Ira Winderman: For Heat’s Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro, it’s about keeping the faith

The show of faith was somewhat a leap of faith, when Pat Riley came out hours after last week’s NBA trading deadline and said the promise of Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson was too great to be dealt away.

A day later, the Miami Heat took the extraordinary step of insisting, through the team’s publicity wing, that Herro and Robinson never were offered in any of the team’s trade permutations, even as word swirled to the contrary, amid the aggressive maneuvering that ultimately landed Nemanja Bjelica and Victor Oladipo, before coming up short with Kyle Lowry.

Now for the Heat’s two young shooting stars it has become a matter of keeping the faith.

In the balance? The future of the franchise.

Hyperbole? Sure, but then again so was the Heat insistence that the team’s protection of its youth made Herro, Robinson and even Precious Achiuwa untouchable.

Still, just as the pre-deadline angst seemingly had Robinson and Herro off their games, the confidence boost, real or manufactured by the front office, ostensibly has the two looking like keepers.

“I mean,” Robinson said of Riley’s words, “it’s very humbling coming from a guy who just has a wealth of basketball knowledge and has seen so much in this league and just a knack for evaluating talent.

“So it just encourages me and motivates me to live up to that and surpass it. That’s the ultimate goal.”

In the six games prior to the deadline, Robinson was 18 of 55 (.327) from beyond the arc. In the four games since, 14 of 24 (.583).

“I’ve just got to continue to show up and handle my business, work to improve,” he said of validating Riley’s faith, “and the goal and the plan is to make those comments a reality.”

For Herro, the trend was equally concerning, averaging 11 points in the four games through last Thursday’s trade deadline. He has averaged 20 in the three games since.

“It’s obviously a blessing,” he said of the Riley seal of approval, “and it was good to know that the GM of the team and the president of the team [appreciate] what I’m doing right now, and the rest of our young guys.

“I’ve just got to continue to keep working and continue to get better every single day. That’s what it comes down to.”

Based on the deadline makeover, Herro and Robinson set up as supporting pieces the remainder of this season and perhaps even going forward.

Jimmy Butler showed again in Monday night’s 27-point performance in the 98-88 victory in New York that he is the leading man. Bam Adebayo, with his 20 points and season-high 17 rebounds against the Knicks, including 10 points in the decisive fourth quarter, affirmed his place as secondary star. Oladipo, out at the moment due to an illness, was brought in as the consistent third scorer so often lacking this season. And Goran Dragic’s Monday return from back spasms raised hope of reversing the team’s slide in his absence and producing something on the winning side of the ledger, as the team moves on to Wednesday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Then there is the floor spacing of Robinson, including his 4-of-9 shooting on 3-pointers Monday at Madison Square Garden, and bench boost of Herro, with his 18 points in reserve in New York.

When those two hit their high notes, the ensemble plays to rhythm far more consequential than during the just-snapped six-game losing streak.

The Heat need the two at something closer to their best, particularly with the ongoing uncertainty at power forward (how low can you go when it comes to undersized?) and backup center (where there were five fouls and two points Monday from Achiuwa).

With Robinson, an eight-figure decision is looming in this summer’s free agency. With Herro, it is less than two seasons away when it comes to his rookie-scale extension.

So choices soon enough again will have to be made on both.

For now, though, it is about keeping the faith, with Monday night in New York showing that faith just might be well placed.