afternoon. The Heat went with KL Wear and Bam Matabio in the starting lineup again with Andrew Wiggins out, Nicola Yoic out. Tyler Herro obviously still out. Uh the 76ers were without Joel Embiid. So they started Andre Drummond. One of the things I was looking for early in this game, David, was can considering all the uh rebounding issues that this team has had. Andre Drummond is one of the elite rebounders we’ve seen in this league ever. Right. So, Andre Drummond against Kel Wear and Bam Adabio. Would they be able to handle it? Specifically, KL Wear. And I got to tell you, wear stepped up. He was tremendous in this game. He was Did he finish a plus 26, I believe, in this one? He was a plus 20 in Friday night’s win over the Bulls. We haven’t talked since then. David, this feels like it could potentially be a breakthrough for Kel Wear. The way that he’s playing and the numbers are the numbers and those are great. The rebound, he had a double double in the first half of this game. All that stuff is great, but I’m watching these games, too, and he’s just he’s acting different, man. Like, he looks different. He’s playing with a level of physicality. Um, I think the highlight that the Heat tweeted out was the one where he got Drummond on that double move where he ends up finishing with the left hand. That was in the first quarter. But my favorite play from wear in the entire game was I think it was in the second quarter just bodying up two different 76ers to get from underneath the basket kind of like pinned under the like near the stonen kind of comes up from under there, muscles his way into position and gets an offensive rebound and a putback. That was my favorite play of this game. But he’s using that physicality. He’s playing. He’s not just using his physicality, but using his reach, using his length in a way that it’s been a thing that you and I have talked about. It just feels like he doesn’t always play to his size. But in this game, he definitely did. Against Chicago, it seemed like he really did. And I’m wondering based on what we’re seeing on the court right now, is this the breakthrough that we’ve been waiting for for KL? Undoubtedly, I really think this is a just a completely different version of the player that we saw because I think as he’s continuing to develop all those physical traits as well as the skill set that he’s fine-tuned since he joined the league, there’s a mental edge there now that he didn’t have at the start of the season and that we haven’t really seen for much of his career. He’s acting with aggression. He’s moving with intent. His timing has been so great. One of the small things that I’ve really liked about Khalil, his ability to snatch the ball off the rim at just the precise moment. It’s it almost feels like it’s a goalending to happen or more akin to what we see in international FIA basketball where he can just snatch the ball off, but his timing is perfect. Like he’s really got that down nailed and he’s just able to ignite either at the end of a possession and then also to a transition basket for Miami. It’s been so good to watch this new version of him. I can’t help but think it’s a breakthrough because it’s clearly the best version of him that we’ve seen and it feels like it’s not just permanent but sustainable too. Like he can continue to get better from what we saw. Yeah, there’s definitely still parts of his game that you want to see rounded out. I think defensively there’s still leaps and bounds that he can get better. To me, it’s I I would like to see him get better as a shot blocker, too. Like the timing thing is starting to get better. It’s not exactly where I want it to be, but if he’s just like that stuff, that stuff’s going to come with time. Right now, it’s does he have the right intensity? Does he have the right level of urgency? And I do wonder how much of this has to do with the fact that he’s just playing next to uh Bam. Bam. Yeah, it’s a huge part. It is. But like then you watch the game and I mean it’s really easy to just sort of draw that line from A to B, right? They start playing where with Bam and all of a sudden where starts playing better. Therefore, wear must play with Bam in order to maximize wear and maximize a seat team that’s looked really good against in wins against Chicago and Philadelphia. But then I’m watching this game too and there’s a lot of minutes where cuz Bam and Wear are the only centers who are playing right now. Yovic isn’t even playing. So they’re basically with one of those guys at all time. So they start games together. They don’t play a ton of minutes together despite starting together. Bam played 32 and a half minutes in this one. Kell played 26 minutes in this one. Like I said, Kell ended up being a plus 26. 20 points and 16 rebounds uh in this game uh on seven of 13 shooting. That’s 54% overall. Uh did make two three-pointers in this one. But I’m watching Kell by himself out there without Bam. And he’s still playing with that level of physicality. This has nothing to do in my maybe over like some of the plus minus stuff and overall maybe it sets the tone early, but I do think that there’s something else happening here. And to me, I would say the percentage of hey, this is because he’s playing with Bam. maybe 15% 20% maybe playing with Bam. I think this is mostly just sort of Cole doing it. I can’t take credit current for that. And I mean honestly I uh I I have to rewatch the the the minutes there, but to me I I feel like it’s worked well where they’ve been on there. I think his three-point shots available to him at a point in time when Bam’s not available. Like he’s the one who can drift into the corner the same way Bam can. So I think that certainly helped in his regard. I I defensively like some of the key positions that he had there, those abilities to pull down those rebounds, block shots. I think Bam’s presence out there certainly does help, but it can’t take anything away from what we’ve seen from him. Like he’s been really, really good. And it’s impressive to see this incredible leap from him and he’s tying it all together. All the traits, the the mental toughness and awareness. I mean, we just didn’t see this from him except for maybe spurts. And I think the confidence is there. You wonder what happens when Andrew Wiggins comes back. Like, is Khil too good to bench at this point? Like, I mean, that seems like a strange question because he just came off the bench before Andrew got hurt. It’s a great question, right? And it was one I’m I’m thinking about because yeah, I I think part of this is KL making this breakthrough and that’s obviously helped. The BAM We lineup has also like I’m not saying that that has nothing to do with anything, right? Like it has a lot to do with winning these games against Chicago and Philadelphia and minimizing this rebounding issue that has become a real issue, right? It kind of goes back to the math problem. Miami right now is averaging 96 field goal attempts per game. Opponents are averaging about 99. Like they’re losing despite all the P they’re the Heat are losing the possession battle on the season and it’s because of all the offensive rebounds that these teams have been getting. Now there’s some noise in that number, right? A lot of that number just has to do with those five games that BAM was out. And that’s a huge part in this. So if you eliminate those games where BAM was if you if you only include the games where BAM’s available whether or not BAM is playing with wear or where is coming off the bench to start these games or whatever the possession battle is very different but still there what what that shows you is that the line the the the the margin for error is pretty thin when it comes to the rebounding thing. they have to be dialed in and the way to kind of minimize that risk is to just play bam and wear together at least for the f these opening few minutes when teams do tend to start a little bit bigger and before they can kind of set the tone on the offensive glass and all those things. So I do think there’s something to starting them together. The the rebounding issue has just basically gone away since they’ve been together and you just can’t ignore that fact. So to your point David when Wiggins comes back I think it means Pella Larson goes to the bench and I think you continue to start baming where it’s a interesting proposition there. Uh, we should point out, of course, that rookie sensation VJ Edkim was out for Philadelphia, but I don’t know how much it really would have mattered like last minutes. I love Edge. You think so? Yeah. Yeah, I know. I get that. He would have picked him. You think so? I don’t know. I mean, defense. No, maybe not. I’m joking. I’m joking. I just There’s so much young Dwayne Wade in Edgecom’s game that I’m just like falling in love with this guy on a like every day. But I get it. I get it. Yeah. Miami was really good. And we’ll we’ll talk about I think their their back court did a really good job defensively. The combination of Powell and Mitchell was really good. And you can throw Larson into the mix too because I think he was really helpful in space and uh it was just even like it looked really solid out there defensively. So I can’t wait to talk about them in the next to your point though if Edgecom’s in there maybe Trendon Watford isn’t scoring 19 points off the bench. Maybe Justin Edwards you know isn’t going on his little run. Maybe Jared McCain doesn’t go on his little run. Right. So, it it I don’t think one edge comb is enough to swing this game uh towards the Sixers way. I think this is a really solid win for the Heat. It was a solid win Friday night against Chicago. That was a blowout win. I mean, there was and they’re they’re playing really well going coming back home Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks for that second night of backtoback. A lot to talk about in terms of that game and Tyler Hero’s potential return, but before we get to that, we’ve got credit cookies coming up next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Gusto. 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So don’t miss out on early Black Friday deals. Head to wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair’s Black Friday sale for up to 70% off. That’s w afir.com. sale ends December 7th. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. [Music] It’s another Heat win, which means it’s time to the tastiest segment of Lock on Heat. It’s time for credit cookies. David 10 cookies. Who’s getting them first? We’ve been listening to this song a lot. Four times in a row now, so Pretty impressive stuff. Uh, we talked about Khalil Wear in the first segment. So, let’s just get that one out of the way. Obviously, huge minutes. Really, really great overall. Could have given him more, but I felt like another player deserved another part of the bulk of the cookies there. So, I gave Khil four credit cookies. Yep. Sounds good. Is uh I can probably guess who’s getting the other uh big sampling of cookies here. Is it Pal? It is Nor Pal. He gets four cookies as well. I think he he was just great. Yeah, I I that’s the scoring in the first quarter. We see that kind of Wayne over the last couple games, but it was really back today. And it just felt like one of his great shooting games. Like you could see early on he had no hesitation as three-point shot, shooting it from distance, attacking the rim. It didn’t matter who was trying to guard him. He was just really, really aggressive. But I liked his overall game today, too. You know, he had two steals and an assist along with four rebounds. The Steels in particular I want to highlight because it felt like at one point uh Philadelphia felt like they could attack Miami’s back court and Powell held his own and had a really great strip to ignite a fast break opportunity. Played really solid. He’s been so much better in that regard. So when we start talking about his all-star chances, which I think are getting better and better with every passing game, you have to look at the total breadth of his game because not only is he scoring at an incredibly high level, one of the top scorers in the league this season, but he’s been really great overall. far from the defensive weakness that we or some people might have anticipated that he’d be with Miami. I think he’s actually been a plus defender by a wide margin and we saw that today where he was extremely impactful against that back court. There’s been a couple of times this year and including um a specific instance in this game where uh it would be like the end of a quarter or the end of the half or something and it was the end of the first half in this game where Spo it’s a defensive possession for Miami, right? And Spo would put in his defensive lineup and a lot of times Pal is out there, right? In this game, Wiggins isn’t available, but he takes Larson out. He puts Powell in. Like I think with Larson, it’s a little still there’s concerns about him fouling, and you just don’t want to foul at the end of a quarter. But with like he clearly does still trust Norm Powell. I love the offensive game from him, especially early in this game. He ends up with uh he scored uh 10 of Miami’s first 16 points. Yeah. And just so good. Him, he is he has been such a breath of fresh air in first quarters for this offense. Yeah. I don’t know. I I can’t recall the last time we’ve had a guy quite like this. Jimmy Butler was always sort of a sandbag for the fourth quarter kind of guy. Even Tyler Herro’s best moments, he kind of revs up, but Pal just comes out swinging, man. Like this guy is just like he’s already sweating when the ball’s tipped and he’s just ready to go. His first uh five shots in this game, pull up jumper from three, driving layup, pull up jumper from three, pull up jump, uh pull up two-pointer, pull up jumper from three. It’s just bang bang bang bang. And when you’re when when he’s had when he has when he has these pull-up jumpers in transition early in the shot clock, there’s nothing you can do about it as a defense. There’s no friction. There’s nothing to go through. He’s simply just running the moving the ball up and then just shooting it over the defense. There’s no defense for that. And it’s it’s just to have that in the first quarter has just been tremendous. It’s a big reason why the Heat are one of the best first quarter teams in the NBA. So, uh very very obviously deserving of those four cookies. Who else? No, I I I’ve got to say with Powell, too, he doesn’t seem like this incredible athlete either, but he just finds a way to pop and and just get his shots so easily and then uh his touch around the basket, I think I mean you obviously we’ve seen him for most of not entirely his career, but I think it’s just gotten better and better. Like right now, he’s shooting with such confidence around the rim. He finishes so deafly there. He’s just such a huge asset. Miami continues to have pulled off an incredible acquisition this summer. Uh, I’ve also got it’s the best trade of the off seasonason so far. I I don’t I mean, you could probably put Kevin Durant in there just given where Houston is in the Western Conference standings, but based on what you gave up, I mean, come on. What do you best value I think we Kevin Love has been pretty good for Utah. He hit like three straight three-pointers the other night for the Jazz. So, maybe it was a little bit of a win-win. I don’t know. The Clippers definitely lost that three-way trade, but um I would have loved to have seen if he could come off the bench for this team and Kevin could have. Yeah, he could have played these last few uh this last week without Bam for sure. Um yeah, for sure. I’ve got one for Bama to buy him. Uh really solid game for him. Continues to shoot well. Seven of 14 from the floor, 13 rebounds, assist 18 total points. I think it was just a really solid game from him. Not spectacular. Again, you can’t overlook it just because we’re used to the sort of level of production from Bam, but I think it was a really solid game for him. And then I’ve got one also. Wait, one last thing on Bam though. Um there was a key stretch in the second half, the third quarter where uh Powell was going off and Bam was going off was going off and they were doing it at the same time and Miami built or they extended their lead. They went from like it was like a one-point lead or something I think to a 14-point lead and that was huge. It was two main runs that kind of sealed this game. That was the first one. Um, and that was really big. Uh, Bam in that third quarter, five points, four rebounds. Uh, made made his first three-pointer after he missed his first three three-point attempts. Uh, and that kind of unlocked him a little bit offensively. And I thought he was really good early on specifically against uh Philadelphia’s zone, he knew what to do. Like he when when they’re when the zone defense is out there and Bam is available, one of the Heat’s go-to moves is, hey, just get Bam near that free throw line and try to bust up the middle of that zone a little bit. They understand the assignment and Bam being able to deliver on that is huge uh early in these games. I thought he was great guarding Paul George too. It was nice to see that sort of match up. George now of four basically at this stage of his career. Bam still able to pick him up. Held him to three of 10 shooting. I don’t think he hit a three-pointer all game long. Yeah. 10 points on 10 shots. Missed all five of his threes. You don’t even It’s so sad because every Remember when people wanted Yeah. Yeah. Remember when people wanted to trade Jimmy for the Paul for Paul Georgia here in Miami? It’s like, man, I didn’t say that, right? That wasn’t one of my takes. No. Okay. No, I didn’t know if that was like a a subliminal. That was a subliminal me. All right. Uh, one more cookie. One more cookie. I’ve got to give it to Haime Hawkins just because of the overall impact, efficiency of his game. Really aggressive. And I do also want to shout out his defense. Similar to what I said about Norm. I thought they were really looking to attend it. Paul George in particular looked like, “Oh, okay. I can get to this guy.” He did not. He did not. Clearly, three of 10 from the floor. I think he uh I did a really good job botting up. He’s moving well laterally, making adjustments, making good reads. Just seems like he’s really grown. I think there are still weak spots in the defensive end, no doubt, but he’s getting better and I just felt like we should acknowledge that. I thought, look, Pella Larson had some really key moments. Um Kashad Johnson providing a nice spark off the bench for a second straight game. So, honorable mention to them, but I think Haimea has to get the last cookie with 22 points on the night. Yeah. No cookies for Pella or Kashad, but they get to like go near the kitchen and smell it. Free samples. Can you give them a free sample? They’re like they’re like uh dogs like looking for crumbs on the floor. Like that’s crumbs. Hime was great. What I really liked about Haime’s game was he had six points in the first quarter, four points in the second quarter, four points in the third quarter, and then eight points to help close it out in the fourth quarter. I that’s the best. Like if you’re going to spread out the points in any way, that’s probably the optimal way to do it, right? He’s consistently making an impact. He never disappeared in this game. He was always doing stuff. Defensively, I’m with you. I thought it was a really strong defensive game from Hime. But then offensively, he was just around doing stuff all the time, the Hime Hawas things. And then in the fourth quarter when they really needed it, hey, here’s eight points on three for three shooting. Let’s close this team out. Let’s go home. You know what I mean? So that’s it that was great from him. Uh, and I think your shout outs for the honorable mentions are right. Bam has gotten 10 credit cookies on the season, and I just want to call that out. I understand he missed a lot of time, but that does not feel like it’s been enough credit cookies for BAM. And we’ve had our disagreements about how many cookies BAM should get. And I do think maybe you’re taking him for granted a little bit here. I just want to call that out as we hand out credit cookies in the future. Uh, hopefully pretty soon. So, just want to just got to get see how he plays against AD. It’s a big game on Monday. He usually handles that match up pretty well. Is Anthony Davis gonna play? Oh well, never. I don’t think I think he’s still out, right? He’s out until the owner says so or something like that stuff going on in Dallas. Check out Lockdown Mavericks for more on that. Seriously, it’s probably a good idea to check out Lockdown Mavericks. There’s a lot going on with Dallas. If you want to know more about what’s going on with the Mavericks coming up, listener questions, including one about Tyler Herro, who could be making his return Monday night. We’re very excited about it, but a lot of people still have questions. talk about that next. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA’s back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. Keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. But Wes, I feel like you might have some options for an upcoming wager. Well, I just want to point this out because we told all of you a week into the year, Jame Hake Jr., six man of the year. I said on a previous episode that there was a point where you can get him at plus 2,000. We had a listener write in and say, “Actually, I got him at plus 4,000 when you guys were first talking about it.” I’m like, “Wow, plus 4,000.” He is now the overwhelming favorite to win six man of the year. overwhelming favorite right now to win six man. Now things can change, but if you were listening to us in this ad read early in the season, the value would have been great. So here’s what I’m gonna do instead. I’m gonna tell you what’s the next time a hack Jr. since you already missed you might have missed out on the first one. Next one. Eric Spolster for coach of the year. Oo still get the odds plus 10,000. If the Heat end up with a top four seed, he’s going to be on ballots. the value for Spo for coach of the year at plus 10,000 where I if the Heat are a top four seed in the East home court advantage in the first round Eric Spolster has so much respect around the league and among the voting base people are looking for a reason to give this guy coach of the year he has not slept on he just hasn’t won this thing and we I think people are looking for a reason to give it to him and by the way he will be deserving if that’s the case so spo coach of the year plus 1000 right now on FanDuel that to me is the next time I hack as Junior. I think get in now before the Heat go on a long win streak, right? Bam’s back. We wear in the starting lineup. Now’s the time to do it. Good point. Can’t go wrong with that. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. The best way to support the show, like and subscribe on YouTube. Follow us on your favorite podcast app. Let’s go to the text line. You can get texts from us and submit questions for the postgame shows like this with the link in the show notes or just text 786-9987029. Eric writes in, “Hit the free throws and uh and this is hit free throws and it’s over much earlier I guess is what he meant to say.” Uh y good win though. It is a good win. Uh if the Heat the Heat have had some weird free throw games this season. This is a good free throw shooting team historically even without Jimmy Butler in there. Jimmy Butler obviously helped that, but with Hero back, I think hopefully that free throw percentage overall will improve. But yeah, Norm Powell, it’s been a little weird for him lately, but overall it’s been fine. He’s been such a good free throw shooter. So that when he’s a little off, I think they talked about it on the broadcast today. Scott, you know, he’s like a 90% career three uh free throw shooter. Yeah. So he’s just he’s having his moment there, but he’ll he’ll work his way through. Hella Larson’s a little concerning, too. Two and five. We think he’s a better free throw shooter than that. But it was just a bad shooting game from him. So I think those are the two more egregious cases. And yep, you’re right though. Uh Tyler is going to get minutes from both of them, get opportunities from both of them, and he’s going to get be able to get to the line as well as he did last year. That should translate into a higher percentage overall. So I don’t think it’s a big concern for this team, nor do I. Again, typically they shoot free throws at a very high rate. And I don’t think it’s like, oh, that’s like a glaring weak spot for this team, especially in playoff situations. So, Tyler Herro is targeting Monday night, maybe tonight when people are listening to this, recording this four o’clock on Sunday. Yeah. Um, Monday night, that’s the target to make a season debut after offseason surgery. We mentioned it on a podcast earlier this week. Um, it’s been reported and confirmed by the Miami Herald and the Associated Press Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks. Now, TBD on whether or not it happens, but it seems like right now things are trending in that direction. So, as long as there’s no minor setback here with Tyler Herro, I’m expecting him to play Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks. And there’s a lot to get into with that. Um, and we’ve talked a lot about whether or not he can help the Heats offense, whether he’s going to hurt them defensively, all the if he’s going to take the ball away from guys like Norm Powell, all that stuff. David, I think we’ve talked enough about that part of this where I think we could safely say we’ll see. But I do think they’ll I I think with like we saw with the Lakers and LeBron, it was a little awkward that first quarter when LeBron came back to a Lakers team that was playing well with Luca and Austin Reeves handling so much of the offense, but then they figured it out. And Tyler Herro is not LeBron James. That’s not what I’m trying to say. But I think what I why I bring that up is even for somebody like LeBron, it’s still just a little weird and a little awkward and you walk into a situation where things are going well and you’re not trying to kind of rock the boat too much, but you also know that you need to be of value and you need to make an impact and you need to do the things that got you paid and got you to that place and made you an all-star. And so for Tyler Hero, my only thing is if it’s weird for the first game or so, don’t freak out. Give it some time. It’s a brand new offense, too, which is a big deal that Hero has obviously been a part of the install, but hasn’t actually played in it. So, I think we do need to have some patience here before we make any uh huge uh reaction decisions and and big takeaways from that. I’m going to say to heck with all that. You know what? I I I think he’s going to go in there and be great. Like, I that’s really what I think. I really think it’s going to be incredible to see him out there because, you know, he’s a guy who keeps in shape. He’s had the benefit of being there and watching this offense play out and and I I think it’s understated and and most players don’t like talking about it because they are injured, but everyone I’ve ever asked that question, they always admit that when they’re sitting for prolonged stretches of time, they see the game better. They see it differently and they witness things that from the outsers’s perspective that they don’t while they’re on the court. And I think Tyler, as smart as he is, he’s going to be able to figure something out and he’s going to be able to just pop right in and be like, “No, this is my spot. I’m just taking it and I think he’s actually going to be really really good. If there’s overall physical rust, I I don’t think there will be, but that’s possible. But overall, I just think he’s going to be really really good almost immediately if not right away with in the game. There’ll probably be like a light minutes restriction. Again, the Heat never call these things minutes restrictions or I should say very rarely do they maybe with Tyler they will because it’s such a it’s a it was a major offseason. Comes off the bench, right? He has to, doesn’t he? Yeah. I have no idea, right? Like I have no idea. they could start him and maybe they’re able to. But yeah, I would imagine in order to manage his minutes, if there is a minutes restriction there, it’s probably a little bit easier if you bring him off the bench. I But who knows? TBD, I mean, the guy’s the guy’s been a starter his whole career. And with somebody like Tyler Herro, just him being out there makes an impact because of his spacing. So maybe you do want him in the starting lineup, so I I don’t know. Um, this question comes from Billy who writes in, “So, I was thinking, Tyler took a huge offensive jump last season, and the Heat had a terrible offense that I think he was single-handedly propping up. Well, I was recently reminded of all the times Wes has pointed out how Tyler Herro adopted Steph Curry’s shot chart last season. So, I was thinking with Pal as a highle scorer, a renewed BAM, and Spo’s new offense, help could all of that help Hero make another leap. Could we see a similar impact to Hero’s game like when the Warriors saw Steve Cerr bring in his new offense to Golden State? I don’t mean that Heroes in this new offense is going to be an MVP level player like Steph, but like Bleacher Report, but Bleacher Report had Steph going into the 2012 2013 season ranked the 38th best player in the league. At the end of the season, uh Bleacher Report had him ranked four. Can Hero in this offense be a top 20 player? Wow. So, what a great question, isn’t it? That’s that’s fascinating. And I love the fact that they use he Billy used our logic on us to ask us kind of a follow-up question here. Um, so Lockdown’s top 100 has Tyler Herro ranked 50th going into the year. Um, in terms of top 20, I’m just going to run through the top 20 here and then and then we can have this broader conversation. So they’ve got we have Joic, Sheay, Giannis, Luca, Steph is our top five. Then it’s Ant, Webinyama, Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Jason Tatum to round out your top 10. Kevin Durant, LeBron, Hallebertton, Anthony Davis, Kate Cunningham is your top 15. Evan Mobley, Kawawaii, Booker, Towns, and Jaylen Williams. Top 20. I think there’s a couple guys now that we can move out of that. Tatum I doesn’t count because he’s not playing. Kawawaii, forget it. I I had him ranked like 40th when I did this. I couldn’t believe he was ranked as high as he did. Um JDub hasn’t played either. So JDub hasn’t played but we expect him probably be a top 20-ish guy when he comes back as long as everything, you know, is copathetic with him. But even after that, it’s like Jaylen Brown, Pascal Seakum, Palan Caro, James Harden, Jiren Jackson Jr., that’s your top 25. So top 20 to me that seems a little high, but the idea overall that there’s another leap coming because of this offensive system for Hero is very intriguing to me. Yeah, I have to agree there. I I just don’t think he’s going to get the usage of some of those other guys as almost all of those guys. And so having to share the ball with Powell, Bam, and just the way this offense is moving, it it doesn’t I don’t know. It’s it’s a great question because it’s not like Powell is just different in that sense that Tyler I think a little bit more quick trigger with his shot selection, but you wonder can Tyler adopt that. It’s not like he doesn’t have that in his game, but it’s just been a little bit more deliberate because he didn’t really have anybody take the pressure on him to Billy’s question there. So, I I don’t know. I a leap like that to get to where he is right now, you have to put up close to 28 points per game, right? 25 to 28 points per game to get that kind of recognition as one of the top players in the league. Yeah. I mean, is it crazy to put him if he were to average something like that? I don’t think it would be crazy to put him in that 23 to 24 range where Paliban Caro and James Harden are. Yeah. I mean, if he’s that on three-point shooting with that level of efficiency and true shooting percent and all the everything that goes with it, that is a top 25 player. But I’m even thinking of a guy who’s playing off of another guy like Norm Pal a little bit. I’m looking at that 33 to 34 zone where we have De’arren Fox and Jamal Murray and Fron Vagner. 33 34 35 Garland. Garland is a little bit Yeah, like Garland. Where did we have him? 27. So that’s probably like between 27 and 35ish. I mean that’s a pretty significant leap even still right for Tyler Hero. And that that totally is is feasible to me. I I think that’s definitely in the wheelhouse as long as he comes into this offense. If in other words, if Tyler Hero comes in, embraces everything that this offense is. I think that’s an entirely realistic goal for him. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting. I I’m really looking forward to it just the bigger question of how Tyler handles it, but also just in the the things that maybe he’s added to his game a little bit because we haven’t even seen him like the whole offseason. we always typically see him develop to a certain degree and then, you know, being able to incorporate new aspects to his game or a level of physicality and then the injury derails all that. So, what version of Tyler are we going to get and how is he going to fit into this new offense? So, really great questions about his potential impact, but I I think both you and I are pretty optimistic that he’s going to make an an immediate impact right away. We’ll talk about it in the postgame show Monday night. That’ll do it for us today. Hey, let us know in the comments section how you think Tyler Herro is going to fit in if he does indeed make his return on Monday night. Is this a breakthrough for KL Wear or do we need to see a little bit more? Let us know in the comments section. But this has been Locked on Heat, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Miami Heat dominate the Philadelphia 76ers with breakout performances from Kel’el Ware and Norman Powell, boosting their status among the Eastern Conference elite. Tyler Herro’s imminent return raises the stakes—could his offensive firepower push the Heat to new heights? Wes Goldberg and David Ramil dissect Miami’s surging frontcourt synergy, the impact of Ware’s newfound confidence, and what Powell’s relentless scoring means for the team’s playoff ambitions.

Key topics include Miami’s improved rebounding, Bam Adebayo’s steady leadership, and pressing questions about the rotation as Andrew Wiggins nears a return. The conversation spotlights tactical shifts, credit cookie standouts, and how Erik Spoelstra’s evolving game plan sets Miami up for a promising stretch. With Tyler Herro poised to rejoin the lineup, will the Heat sustain their momentum against the Dallas Mavericks? Don’t miss this in-depth analysis of the Heat’s breakout form and their path forward in a loaded Eastern Conference.

00:00 Intro
03:59 Ware’s Breakthrough
14:17 Credit Cookies
24:52 Tyler Herro Targets Monday Return

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