It’s undeniable that Miami Heat guard that Tyler Herro is having the most efficient season of his career.
It did, however, come at the expense his shot diet, which was previously a steady diet of long 2s–an area of the floor assumed by their two best players in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Herro modified his diet into taking more 3s and layups, supercharging his individual offense while complementing his peers’ skillsets.. Through 24 games, the 6-foot-5 guard has averaged 24.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists, shooting 47.6 percent from the floor, 41.3 percent from beyond the arc and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line.
When opening up to Heat.com’s Couper Moorhead regarding his modified shot diet, Herro worked to replicate a shot diet similar to the greatest shooter ever: Stephen Curry.
“The guys who shoot the mid-range shots efficiently and do it well are the ones that are like, 6’9”, 6’10”, 6’11”,” Herro told Moorhead. “Like [Kevin Durant] . . . can shoot over the top of guys from the mid-range and make it an efficient shot.
“I feel like with my body type and the way I play, it’s like Steph Curry. I try to make my shot profile as identical to Steph as possible. Steph shoots a lot of threes obviously, the rest of them are to the rim, layups and free throws. That’s kind of what I’m trying to resemble is literally what Steph’s doing.”
Herro is hoisting a career-most 10.1 3-pointers per game, over three more than his career average and two more than his previous career-most; his 3-point rate jumped nearly nine percentage points higher than his previous-highest, thus opening up the floor for the rest of his game.
Teams have started to try and take the 3-point shot away from Herro. But he’s leveraged his shooting prowess, added strength and extra burst into being more efficient inside-the-arc. He’s shooting 51.1 percent on mid-range attempts (career-best), 48.7 percent on short 2s (~4-14 ft.) and 62.1 percent at the rim, which ranks in the 95th, 84th and 52nd percentile amongst combo guards, respectively, per Cleaning The Glass.
His shot diet isn’t far off from Curry’s, either. Herro is shooting 57.3 percent of his shots from deep compared to Curry’s 60.5 percent; Herro is taking roughly 35.6 percent of his shots within 10 feet to Curry’s 27.9; neither player is hoisting more than six percent of their attempts on long 2s.
He didn’t completely duplicate it. But if you’re going to try and complement your best players’ skillsets, emulating the greatest shooter ever isn’t the worst idea–should you continue to remain efficient. Herro has, emphatically.
Now, according to Heat assistant Chris Quinn, his next step is leveraging his shotmaking into his playmaking, which he’s c0ntinued to fine-tune over his first six years in the NBA.
“The next step, which he’s already improving, is the playmaking aspect,” Quinn told Moorhead. “Whatever the defense does is wrong basically. If you’re going to put more guys on me, I’m going to get an assist or make the right play for the team, then I’m going to have my spurts where I have 15 or 20 in a quarter. That’s the next step where he can balance that ability to score and playmake for the team. To make the right play over and over and over again is what makes the great players great.
“He’s always been able to do anything offensively on the basketball court. Sometimes we look at a player sometimes as a shooter or an attacker or a scorer, but Tyler is able to do all of it. He had to wrap his mind around three-point shooting as a part of that and not that he’s just a shooter or just a scorer, and how he can tie it all together. I think once he figured that out is really when he took a big jump.”
Herro’s continuing to grow at making advanced reads as a primary initiator. He’s always shown that he’s more than capable of being effective off-ball, but developing how to process advanced reads has been a process for 24-year-old ever since his second NBA season.
He’s been their best player so far this season and has gotten better each season. But now he’s becoming more efficient in more ways than one. And that’s not only crucial for his individual growth, but the team’s short- and long-term ceiling.
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I feel a bit ok now from that Heat loss vs Det. Bos lost to Chi, Denv lost to Por. It happens.
So his wrist muscle memory perimeter shot is bonkers. But he could develop that still. Shooting coach’s would teach us to go for that open perimeter shot always 10-16 ft. One coach would yell at me if i try to make that 18-20 feet fadeaway defended, “you’re not Jordan!” lol
2nd best shooter so far this year curry is always #1
book never shot over 40%3s but his 2 pt shooting hovering around 48%
up until this year he was not near book.never shot over 40% for 3s was about 43% on 2sso far this year hes up to 41% 3s 47 on 2s gotta do it for about 3 more years to be considered as good as book the first 5 years too inconsistent.
I wasn’t referring to career numbers in my earlier post. I was referring to where they are today.
Booker has scored more because he shoots more. Remember that for the first 5 years of his career, the Phoenix Suns sucked…real hard, winning an average of 24 games per season. He was the only player worth a crap on the team and was hoisting shots like a mofo.
During his career, Booker has played 2.1 more minutes and put up 3 more shots per game than Herro.
In his 10 seasons, his 3 point shooting has been under 36% six times, including 35% this year. He has never shot higher than 38.3%. His career 3 point average is 35.7%
In his six seasons, Herro has shot a higher % than Booker’s highest % four times, including 41.3% this year. Herro has never shot below 36%. Not once. His career 3 point average is 38.7%.
Two other important facts: Booker is 28 and his salary is $49.2M this season. Herro is 24 and his salary is $29M.
Jus sayin.
Hey thanks! I was just about to post their comparative numbers for their respective careers. Booker is better in some categories, Herro better in others. Herro is just entering his peak years, something I’ve been arguing for since he started. But, as you pointed out, Herro has been a better 3p shooter while Booker has a better overall fg%.
we forgot to talk about tylers injury history.
tylers been good for 30 games,his defense below avg to be generous.just keeping it real.czech
True. Booker has averaged 10 more games a season.
tys been an all star this year hope he keeps it up.team needs to insert ware in or make a trade to be a threat to boston .ware bam jim ty drew closing 5 in april i hope
I always thought Herro had the potential to be a player similar to All-Star, Devin Booker. Now, in his sixth year, he is finally starting to prove me right.
Booker Stats:
25.4ppg / 3.7rpg / 6.4apg / 43.7% FG / 35.0% 3 point
Herro Stats:
24.1ppg / 5.3rpg / 4.8apg / 47.6% FG / 41.3% 3 point