Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat found consolation a year ago in draft lottery
A year ago the Miami Heat lost the lottery — and still came out a winner.
With this year’s NBA lottery having been scheduled for Tuesday before being pushed back, like everything else in the league, due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the moment offered an opportunity to reflect on what transpired (or, in the Heat’s case, didn’t) during last year’s drawing in Chicago.
Entering with a 4.7% chance of moving into one of the top four selections, the Heat instead held seed, exiting with the No. 13 pick, the same place in the random-butweighted process they entered, after a 39-43 finish in 2018-19.
For Heat General Manager Andy Elisburg, who represented the team at the privately held drawing, and Heat executive Alonzo Mourning, who represented the
team during the televised portion of the process, it meant no easy way out from the process, where eventual New Orleans Pelicans No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson stood as the ultimate prize.
It turned out there still was consolation for the Heat at No. 13, where Kentucky shooting specialist Tyler Herro turned out to be the pick.
In fact, on lottery night a year ago, center Bam Adebayo, the Heat’s previous lottery pick, at No. 14 in 2017, immediately put forward the notion of going with a fellow Kentucky Wildcat.
“I feel like they’re prepared for the NBA,” he said at AmericanAirlines Arena, during the team’s viewing party, “and when they come here, they’re going to feed into this culture.”
Did Herro ever, earning the respect of Jimmy Butler during offseason early-morning workouts, in what eventually turned into Butler’s personal salute, Tyler Tuesdays.
“He’s respected me ever since we first met,” Herro said during a Heat Instagram Live interview. “When I first met him, we were doing 5 a.m. workouts together. So I kind of earned his respect through that. And then, he just loved my mentality. Jimmy’s himself; he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him. That’s kind of how I was. We kind of have the same thing in that order.
“But he always did the Tyler Tuesday thing. That was just funny. Because he came in one day, he practiced with my practice jersey on. And I had my jersey out, so I didn’t know where he got another one. But he came in with the 14 jersey on and it was Tyler Tuesday ever since.”
Despite missing 15 consecutive games with right-ankle soreness before returning on March 11 against the Charlotte Hornets, in the Heat’s final game before the shutdown, Herro stands fifth among rookies in 3-point percentage (.391, with the most conversions among that top five), third among rookies in free-throw percentage (.835), seventh in scoring (12.9), ninth in minutes per game (27.2) and 11th in rebounding (4.0).
In other words, he has outplayed his draft slot.
While undrafted guard Kendrick Nunn stands as the Heat’s leading candidate for firstteam All-Rookie, it remains possible that Herro joins him on that five-player unit. The only rookies who have decisively outplayed Herro have been Nunn, Williamson and No. 2 pick Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies. Otherwise, Herro has stacked up favorably against the likes of No. 3 pick R.J. Barrett, No. 5 pick Darius Garland, No. 7 pick Coby White, No. 9 pick Rui Hachimura and No. 12 pick P.J. Washington, decisive outplaying several others drafted earlier.
To Herro, it has been a matter of right place at the right time, able to grow, at 20, alongside the Heat’s veterans.
“I have amazing vets,” he said. “Really, I’ve learned a lot. Just each vet really shines like different light on me. Jimmy’s obviously like a big brother to me. But he’s brought me in, just really just showed me the way how to be a max player.
“Goran [Dragic], obviously what he’s doing. There’s so much that they’ve taught me, like how to deal with the 82-game season, it’s long. Really just, without my vets I don’t think I’d be able to have the success I’ve had.”
A year ago, as the lottery balls positioned the Heat for their draft-night destiny with the 6-foot-5 guard, another former Kentucky Wildcat was there to ease Herro’s NBA landing.
“It was amazing, really a dream come true, to not only get drafted by the Heat, but then also to be here with Pat Riley and the rest of the coaching staff,” he said of his introduction to the Heat president.
“I met him two times before, just like shaking his hand before the draft. But I met him for the first time the morning after the draft, when I got here in Miami. I went to his office, he shook my hand. The first thing he gave me was a book — I still haven’t read the book, Coach Riley — I’m going to get to it, I promise. I need to get on that right now.”