Bam Adebayo says he knew Tyler Herro could play like this

The Heat have taken a 3-1 Eastern Conference Finals lead on the Celtics, and yesterday’s scoring star for Miami in their Game 4 win was guard Tyler Herro, who came off the bench to score 37 points. Here’s the Sun Sentinel on what a star teammate had to say:

“First of all,” teammate Bam Adebayo said of the precocious 6-foot-5 guard, “I haven’t been surprised because I knew what the kid could do.”

While Adebayo tends to be soft-spoken, a visit to his college campus a few years back had the former Kentucky center struck by the cocksure 18-year-old kid who already had an NBA scoring repertoire.

“I went to Lexington to go see the coaches, just to see what’s up, get some work in,” Adebayo said in the wake of Herro’s Wednesday tour de force. “We were playing pickup and I was just realizing, going against the man, he doesn’t back down from the moment.”

It was a moment Adebayo wasn’t going to allow to go unnoticed, or unreported.

“I was the one who put the bug in Pat [Riley’s] ear to draft the kid. Just saying,” Adebayo said during his media session at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, where these quarantined NBA playoffs are drawing closer to their championship conclusion. “I’m not shocked by the success that Tyler’s having. He comes in the gym every day, great work ethic, great dude, he doesn’t bother anybody, just works.”

2019-20 NBA All-Rookie teams announced

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year, has been unanimously selected to the 2019-20 NBA All-Rookie First Team. As the lone unanimous selection, Morant received NBA All-Rookie First Team votes on all 100 ballots from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Joining Morant (200 points) on the 2019-20 NBA All-Rookie First Team are Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn (197 points; 98 First Team votes), Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke (189 points; 92 First Team votes), New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (176 points; 87 First Team votes) and Golden State Warriors forward Eric Paschall (116 points; 28 First Team votes).

With the selection of Morant and Clarke, the Grizzlies have multiple players on the NBA All-Rookie First Team for the first time since the 2001-02 season (Pau Gasol and Shane Battier). Nunn, who played in the NBA G League last season, is the first Heat player named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team since the 2008-09 season (Michael Beasley). Williamson and Paschall complete the NBA All-Rookie First Team as the first and 41st overall picks in NBA Draft 2019, respectively.

The 2019-20 NBA All-Rookie Second Team consists of Heat guard Tyler Herro (115 points), Toronto Raptors guard Terence Davis II (96), Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (90), Charlotte Hornets forward P.J. Washington Jr. (88) and Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura (74).

The media panel selected five players for the NBA All-Rookie First Team and five players for the NBA All-Rookie Second Team at any position. Players received two points for each First Team vote and one point for each Second Team vote.

The voting was conducted based on regular-season games played through March 11. The seeding games, which were played July 30 – Aug. 14 as part of the 2019-20 season restart, did not count toward voting for the NBA All-Rookie Team or the league’s other traditional end-of-season awards.

Checking in with Heat guard Tyler Herro

Here’s ESPN.com checking in on young Heat guard Tyler Herro:

For the season, Herro ranks eighth among rookies in scoring (12.9 points), seventh in 20-point games (9) and tied for first with 2.1 3-pointers per game.

His seven made 3-pointers on Jan. 22 against the Washington Wizards were the most in a game by a Heat rookie in franchise history and tied for the most by any rookie this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information. However, Herro is still not satisfied.

“I just hope that they open as soon as possible,” Herro said of practice facilities possibly reopening soon. “Obviously, hoping everybody stays safe … but we would all love to get back into the facilities and start working out and stuff like that again on a normal routine.”

The NBA season is on hold, but there’s still hope that either it will resume — likely in condensed form — or some sort of playoffs can take place.

Some Miami Heat player notes from the season

Had the global coronavirus pandemic not put a stop to things, today was to be the final day of the 2019-20 NBA regular season.

The Miami Heat were having an excellent season, and while Jimmy Butler is their most well-known player, plenty of other guys share the credit, including do-it-all first-time All-Star forward Bam Adebayo, and talented young guards Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro. Here’s the Miami Herald with some notes:

Adebayo: If this is the end of the regular season, Adebayo will join Oscar Robertson as the only players to average at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists before turning 23.

Robinson: No player other than Steph Curry has ever hit as many three-pointers in a season at such a high rate of accuracy. Let that marinate for a minute.

Nunn: With 972 points, Nunn scored more in his first 62 games than any other undrafted player during the common draft era (post-1966) except Connie Hawkins (1,494).

Herro: Among players with at least eight clutch three-pointers this season, only Joe Harris shot better than Herro on threes in clutch time, among all NBA guards this season.

With games on hold, if the regular season was declared over but the playoffs to begin, the Eastern conference No. 4 Heat would be playing the No. 5 Pacers in the first round.

Justise Winslow recovering slowly from concussion

 

 

 

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It’s been a great start to the new season for the Miami Heat. Through Sunday’s games they are 11-4, which ties them for the second best record in the Eastern conference.

Leading the team has been an interesting cast of characters. Small forward Jimmy Butler is the first name to mention. Rookie guards Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro have been key success factors. Goran Dragic, coming off the bench for all 14 games he’s played so far, still contributes starter-like production. Center Bam Adebayo is doing big things, many of which don’t show up on the stat-sheet. Duncan Robinson is hitting shots.

The Heat have an impressive seven players averaging double-digit scoring. But one of those players, Justise Winslow, has played in just five games.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports the following: “After absorbing a hard blow in a collision that left Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap requiring 11 stitches in a Nov. 5 Heat road loss, Winslow entered the NBA’s concussion protocol and has been sidelined since. With the absence against the Hornets, it makes it nine consecutive games missed by the 2015 first-round pick out of Duke. Factoring in the two games he missed prior to the Nuggets game, Winslow has now been out for 11 of the past 12, limited to five appearances.”

The Heat are playing good basketball this season. Hopefully they will be doing so with Winslow active sometime soon. For now, he remains out.