CBS Sports believes Tyler Herro was best pick from 2019 NBA Draft

Tyler Herro NBA Draft Heat — Now that we are over a half-decade removed, was Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro the best pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, in hindsight? (Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Obviously, the hit rates for top-10 picks in each draft is much higher the remaining 50 picks thereafter. Not every player falls into a beneficial situation for them, but the reasoning is simple: The higher you draft, the better player you’re likely to get.

However, once it’s all said and done, you can find a number of different players who had successful careers outside of the top of the draft.

There are also better draft classes than others. You can’t properly evaluate a class until three of four years after — offering a stronger conclusion as to how good the class actually is from top-to-bottom.

According to a recently-published CBS Sports article detailing the best pick from each draft, NBA writer Sam Quinn noted that Tyler Herro — who was drafted No. 13 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft — was deemed the best pick of his draft class.

“What a strange draft 2019 turned into,” Quinn wrote. “The two surefire stars, Zion Williamson and Ja Morant, haven’t been surefire anythings. We could take one of the second-round picks who turned into starting-caliber centers — Daniel Gafford or Nic Claxton — but Gafford is a low-minutes player and Claxton has never won anything. The real debate here comes down to Darius Garland at No. 5 and Tyler Herro at No. 13. Garland is better, and there’s some irony in this being the debate seeing as how Garland spoke openly about hunting Herro in pick-and-roll last postseason. But it’d be hard to call him eight slots better than Herro given his relatively uninspiring postseason track record. Herro made the Finals as a rookie in 2020 and has proven a capable postseason weapon on offense. His ascent to the All-Star Game last year gets him across the finish line here.”

Herro, 25, has unquestionably been one of the best players from his class. In six seasons, he’s averaged 19.4 points, five rebounds and four assists on 44.8 percent shooting and 38.2 percent from 3-point range. He is also coming off the best season of his career, posting 23.9 points on 47.2/37.5/87.8 shooting splits, in addition to 5.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.

While Quinn labels him the best pick of the class, I doubt Herro would go No. 1 in a re-draft. He’s likely in the top-5 — along with the likes of Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Darius Garland and Cam Johnson — in however order you’d want to organize that. Daniel Gafford, Nic Claxton and Coby White deserve some consideration, too.

There has been a devaluation of one-way scoring guards throughout the NBA. But it’s cool to see Herro get some recognition somewhere! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!