Inside The Heat

Heat Guard Tyler Herro's Season Ranked With Legends In One Statistic

Ethan J. Skolnick|
Oct 4, 2020; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) drives to the basket while defended by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the first quarter of game three of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images
Oct 4, 2020; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) drives to the basket while defended by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the first quarter of game three of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

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Miami Heat

For a player who's always being tossed in the trade machine by his own fan base, Tyler Herro did something special last season, at least as measured by a set of statistics.

How many players in the NBA averaged 20 points with five assists and five rebounds on better than 60% true shooting?

Six.

It includes NBA MVPs and a former No. 1 overall pick.

That's right. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Zion Williamson (in only 30 games) were the only others to do so, and Williamson barely got there.

Herro averaged 23.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists on 60.5 true shooting, largely due to his accuracy and volume from three-point range.

And of these six players, Herro played in the most games. That's an achievement for someone whom Miami Heat president Pat Riley characterized as "fragile" prior to the season.

This won't quiet his doubters, who say he doesn't belong in that company, and will call it an arbitrary cutoff point. But Herro did make his first All-Star game, and he produced much of this while the Heat had few offensive options for opponents to worry about -- especially after the trade of the disgruntled Jimmy Butler.

Herro figures to get some offensive help from Norman Powell this season, so he may not have the same usage. But if the other statistics stay somewhere close to the same, his agent will have an argument for that lucrative contract extension he seeks.

Now... he just needs to do it in the playoffs, and on defense. OK, it will never end.

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Ethan J. Skolnick
ETHAN J. SKOLNICK

Ethan has covered all major sports -- in South Florida and beyond -- since 1996 and is one of the longest-tenured fully credentialed members of the Miami Heat. He has covered, in total, more than 30 NBA Finals, Super Bowls, World Series and Stanley Cup Finals. After working full-time for the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Bleacher Report and several other outlets, he founded the Five Reasons Sports Network in 2019 and began hosting the Five on the Floor podcast as part of that network. The podcast is regularly among the most downloaded one-team focused NBA podcasts in the nation, and the network is the largest independent sports outlet in South Florida, by views, listens and social media reach. He has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. from Columbia University. TWITTER: @EthanJSkolnick and @5ReasonsSports EMAIL: fllscribe@gmail.com

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