The Miami Heat came up short in against the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 NBA Finals, but their path in getting there was historic. As an 8-seed, they were able to knock off two of the top regular season teams in the league in the first two rounds, doing so as heavy underdogs throughout.
Miami Heat Missed Tyler Herro, Riley Says
Some of Heat President Pat Riley’s thoughts during his media session at Kaseya Center, Miami:
—“We’re not going to take a wrecking ball to this thing.”
—“We’re working on our fifth reiteration of building another championship team.”
—“We missed [Tyler Herro in the playoffs].… pic.twitter.com/wIdNem5hVz
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 20, 2023
They were missing a key piece for the entire run. Sharp-shooting guard Tyler Herro suffered a broken hand during the first game of the postseason, which ultimately ended his season. As the Heat continued to extend their run, they held out hope that Herro would be able to return at some point, but he never gave it a go despite positive reports before the start of the Finals.
Was Miami able to make their unlikely run due to the fact that Herro was out of the lineup? Or would he have been added firepower for a team that went cold at some of the most crucial points?
Herro himself questioned whether he wanted to come back and disrupt the flow of the team, and that thought process may have factored into him never coming back and playing.
But according to Heat President Pat Riley, the team would have loved to have him out there.
Riley Gives Herro And Adebayo A Vote Of Confidence
Pat Riley recalls the 13th and 14th picks to get Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, and them turning into stars
Jimmy Butler being an absolute superstar, and Spo who he believes is the best coach in the league
“So I’m feeling good today, as we work on our next iteration of this team”
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) June 20, 2023
Making his first public comments in nearly a year, Riley answered questions from the media on Tuesday ahead of the 2023 Draft. There was a multitude of topics discussed, though some subjects were off limits due to tampering rules. But questions about Herro were fair game, and Riley praised his young guard:
“We missed him (in the playoffs). People don’t understand just how lethal he is. He gets bigger in the biggest moments. We’ve got two anchors in Bam and Tyler.”
The final sentence is an interesting punctuation on the point. There are rumors flying that the Miami Heat are going to go after some big fish this off-season in hopes of improving their roster, and the thought is that they may have to depart with one of Herro or Bam Adebayo in order to get the type of player that they are looking for.
But Riley’s comment is a vote of confidence for the both of them, and we could be looking at a similar core down in Miami come next season.
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