Tyler Herro had to deal with another summer of trade rumors. But Herro also still managed to enjoy another summer of uncertainty and speculation. There was extended time spent in Los Angeles, a vacation in Turks and Caicos and memorable moments with his two children while his NBA future was being discussed by others. “I had a great summer, honestly,” Herro said to the Miami Herald this week, as the Heat wrapped up training camp at Florida Atlantic University on Saturday. “Having my daughter, she turned 2 in September and my son will be 1 in January. Lots of moving parts, but family is growing up. The trade stuff was circulating, but I got a great support system around me. We can enjoy time together and get stuff like that off my mind.
The Miami Heat had two major opportunities to improve the backcourt as they had their eyes set on superstar scorer Damian Lillard and former Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday. However, Lillard went to the Bucks, and Holiday was acquired by the Boston Celtics. Plus, with Gabe Vincent signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in the offseason, there’s now plenty of questions on who will the team roll with at point guard.
The 37-year old Kyle Lowry said Monday and reiterated Thursday during training camp at FAU that he expects to be the starting point guard for the Heat. The key word there is “expect,” as he emphasized to the media that he didn’t say he’s “going” to be the starter.
While it’s fair to say his play has regressed in recent years, it also makes sense that Lowry would get the starting job this upcoming season. He’s the only true point guard on the team that has had major experience leading to a championship.
Another option besides Lowry is Josh Richardson, who has more experience at the shooting guard position but has been playing point for Miami this training camp and did some time in his first stint with the team.
One can make the case that Miami doesn’t need a “true point guard,” as the team has multiple players who are forwards or big men who have handled the ball up the court like Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo.
Richardson agrees with that sentiment as he said that while he’s played point guard before, the team might not need it.
“I played point here, played in San Antonio for a little bit. But I mean, the system that we have doesn’t really call for a true point guard,” Richardson explained. “You can get it into someone like Bam [Adebayo] or one of the bigs and play handoff games.”
That could be why Erik Spoelstra said to the media this week that there shouldn’t be a “quarterback controversy” about the point guard conundrum.
