The Miami Heat are one step closer to getting star scorer Tyler Herro back into the rotation—quite literally.
Herro is no longer in a walking boot, as the Heat confirmed this week. It is still not clear when he will return to the team from his Grade 2 ankle sprain, but the original prognosis was that he would miss two weeks, which means he’d be slated to get back on the floor by Friday’s game in New York against the Knicks.
Heat says Tyler Herro is out of his walking boot.
That’s looking like a longshot, as is the Saturday game in Brooklyn against the Nets. It’s likely the team will wait until next Tuesday, when the Miami Heat plays at home against Milwaukee, to get Herro back in the lineup.
If that is the case, though, there is the question of where Herro will fit into a rotation that has again excelled without him. The question of whether Herro could go back to being a Sixth Man was put to longtime Heat insider Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel, who had a flat answer.
“Highly doubt it,” Winderman wrote in his mailbag.
Tyler Herro Wants to Be an All-Star
The reasons that Tyler Herro would not want to come off the bench for the Miami Heat are understandable, yet a bit concerning. Herro spent all summer embroiled in trade chatter and was deemed highly likely to be sent elsewhere before this season.
Since the start of the season, the Heat seem to have gone out of their way to make it clear that Tyler Herro is a wanted man in Miami. And he wants a chance to shine, Winderman wrote.
“Tyler Herro knows what he wants, and that’s to be viewed as a leading man on a contender – and an All-Star,” Winderman wrote. “And that doesn’t happen coming off the bench. Now, should Tyler wind up missing closer to a month, then Erik Spoelstra could have the option. But even then, that likely only would be temporary, which would mean having to then reintroduce Tyler into the starting lineup and readjust yet again.
“I can’t see Tyler Herro, because of a November injury, being willing to play the balance of the season off the bench.”
Miami Heat Question Is Repeating Itself
No question, Tyler Herro started the season on a hot string for the Miami Heat, averaging 25.3 points and making 44.6% of his shots, plus 41.0% of his 3s, before the game in which he suffered the ankle injury and was limited to eight minutes.
But the Heat won that game in which Herro was injured, starting a string of five straight wins and six wins in seven games. Miami was just 3-4 before that game, and now sits 9-5.
Just like last year in the playoffs, when Herro was injured in the playoff opener and the Heat responded by making a run all the way to the NBA Finals, the question of whether the Miami Heat are a better team without Tyler Herro continues to bubble up around the league.
That was one reason why it was assumed the Heat would deal Herro. But team president Pat Riley insisted in October that he never shopped Herro.
“I will say this, that we never offered Tyler in any trade, we’ve never shopped him to anybody,” Riley said, according to Winderman. “It’s just part of the business.”
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Insider Doubts Miami Heat ‘Leading Man’ Tyler Herro Would Accept Bench Role