Heat mailbag: Examining Tyler Herro’s value amid Damian Lillard trade talks and more

The Miami Herald’s Heat mailbag is here to answer your pressing offseason questions. If you weren’t able to ask this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email them in to achiang@miamiherald.com.

Heat’s Jamal Cain, still a restricted free agent, with something to prove in summer league

Tyler: Where do you think Tyler Herro fits best around the league? I’ve seen plenty of rumors about Brooklyn and San Antonio as possible landing spots, and I think either one would be great for him. But beyond that I don’t know who else would be reaching out and trading for him for equal/near equal value.

Anthony Chiang: I’m going to assume you’re a different Tyler and not Tyler Herro himself. Who knows where Herro will end up if the Heat trades for Damian Lillard. But it is strange how Herro’s perceived value on the trade market has been diminished throughout this process.

Sure, Herro is entering the first season of a four-year extension that could be worth as much as $130 million, but that contract is going to look better in a few years when the salary cap continues to rise. He’s also just 23 years old (one year older than Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr.) and has already won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. Herro is a gifted scorer who has continued to show signs of improvement, averaging 20-plus points in each of the last two seasons.

Among those drafted into the NBA since 2019, Herro is one of only six players who has averaged at least 20 points per game in the regular season at least twice during their careers. The others are Zion Williamson, LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Darius Garland and Ja Morant.

Herro will never be an elite defender, but he even displayed growth on that end of the court this past season and has been well-schooled in the Heat’s system.

Is Herro a perfect player? No.

Do the Trail Blazers already have a bunch of young guards on their roster? Yes.

But Herro shouldn’t be portrayed as a negative asset because he’s not that. In fact, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported this week that there are multiple teams that would trade at least one first-round pick for Herro, and even that seems a bit low for what Herro should command on the trade market.

@e4b4utist4: Who do you think will be a better player in five years? Nikola Jovic or Jaime Jaquez Jr.?

Anthony: Considering that Jovic is still only 20 and Jaquez is 22, I’ll go with Jovic because he’s had a head start in the NBA on Jaquez. But this is purely a guess because we still don’t really know what the Heat has in Jaquez, who was just drafted into the league three weeks ago and has only played in one full summer league game due to a shoulder injury.

@alexmacosta: How do you see the frontcourt rotation between Thomas Bryant, Kevin Love and Bam Adebayo?

Anthony: A lot depends on whether Love starts alongside Adebayo like he did for most of the Heat’s deep playoff run this past season.

If Love starts with Adebayo, the backup center spot will likely come down to either Bryant or Orlando Robinson. If Love doesn’t start, Love could end up logging most of his minutes as the Heat’s backup center.

By re-signing Love, promoting Robinson to the 15-man roster and adding Bryant this summer, the Heat has given itself different options in the frontcourt after lacking enough serviceable bigs on its bench for a chunk of last season.