Getty Tyler Herro #14 of the Miami Heat in action against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 29, 2021 in New York City.
There was a ton of chatter this offseason about Tyler Herro being squarely on the trading block. The Miami Heat organization was getting tired of his penchant for chasing celebrity status. Turns out, all those things were severely overblown.
Herro, the 13th overall pick in 2019, wasn’t traded away and remains a “core player” for team president Pat Riley. The 21-year-old sharpshooter is going to be counted on to anchor the Heat bench in 2021, per Ethan Skolnick of 5 Reasons Sports, and Miami needs him to be a consistent scorer with the second unit. Sometimes Herro will be paired with one or two starters for long stretches. It’s a role that young wing Max Strus isn’t ready to handle.
“Tyler Herro has basically been handed the Heat bench,” Skolnick said on the “Five on the Floor” podcast. “We can talk about Max Strus, there are high hopes [for him], but he’s never done it at the level that Herro’s done it. But there really isn’t anyone else on that bench that they can count on for consistent scoring.”
Boy Wonder checking in on the #HEATSummer squad 🔥
One other important takeaway from Skolnick’s report had to do with Herro’s conditioning. The Heat wasn’t as worried about what the Boy Wonder was doing off the court as they were about what he wasn’t doing. The franchise wanted Herro in the weight room committed to getting physically stronger. Which he has done.
“I think when we talked about focus, people started thinking about the off-court stuff and it wasn’t really that,” Skolnick said. “They wanted him to commit to the work on his body, more so than anything else. I don’t think there is a question whether he is a gym rat or not but they wanted him to get physically stronger. He looks physically stronger.”
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Herro Giving Back to Community, Backpack Giveaway
Herro has focused his energy on giving back to the Miami community as well this offseason. He was the first man on the scene when a 12-story beachfront condominium collapsed in Surfside, Florida. Earlier this week, Herro was seen handing out backpacks and school supplies to young children and their parents.
Herro, via his T. Herro Foundation, funded a backpack giveaway and loaded up cars with things like crayons, markers, rulers, and cereal — yes, HerrO’s Fruit Hoops — as families get ready for the upcoming school year.
“It’s important to start the school year off on the right foot by giving these kids backpacks, supplies,” Herro said, “and I just wanted to give back and make sure they had the right supplies and tools to get through a long year of school.”
Ready to Become Proud Father
The young star has also been preparing for fatherhood after long-time girlfriend Katya Elise Henry announced she was pregnant on Instagram back on June 5.
On April Fool’s Day, she posted then deleted what looked like legitimate sonogram photos on Twitter. Obviously, that news has since been confirmed. And Henry posted a full-on pregnancy picture of her looking “large and in charge” on July 9.
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Miami Heat Need ‘Physically Stronger’ Guard to Anchor Bench