Sports pundit and NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith is well known for his passionate takes, and he recently declared that there isn’t a person on the planet that roots harder for the Miami Heat than him.
Beyond that, he also made it clear that he believes rising star Tyler Herro is the Heat’s best chance at contending right now.
“Let me be very clear: No one, I repeat, no one on the planet Earth roots harder for the Miami Heat than me, okay?” he said. “I want them to win, badly. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. I will tell you this, though. I’ll give ’em a chance if Tyler Herro is launching.”
He doesn’t seem all that convinced about the Heat’s chances to succeed at a high level this season, and frankly, the team hasn’t given him — or any of their fans within South Florida and beyond — many reasons to be.
The Heat got off to a pretty rough start in the 2022-23 campaign and held a 7-11 record at one point. Since then, they have been winning at a much more acceptable rate. At the moment, they lay claim to the No. 8 seed in the highly competitive Eastern Conference.
Though their regular season record is trending in the right direction, the Heat still haven’t convinced anyone that they are real title contenders just yet. The roster has some pretty sizable holes, and many of their key contributors, most notably Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, aren’t getting any younger.
Smith may be right that the Heat will only go as far as Herro can take them, but he forgot to mention one player who certainly has what takes to change the Heat’s trajectory this season, and that’s Bam Adebayo. Adebayo has looked transcendent at times this season and really seems to be coming into his own as an offensive focal point for the team.
On the season, Herro is putting up 21.2 points per game on 44.5 percent shooting from the field and 39.2 percent shooting from deep. With that in mind, he is currently dealing with an Achilles injury.