Tyler Herro is nearing his return from the ankle surgery that has kept him sidelined since September, and is targeting the Heat‘s matchup Monday against the Mavericks for his return date, reports the AP’s Tim Reynolds (via Twitter).
Herro returned to practice last Sunday for the first time since the season began. Both he and head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke previously about their confidence that the star shooting guard will be able to fit in smoothly with the team’s new offensive approach, which has dramatically deemphasized pick-and-rolls in favor of quick drive-and-kick attacks.
Herro is coming off his first All-Star appearance with the Heat last year, when he averaged 23.9 points, 5.5 assists, and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 37.5% from three. He took on a large portion of the team’s ball-handling responsibility last season, and it will be interesting to see how he can adjust to the team’s new pace, as well as the acquisition of fellow shooting guard Norman Powell from the Clippers this Summer.
Powell, so far this season, has improved on last season’s career-best performance. In 11 games this season heading into Wednesday night, Powell has averaged 25.5 points on a blistering 46.1% from three. While the three-point number will likely drop as the season goes on, Powell has been an elite shooter throughout his NBA tenure, shooting 40.0% on 2735 career attempts over 11 seasons.
It’s unclear whether the overlap in Powell and Herro’s skillsets will lead to one of them being sent to the bench — Herro was the Sixth Man of the Year in the 2021/22 season, or if Davion Mitchell will be the one who ends up taking over the primary bench responsibilities.
Mitchell has done a good job organizing the Heat’s offense this season, averaging 7.4 assists in 14 games, all starts, while adding 10.8 points per night and playing tenacious on-ball defense, a point of weakness in both Herro and Powell’s games.