Kentucky fried: Herro is cooking in the spotlight
Now, of course, everybody knows, because that’s what the national platform of the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals does.
Now they know the swagger, see the versatility, appreciate the basketball maturity beyond his 20 years.
But for those closest to Tyler Herro, those who didn’t wait for this playoff bandwagon, this is nothing new, even with the heights of Wednesday night ’s 37-point performance that gave the Miami Heat a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series against the Boson Celtics — one win from the franchise’s sixth appearance in the NBA Finals.
“First of all,” teammate Bam Adebayo said of the precocious 6-foot-5 guard, “I haven’t been surprised because I knew what the kid could do.”
While Adebayo tends to be soft-spoken, a visit to his college campus a few years back had the former Kentucky center struck by the cocksure 18-year-old kid who already had an NBA scoring repertoire.
“I went to Lexington to go see the coaches, just to see what’s up, get some work in,” Adebayo said in the wake of Herro’s Wednesday tour de force. “We were playing pickup and I was just realizing, going against the man, he doesn’t back down from the moment.”
It was a moment Adebayo wasn’t going to allow to go unnoticed, or unreported.
“I was the one who put the bug in Pat [Riley’s] ear to draft the kid. Just saying,” Adebayo said during his media session at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, where these quarantined NBA playoffs are drawing closer to their championship conclusion. “I’m not shocked by the success that Tyler’s having. He comes in the gym every day, great work ethic, great dude, he doesn’t bother anybody, just works.”
For veteran teammate Goran Dragic, who seemingly has seen it all amid a career that has included stages at the top of international competition, the awakening came a year ago, as the Heat began workouts for a season that would be interrupted for four months by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The first day when I saw him in practice, he was doing all that stuff,” Dragic said ahead of Friday’s 8:30 p.m. game against the Celtics that could bring closing time to the series. “He had great handles, a floater, midrange, 3-pointer, just an unbelievable shooter. I think, for the most part, it’s just about his confidence. And now it’s like a puzzle. He’s figured out how to put it all together, and you see what he can do.”
Then there is assistant coach Chris Quinn, who has served as Herro’s shadow from day one, making sure the confidence doesn’t shortcut the growth.
Actually, for Quinn the awakening began even before Herro became a member of the Heat. It was during Herro’s pre-draft workout in June 2019, before he would be selected with the No. 13 pick, that Quinn recognized something special was within reach.
“Right away you could tell his competitive spirit, you know, the swag that everyone talks about,” Quinn told the Sun Sentinel of overseeing Herro’s Heat workout. “And you could tell his skill set, especially in the modern NBA, his ability to not only shoot, but have great ball skills and do things with the ball in his hands.
“It stood out right away.” It is why, with the Heat now within a victory of the league’s ultimate platform, none of this stands as a revelation for those who have been along for this ride. Why none are surprised that Herro on Wednesday night had the highest-scoring game off the bench by a rookie in the NBA playoffs since 1971. Why they are not surprised that only Magic Johnson scored more points at a younger age in the playoffs.
“For him,” forward Jimmy Butler said, “it’s another day at the office. I think it makes all of us smile. We’re all so happy for him because he knows what he’s capable of, and he just plays with so much confidence.
“He’s been doing it all year long. So to him, there’s no pressure or anything. He’s just going to keep playing basketball the right way.”
The difference being that there now are more taking notice.
“I think the game slowed down for him a long time ago,” Butler said. “Now, he’s just playing at an incredibly high level. Y’all see it now because of where we are in the playoffs. But he’s been doing this year-long now, and we want him to continue to play that way.”
About that, Herro said, there is no need for worry.
“I’m just going to bet on myself,” he said. “I’ve been doing that my whole life. I went from, you know, Milwaukee, a small [suburb] in Milwaukee, to Kentucky, and nobody thought I would survive there. And nobody thought I would survive here.
“At the end of the day, it’s just betting on myself. Obviously, there’s a lot of factors that play into it. But at the end of the day, I’m just going to bet on myself. And that’s what I do, bet on myself.”