(Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro is expected to miss approximately the first month of the season — perhaps longer — after undergoing foot surgery in September.
Herro, 25, was the Heat’s best offensive player for most of last season and made his first All-Star appearance. There’s no question that his absence will be felt, especially since Miami’s first 15 games will be its most arduous.
On media day, he said that he would be back in 8-to-12 weeks, though he told head coach Erik Spoelstra he’d try to make it back in six weeks. He continued to remain optimistic about his potential timeline for a return before the Heat’s “Red, White and Pink” game this week.
Tyler Herro’s shooting may be missed early in the season:
(Mandatory Credit: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
Last season, Herro averaged a career-high 23.9 points, to go along with 5.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He shot 47.2 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from 3-point range. It was a great season for him, though it came to a sudden crash when he was exposed — once again — in the postseason. Not to mention, teams were running Herro off the 3-point line over the last month, reverting closer to his mid-range heavy shot diet he worked so hard to change heading into the season.
That said, this team will still miss his shooting.
Norman Powell is one of the best 3-point shooters on the planet. But his shooting is no longer additive to a Herro-less group without Duncan Robinson (or Alec Burks, Haywood Highsmith) in the mix. Miami doesn’t have a natural floor spacer outside of Powell. It’s a fool’s errand to believe Davion Mitchell will replicate his 44.7 3-point percentage; Bam Adebayo’s long-range shooting has improved, but he’s not acquiring nearly enough gravity; Nikola Jovic is your best spot-up shooter, but he won’t demand the respect from defenses required; Andrew Wiggins is still too streaky.
It could become a real issue, real quick.
The Heat have done a good job pushing the pace in preseason. I’m dubious that it will sustain itself, even though they have a roster more suited to run. Miami could keep pace (pun intended) with other teams in transition. But that requires generating deflections, limiting opponents to just one shot and spacing the floor effectively in transition, which Miami’s struggled with in the past.
I think there’s reason to be concerned early in the season about the Heat’s shooting struggles, but I digress. We’ll see how much they miss Herro’s offense.
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