Tyler Hero has had the best season of his career and has emerged as the face of the Miami Heat franchise.
After the Miami Heat traded Jimmy Butler, Pat Riley handed over the franchise keys to the miscellaneous crew of high-level role players.
Statistically, Bam Adebayo has one of the worst seasons of his career, but Tyler Hero officially broke out as a star. He averaged 23.8 points and 5.5 assists per game and received his first All-Star nod.
His appearance as a top player in the league has prompted him to win another individual award.
This season, Hero averages both points and assists, taking on a new role in the heat. He is their primary goals scorer, not only supporting leaders, but also influenced defense in the greatest way of his career.
According to BETMGM, Hero has a +25,000 odds far to wind up the George Mikan Trophy, but has the sixth best odds that are the most improved.
“Tyler Hero deserves real recognition of this award,” Wes Goldberg argued. Athletic NBA Everyday Podcast.
“I also want to see a guy who has legally improved with different parts of the game, with certain skills, but I might change the way he plays.
“I think that’s probably the most overwhelming improvement, especially if you’ve got two game scores of two games this year, you’ve got a $100 million contract, a $100 million contract, a $100 million contract, a $100 million contract, that’s probably the most overwhelming improvement.
“The person in that position said, ‘What do you know? I’m going to change everything about what I’m doing. I’m going to change it all forever.”
Hero has already built a career-highest career with 75 games played and was Miami’s most reliable player. He is preceded by Dyson Daniels, Cade Cunningham, Christian Brown, Evica Zubuck and Evan Mobley. However, Cunningham and Mobley are both top three draft picks, with four seasons being ruled out from the rookie year.
They were expected to hit this level of play. Hero has been constantly improving throughout his career.
Last season, 29.5% of Halo’s shots were attempted in the midrange within the 3-point line, 10 feet outside the basket. This season he reduced that number to 15.8% of his attempts.
As a deadly shooter in Deep and an underrated driver, Hero finally began to attack and aimed for a high percentage shot or high value 3 instead of attacking his man and taking tough, contested shots.
He appears to have been portrayed directly by Stephen Curry this season.
“He looked at Steph Curry’s shot chart,” Goldberg continued. “And he’s like, ‘I want to get as close to it as possible.’ And he liked all midrange jumpers and was able to dribble the air from the ball and into them.
“You know, he started taking more threes. His off-ball movement was huge. Physically. He’s gotten much better.”
Curry has always been praised for his off-ball movements and his ability to open without the ball in hand. He’s always running and shows some of the best conditioning in NBA history.
Last season, Hero averaged 2.59 miles per game, with an average speed of 4.43 miles per hour. 2.59 miles per game was 17th in the league, but this season he has improved to 2.79 miles, better than fourth in the NBA.
Hero’s play is a big reason why the heat continues to live in play-in rankings, and his amazing improvements should not be overlooked.