Tyler Herro has taken his game to a new level this season

Tyler Herro had an up-and-down start to his career in years one and two

Tyler Herro has quickly made himself known as one of the best young players in the league. Just past the legal drinking age, he is already putting up exceptional numbers and he’s doing it all whilst coming off the bench.

In his rookie season, Herro averaged 13.5 PPG, but he really started turning heads when he exploded in the playoffs. His elite play in the postseason is what put him on the map.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, he managed to drop 37 points in a crucial Game 4. This is one of the highest-scoring outputs by a rookie in NBA playoff history.

After generating loads of hype in the playoffs, it proved difficult to live up to expectations he had created. Most people suspected that Herro was going to be an absolute stud after those playoff performances.

Moving onto Herro’s second season, he had trouble finding a consistent jump shot for most of the year, and couldn’t seem to establish a set role in Miami’s offense. He often found himself taking tough shots mostly because he wasn’t getting a lot of opportunities.

He only minorly boosted his averages to 15.1 PPG, while shooting a relatively low 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from three.

The Miami Heat finished the season as the 6th seed and got swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. After a disappointing sophomore campaign, Herro went to work.

Tyler Herro has taken his game to a new level this season

He put on 10 pounds of muscle this offseason and spent countless hours in the gym working on his craft. (And no, this picture is not edited, but maybe some drug tests ensued after.)

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Herro has come into year three looking determined and confident. He’s on pace to put up career numbers and help lift the Miami Heat into another playoff run.

His role has become clear this season as Miami’s sixth man with an extremely high usage rate of 28.7. In comparison, this is just slightly under LeBron James, who has a rating of 30.2.

(Usage rate is a percentage of team plays that a player is involved in when he’s on the court).

He’s also taking a lot more shots per game, averaging around 18 attempts per game in comparison to 12.9 last season.

With a newfound role in the offense, as well as an uptick in shot attempts, Herro is averaging 20.7 PPG off the bench this season. He’s averaging five more points per game while only getting two more minutes per game.

If he keeps this up, this could be one of the highest-scoring seasons by a sixth-man ever.

There are only three players who have scored over 20.7 PPG off the bench – Ricky Pierce (23 PPG in 1990), Lou Williams (22.6 PPG in 2018), and Eddie Johnson (21.5 PPG in 1989).

The addition of Kyle Lowry has also played a part in Tyler’s success. Adding a veteran point guard to the mix, especially a pass-first floor general like Lowry, will definitely help excel Herro’s game.

Herro has had loads of weight to carry offensively while the Heat have dealt with injuries to Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

Just saying that the Miami Heat are third in the Eastern Conference while having to deal with key injuries should tell you how big Tyler Herro has been for them so far this season.

As we approach the mid-point of the season there’s a good idea for who the sixth-man of the year will be. The odds are overwhelmingly in his favor, so I think it’s pretty safe to say that Tyler Herro will be taking home that trophy.

With that being said, Herro and the Heat won’t be satisfied with this trophy… they are on the hunt for the most important trophy… the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Once this team can get fully healthy, they have a real chance at making that happen.