Getty Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro
Take it however you like, but one Miami Heat superstar is happy to see second-year guard Tyler Herro participating with Team USA’s Select Team this summer because, as he said, Herro will get a chance, “to watch people’s work ethic and how they go about their professional business.”
That was what Bam Adebayo said this week. Herro will be part of the Select Team that will meet in Las Vegas to practice and play against the USA Basketball Olympic Men’s team, which will compete in Tokyo next month. The Select Team, which will be coached by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, is often seen as a track to an eventual spot with USA Basketball’s main teams.
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Herro is coming off a disappointing sophomore year in which he averaged 15.0 points on 43.9% shooting and 36.0% 3-point shooting. The Heat went 5-9 in the first 14 games he was in the starting five this season, prompting Herro to be moved to the bench. After starring in the postseason last year, with 16.0 points per game as part of Miami’s run to the Finals, Herro averaged just 9.3 points on 31.6% shooting in this season’s playoffs.
Bam Adebayo on how Tyler Herro can benefit from being on Team USA Select team: going against the best players…getting to watch their work ethic and how they go about their business
Adebayo’s full quote on Herro: “He’ll get the chance to go against the best in the USA. So I feel like that’s one of the biggest things that he can get. And obviously, getting to watch, like, people’s work ethic and how they go about their professional business.”
Heat Concerned About Herro for ‘Months’?
There does appear to be an implication in Adebayo’s quote that Herro was not always exceedingly professional last season. Adebayo did not say so explicitly, however.
Herro has been the subject of some rumblings out of Miami that the team was not happy with how he handled his sudden rise to stardom in the past year—rumors that he has not worked hard enough o capitalize on his initial success and that he has been too focused on off-court pursuits rather than improving as a player.
In April, on the Inside the Paint podcast with Heat reporters Ethan Skolnick and Ira Winderman, Herro was compared to the Dwyane Wade-LeBron James-Chris Bosh trio, who were not just basketball stars but celebrities, too. That was, according to the show’s hosts, a concern for “months.” From the show:
Everybody’s entitled to their own personal life, and we don’t try to bring it up. And, look, the greatest player in Miami Heat history, there was a lot of stuff that we knew about that we didn’t talk about, OK? It’s just the way that this played out. And he grew through some things. And we all know who we’re both talking about. But ultimately, the team starts to get a certain level of concern. In this particular case, the team has been concerned now for months. And that’s kind of where it’s at. But they were concerned with players during the Big 3 era. But this one is different, because this kid is 21.
Among the offenses committed by Herro in his chase for celebrity are a special-edition line of cereal (Tyler HerrO’s Fruit Hoops), his deal with Chipotle and his frequent fashion shoots. He also appeared in a video by the rapper Jack Harlow for a song called, fittingly, “Tyler Herro.”
Heat Official on Tyler Herro: ‘He’s a Hard Worker’
There was some chatter, too, though, that the concerns about Herro were being overblown. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported last week that one member of the organization pointed out that any teammate of Jimmy Butler must be working hard because Butler would not tolerate anything else.
“He’s a hard worker,” Jackson’s source was quoted as saying.
Of course, it is incumbent on the Heat to wipe Herro clean of any implication of a lack of hard work, because as the team tries to position itself to add a third star to the mix through a trade, Herro could be a critical piece—the franchise’s best trade chip to swap with a rebuilding team.
It does the Heat no good to have other teams suspect that Herro is more concerned about his off-court image than his on-court performance. Having Jackson publish internal organizational compliments of Herro could be a stab at maintaining his trade value.
Especially if one of his most prominent teammates is hoping Herro can learn “work ethic” and “professional business” from his time with the Select Team.