Heat's Tyler Herro drops truth bomb on starting lineup conundrum amid injury return

The Miami Heat defeated the Houston Rockets on Friday night by a final score of 119-104. Tyler Herro scored 17 points in his return from injury.

The 24-year-old has appeared in just 37 games during the 2023-24 season due to injury. Although Herro has been vocal on his desire to start in the past, he understands that coming off the bench makes sense right now, via Brady Hawk of Five Reasons Sports.

I mean look, there’s six games left,” Herro said. “I just missed 20 games. You know, it’s hard to just implement me into the starting lineup at this point. Whatever Spo (Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra) decides to do is ultimately up to him. It’s not an easy decision. Obviously, everyone knows I’m a starter in the league. But like I said, to come back with six games left it’s tough to just implement me into that lineup like that.

“But ultimately, I’m going to get starter minutes and that’s all that matters. You know, I’m a starter but I’ll come off the bench for now.”

Herro has played the sixth man role in the past. In fact, he won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award for the 2021-22 season. He obviously believes in his ability to start but is prepared to help Miami in whichever role makes sense at the moment.

Everyone remembers Tyler Herro’s big performance in the NBA Bubble. He stepped up for Miami. The Heat fell just short in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, but Herro established himself as a future star.

Let’s compare Herro’s 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons for the purpose of his sixth man vs. starting role conversation.

In 2021-22, the year Herro won the Sixth Man of the Year award, he played in 66 games and started just 10 contests. Herro averaged 20.7 points per game on 44.7 percent field goal and 39.9 percent three-point shooting.

In 2022-23, Herro started all 67 of the games he appeared in. His numbers were similar for the most part, but he was a bit less efficient. Herro averaged 20.1 points per game on 43.8 percent field goal and 37.8 percent three-point shooting in the Heat’s starting rotation.

So does this mean Herro is better off the bench? Not necessarily. After all, through his 37 games (36 starts) in 2023-24, Herro has averaged 20.7 points per outing on 43.8 percent field goal and 39.7 percent three-point shooting.