As the Miami Heat are gearing up to take on the reloaded East, part of their hopeful success relies on the production from guard Tyler Herro. While Herro believes the Heat are title contenders, he has also gone through the steps needed to get himself right for the season which he speaks upon Monday during the team's media day.
Part of the process Herro went through besides his new hair style during the offseason was gaining weight to build more muscle and strength as the 24-year old said he gained 12 pounds, weighing just over 200 pounds Monday. Other than that, Herro told ClutchPoints that the biggest point he's working on is staying healthy.
“Business as usual,” Herro said on his offseason process. “Try to continue to get better every single year. You know, getting stronger, continuing to to keep my mind right, get my mind right and prepare for this long season. And obviously trying to stay healthy was a big thing for me this season. Being healthy is my biggest thing.”
Asked Tyler Herro about the preparation this summer since Spo spoke highly of it. Talked about how health is huge for him this year after playing just 42 games last season. #HeatCulture pic.twitter.com/Hwy3OSVbvn
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) September 30, 2024
While injuries plagued Miami the past few seasons, Herro dealt with major issues last season where he only played 40 games in 2023. It started last November where he missed most of the month due to a Grade 2 ankle sprain as talking about his health, even Heat president Pat Riley bluntly said he was “fragile a little bit.”
Heat's Tyler Herro speaks on his role with the team
Going into this upcoming season, there has been speculation between fans of where Herro should start the season whether it be as a starter or even coming off the bench. These talks were especially intensified with the acquisition of Terry Rozier before the trade deadline where the anticipation is that a possible starting lineup includes the two along with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Herro would be open to whatever role the Heat give as he even implied that the decision will be up to Heat head coach Spoelstra and Riley who are some of the best at their specific roles in the entire NBA.
“Whatever they say I am, that’s what I am,” Herro said. “Y’all can say I’m a starter, I’m off the bench. We’re going to let the best coach in the league [Spoelstra] decide, we’re going to let one of the best GMs and presidents ever to do this [Riley] decide if I’m starting or coming off the bench. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship.”
Heat's Erik Spoelstra on the productive offseason Tyler Herro had
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Spoelstra himself would praise Herro for his work during the offseason and even mentioned how the playoff series loss last season against the Boston Celtics dictated his course of action.
“Tremendously,” Spoelstra when asked how Herro approached the offseason.”He felt what it was like, he's going to have help, big time help this year. You know, with other guys available and healthy and also really prepared for this season, Tyler did everything that I asked him this offseason, everything. I love the work that he put in. He and I were in constant contact when I was overseas, he really worked on the skill work, as he always does. He's so skilled, but he worked on the specificity of what we'll need for this team, he worked on his body in the weight room. It's not a matter of how much weight he added, he looks different, for sure. He did add weight.”
“It's more about the functional strength,” Spoelstra continued. “And he learned that, firsthand in that series, if you have to do things on both ends of the court, guard the team's best wing player, and then also have the offensive responsibility to make the right plays every single time for your team, and then be able to do it for 38 minutes in the playoff setting, that requires a lot. He did all of it this summer, the weight room, work, conditioning, skill work. Sometimes you have to go through it and have that pain of a loss in a playoff series where it really matters to you to be able to have the experience to break through next year. And I think he's set up for those kind of breakthroughs.”
Herro looks to show his improvements on the opener, Oct. 23 vs. the Orlando Magic.
