Erik Spoelstra has spent years stressing the greater good, “selflessness” and “sacrifice” his core pillars for a franchise that doesn’t always have All-Stars but almost always finds a way to contend.
But now in his 15th season as Miami Heat coach, there also seemingly is an acceptance that metrics, analytics and allegiance to the greater good at times have to give way to business and brashness.
So while arguments, compelling arguments, certainly could be made otherwise, all indications are that Wednesday night, when the Miami Heat open their 35th season, Tyler Herro will be rolled out with the starting unit.
Because you don’t sign off on a $130 million contract for a reserve.
And because all involved recognize how much it means to the fourth-year guard.
Granted, others have lobbied, pushed, prodded for the starting lineup. And with Bam Adebayo, at a time there still was faith in Hassan Whiteside, there was a degree of pushback from the franchise.
But Herro could not have made the desire any clearer after Wednesday night’s preseason finale.
There, standing in front of his locker at FTX Arena, and still looking younger than his 22 years, he turned the question of why he so wanted to be a starter into a question for the questioner.
“Same reason you want a promotion,” he said respectfully but categorically. “I didn’t come into the league trying to be a bench player. That’s just not who I am. I’m motivated to be one of the best players in the league at some point in my career, and I don’t think I can do it coming off the bench.”
Herro’s four-year, $130 million extension (with $120 million guaranteed) certainly is beyond the paygrade of a reserve. but that deal also does not kick in until a year from now, at the start of 2023-24.
At the moment, at $5.7 million for this season, he ranks eighth on the Heat payroll, behind Jimmy Butler ($37.7 million), Adebayo ($30.4 million), Kyle Lowry ($28.3 million) and even Duncan Robinson ($16.9 million), Victor Oladipo ($8.8 million) and Caleb Martin ($6.5 million), just ahead of Dewayne Dedmon ($4.7 million).
And there certainly is nothing wrong with a team’s eighth-highest paid playing as a reserve.
In fact, it is because of what we’ve seen to this point about one of those just above Herro in paygrade that creates consternation with Herro as starter.
Had Oladipo shown during the preseason that he had regained his burst, his missing step, after four injury-plagued seasons, a case could be made for balance in the rotation, with Oladipo as go-to scorer of the second unit.
But that has not happened. It was not a good preseason for Oladipo.
Instead, based on what Spoelstra rolled out in Wednesday’s dress rehearsal, with Adebayo, Martin, Butler, Lowry and Herro as starters, there is practically no shot creation in the second unit of Dedmon, Max Strus, Robinson, Gabe Vincent and Oladipo.
Granted, as Spoelstra noted before going 10 deep with his primary rotations Wednesday, there almost assuredly will not be a two-platoon approach during the regular season. So there certainly is the wherewithal to have either Herro or Butler to provide go-to offense with the second unit.
But with Oladipo not yet close to All-Star Oladipo, and with shot creation lacking to the degree that two-way player Jamal Cain already stands among the Heat’s best in that regard, Herro as starter may not exactly be serving the greater good.
On one hand, by playing Herro alongside the defensive-minded likes of Adebayo, Martin, Butler and Lowry it somewhat mitigates his defensive deficiencies. But amid the call for more shots from Adebayo and the reality that Martin could well have more attempts than shot-shy P.J. Tucker, it also could mean less first-team creation opportunities for Herro.
To his credit, Spoelstra has shuffled through lineups as needed, when needed.
Last year, for example, Robinson was an opening-night starter. Then, eventually, he was not.
In 2020, Moe Harkless was a Heat opening-night starter. Four games later, he was on the bench.
And in 2019, Justise Winslow was an opening-night starter, only to be dealt at the trading deadline.
So, yes, Spoelstra starting lineups evolve.
And with the Heat, they hardly are written in stone.
But in this case, it is possible the greater good is taking a back seat.
