The Miami Heat held the 13th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. With a chance to take a player with star potential, they failed to do so.
The Miami Heat have been treading water since the Big Three of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh was disassembled. The Heat have averaged roughly 42 wins in the five seasons that followed James’ departure after the 2013-14 season.
They’ve made the playoffs only twice in that span. The furthest they’ve made it was the conference semifinals in 2016. Now that Wade and Bosh are gone too, Miami needs someone special to build around for the future.
The Heat needed to add someone that can blossom into a star with their first-round pick in the 2019 draft. They did no such thing.
With the 13th pick, Miami selected Tyler Herro, a 19-year-old 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Kentucky. Herro averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game in his lone college season.
He shot 46.5 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from 3, and 93.5 percent from the free throw line. He was named All-SEC second team, SEC All-Freshman team and NCAA All-Region for the Midwest.
Herro is a sharpshooter, connecting on 60 3-pointers in 169 attempts, both team highs, as a freshman. He was second in points per game and total points behind fellow lottery pick PJ Washington.
Offense and 3-point shooting were two weaknesses of last year’s Heat squad, and it seems as though the front office sought to fix them. In addition to his scoring, Herro is a decent playmaker and gives great effort on defense.
Overall, Herro seems to be a solid NBA prospect. He is a hard worker and with Miami’s ability to develop players well, he could become a high-impact player
Still, this was a bad pick for Miami.
The Heat aren’t rumored to overhaul their roster this offseason, meaning that they are likely due for another regular season that’ll result in 30-40 wins. This made the 2019 draft huge for building their young core. Before the draft, Miami only had three guys under the age of 23.
Since they aren’t close to competing for a championship, they needed to find a guy that can blossom into a star. And I don’t think Herro is that guy.
Here are the three reasons why Tyler Herro was a bad pick for the Heat.