The Miami Heat have been waiting on the return of Tyler Herro, and he showed why Monday night.
The Miami Heat welcomed back a key addition to their lineup Monday as All-Star guard Tyler Herro made his season debut after recovering from offseason ankle surgery.
Herro scored 24 points in Miami’s 106-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks, which drew the praise of former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy.
“Well, first of all, I thought he was great,” Van Gundy said on The Zach Lowe Show. “I mean, in the first quarter, he got off to a slow start. I’m watching the Heat broadcast, and Eric Reid asked John Crotty, "How long do you think it'll take to, you know, get him going, his legs under him?” And John said, ‘two weeks’, which I thought was reasonable.”
“And it really took till the second quarter. So, you know, he really got it going. I think the new style fits him fine. I mean, yeah, they were running a lot of pick and rolls, but the bottom line is, Tyler's game is to play off the dribble.”
Herro was efficient on the floor as he went 12-18 from the field and logged a +16 net rating. It marked Miami’s fifth-straight win.
“It's perfect,” Van Gundy said. “And you talked about how they're running fewer pick and rolls. They're actually running fewer pick and rolls than anybody's ever run since they've started recording.
“So, you know, that is really, it's incredible though. The whole Heat transformation has been incredible from one of the slowest paced teams in the league to the fastest paced team in the league. We run a lot of pick and rolls. We don't run any pick androlls. I mean, it has really been a; I don't think I've ever seen that big a change without a coaching change ever. They were talking on the Heat broadcast.”
Van Gundy started as an assistant with the Miami Heat in 1995 under Hall of Famer Pat Riley. Van Gundy remained in his role until the 2003-04 season, when Riley abruptly resigned from the head coaching position. Riley remained with the organization, taking over as president. However, Van Gundy was left with a reclamation project after the Heat won just 25 games the season prior.
Van Gundy transformed Miami, leading the team to a 42-40 record in his first year at the helm. The following season, Van Gundy and the Heat won 59 games and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals following the acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal. Van Gundy remained in his role through the first 21 games of the 05-06 season before resigning.