[jwplayer UbYvRska]
Miami Heat rookie Tyler Herro missed 15 games prior to the season suspension due to an ankle injury and managed to return to play just before the NBA came to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Herro logged seven minutes on March 11 in his first game back and recorded just two points. The season was then suspended just when Herro returned as he had yet to regain his place in the rotation and that will be one hurdle the Heat will have to work through as the season restarts this month.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday that working Herro, along with Meyers Leonard, back into the rotation will be a process as he believed the team had a good lineup prior to the shutdown, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel.
“I think we had a pretty stable rotation when the season shut down,” Spoelstra said.
Spoelstra said all 17 players on the roster will travel with the team to the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. Finding a place for Herro, though, could be a challenge since he hadn’t played his normal allotment of minutes since the beginning of February.
For several teams, the eight seeding games will be used to prepare for the postseason. The Heat enter the restart fourth in the Eastern Conference and will likely be among those teams that will focus on settling the rotation than playoff seeding since they are likely locked into the fourth seed.
The time spent during the seeding games will be a crucial period for those teams already locked into the playoffs and the Heat will look to take advantage of that time.
The Heat return to action on Aug. 1 vs. the Denver Nuggets.
[lawrence-related id=19203,19184,19171]
[vertical-gallery id=14282]