Upon Terry Rozier’s trade arrival from the Charlotte Hornets last season, the Miami Heat had high hopes, particularly in pairing him up with another talented guard on the roster. When healthy, Tyler Herro is a big part of Miami’s plans, especially on the offensive end. He is a three level scorer that can create for himself and others at ease, similar to Rozier.
The idea was to pair the two in the starting backcourt in hopes of creating a more top heavy unit alongside the greatness of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The Heat have lacked firepower in the point guard position for years. The Rozier acquisition was supposed to finally supplement that. Unfortunately, these plans came to a hault when both Rozier and Herro suffered injuries towards the end of last year’s 2023-24 campaign.
Now they are both fully healthy and hungry to get to work. The fit between the two became questionable for a lot of Heat fans, as their offensive games brought a bit of redundancy to the lineup. However, they remain committed to playing together and off each other efficiently. And that’s exactly what transpired during the team’s first preseason win.
Herro dropped a team-high 12 points on 4/9 shooting to go along with 2 steals in just 15 minutes. Rozier added 11 points on 5/9 shooting in 17 minutes. Combined, the backcourt was efficient and impactful with 50% shooting from the field.
Erik Spoelstra’s thoughts on the duo
It seemed like coach Erik Spoelstra was also pleased by their performance, noting the duo “give us a different dynamic of speed and quickness.”
Coach Spo on the Heat’s core four and starting unit
“Terry and Tyler, they looked fast. They make our lineup fast. Jimmy and Bam will be able to figure it out, they’re our anchors, always going to play through them but Terry and Tyler gave us that pop.” pic.twitter.com/6gmB8xQmaN
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) October 14, 2024
The potential between not just the core four playing together, but the Rozier/Herro pairing is high. These are all players that can create offense in a plethora of different ways. The backcourt is being backed up by the elite defense and versatility Butler and Adebayo bring. To round out this quartet, it looks like Nikola Jovic will be the team’s fifth starter and first unit power forward.
The fit is still a work in progress, but the offensive potential Rozier and Herro bring to the table gives the Heat an extra pop in the depth chart. Their impact together will go a long way into the team’s success this season, and both are locked in. Teams have upped their 3-points volume to match today’s style of NBA. This is the backcourt duo that can optimize that the most.
Miami’s goal entering this season was to juice up their offense, and this group of guys getting a lot of reps together gives them the best chance to do so.
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