In many ways, not only has the Heat’s depth gotten them to this point, but they were the trial runs for the coaching staff to gain clarity on what works best for this team offensively. Herro entering for Butler, maximizes spacing in those early minutes, as well as his shift to the 4 has opened things up. Now, they’ve spread it out evenly as we’ve been talking about a ton over the last 48 hours.
Prolonged minutes of the Butler-Tucker-Adebayo front-court constantly meant a spaced out second unit was about to enter. In terms of the X’s and O’s differences, one of the main reasons that those numbers looked like that is due to Miami’s spacing looking best in the second units night in and night out.
That’s five combos, or 10 players, with only one Heat starter named. When looking over some of the best offensive two man combos for the Heat since the All Star break, here are the top five in offensive rating with at least 100 minutes played: Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent, Martin and Max Strus, Martin and Herro, Bam Adebayo and Strus, then Strus and Herro. They’re generating extremely positive minutes when plugging in for starters. But frankly, it isn’t just about the box score watching of how many points these guys are putting up. Miami currently averages the most bench points a game this season at 40 a night, which has bumped up even further post All Star break to 46 a game. The interesting part about that: Herro is starring in both that hot bench group and that main cast. The raw numbers speak for themselves when it comes to Tyler Herro this season, averaging 21 points a game on 44% shooting along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, plus he’s producing 23 a night since the All Star break.īut when zooming out a bit, this Heat bench has gotten them to this point, and now it’s time for the main cast to push them over the edge as they blend into the post-season.