Heat’s Herro overwhelming pick as NBA’s Sixth Man of Year
MIAMI — Tyler Herro was told before the season began that he wouldn’t be in the Miami Heat starting lineup. To his credit, he saw that as an opportunity.
“I said, ‘Let’s go for Sixth Man of the Year,’ ” Herro said. And that’s what he got. Herro was announced Tuesday as the NBA’s top sixth man this season, the first player to win the award as a member of the Heat. He averaged 20.7 points, nearly four more per game than any other reserve in the league, plus had a huge role in Miami securing the No. 1 seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“It means a lot,” Herro said. “I accepted the sixth-man role for a reason. I wanted to be the best sixth man in the league.”
By overwhelming agreement of the 100 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league and vote on season-ending awards, that’s what Herro was. He received 96 first-place votes and 488 total points, well ahead of runner-up Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cameron Johnson of the Phoenix Suns was third.
“Tyler was ignitable for this team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was that way all season.”
Herro had eight 30-point games off the bench this season, more than any other three players did combined. The last time a reserve had more than eight 30-point games was 2017-18, when Lou Williams had 11 for the Los Angeles Clippers. Before that, it was 1989-90, when Ricky Pierce had 17 for Milwaukee.
Herro actually played more minutes this season than anyone else on the Heat, posting career bests in most offensive categories, and was second on the team in points per game behind only Jimmy Butler’s 21.4 — just 0.7 ahead of Herro’s pace.
“I just realized what this team was built for,” Herro said. “It was built for a championship. When you look at our roster, if I was our coach, I would probably bring myself off the bench, too. Just looking at what we have on the team, if it makes sense to bring either me or Jimmy off the bench, obviously it’s going to be me. We’ve got to bring one of our main scorers off the bench. And I understand that.”