Miami Heat president Pat Riley called out Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro in his end-of-season press conference last year. One was seemingly offended by that while the other used it as motivation. The 2024-25 season has been the best of Herro’s career and he spoke to Anthony Chiang about how he reacted to Riley calling him fragile.
“I’m a perfectionist in my own way,” Herro said. “I don’t need anyone to tell me I’m fragile or I haven’t played as many games. I’m aware of what’s going on. I know I missed the last two seasons, with the hand injury and half the season last year.
“I’ve seen the comments Coach Riley said,” Herro continued. “In my own world, I was going to try to play more games on my own either way. I took his words, obviously, into consideration and used it as motivation as I always do.”
Herro is the only player to have featured in all of the Heat’s 38 games this season. Not only is the 24-year-old showing up to work every night, but he’s balling out too. Herro is averaging 24.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game for the Heat in 2024-25.
Herro has easily been the Heat’s best player and is a big reason why they’re staying afloat with a 20-18 record despite everything that’s happened with Butler. He could have pouted about Riley’s comments like his star teammate seemingly has but instead responded in the best way possible.
In case you need a refresher, here is what Riley had to say about Herro.
“He’s been fragile a little bit and broke his hand last year in the playoffs. He had some injuries earlier in his career. And there isn’t anybody who works harder at his game. I suppose correct, he works and puts the time in.”
“He put the time in the weight room. So how does he keep his calorie intake? And he might have to go to another level nutritionally. He’s gotten stronger, but, you know, as the season progresses, you know, you lose some of that.”
“You don’t pound the iron like you do, you know, in the offseason. But he’s got to make some adjustments, definitely, you know.”
Herro has never played 70 games in a season for the Heat since they drafted him with the 13th pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. He played just 42 games in 2023-24 and is set to surpass that number for this season in this month itself. So, what has changed? Well, Herro revealed he has been taking better care of his body.
“Just working on my body more, being more conscious of my weight, my strength and then just staying on my body work,” Herro stated. “Making sure I’m taking care of my body, recovery and stuff like that.”
Herro added that he’s trying to play over 70 games this season and will play all 82 if he can. The Heat certainly hope he’ll stay upright.
Erik Spoelstra Spoke On Tyler Herro’s Growth
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has seen the growth in Herro’s game first-hand and had nothing but praise for the guard when he spoke to Chiang.
“This is not an overnight thing,” Spoelstra said. “I think people only recognize if the scoring average goes up. But his skill set has been really developing for the last three years. He was a heck of an offensive player when he was Sixth Man of the Year [for the 2021-22 season].
“Now he’s added some strength, he’s defending better, his playmaking has gotten better, off-the-catch movement has gotten better. We know what he’s been able to do with the ball in his hands — that has been two or three years now. But it’s really putting a lot of things together to help your team.”
Spoelstra added that Herro loves taking on all the responsibilities that the Heat have placed on him as well.
“The responsibilities that he has for the team, he’s really worked at it, making his body stronger,” Spoelstra stated. “He loves all the responsibilities offensively, the scoring but also the playmaking, the facilitating, sometimes just playing off the ball and creating some confusion with all of that. But all the great players develop that kind of consistency at some point.”
Herro has a chance of becoming an All-Star for the first time in his career this year. He came 10th among guards in the East in the second return from fan voting, though, so it is going to be a bit difficult. Herro probably hopes to win some more votes by putting on a show when the Heat take on the Los Angeles Lakers next at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday at 10 PM ET.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
