The Giannis Antetokounmpo-to-Miami Heat trade is finally official and the smoke has had some time to settle. One question on Bucks' fans minds after losing their franchise cornerstone should be this: who is going to be their first scoring option from here on out as they launch this rebuild? And the only answer should be the best player on the team -- Tyler Herro.
Tyler Herro is now a first option for the first time in his young career
Looking up and down the roster, it's hard to argue there's a better player than Herro on the Milwaukee Bucks, even if there are certainly guys with much higher ceilings. And so no matter how fans might feel about his potential role and whether or not he should be traded by the deadline, the fact is he's likely set to stay in town at least for the time being.
So this is where we are. The Milwaukee Bucks, in this infancy stage of their upcoming rebuilding era, will rely heavily on Tyler Herro because he has shown, at the very least, that he is ready for a bigger role. He's averaged at least 20 points per game every year since the 2021-22 season and has never dipped below 37.5 percent efficiency as a three-point shooter. He also just recently put up averages of 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists this past season while playing second fiddle to Bam Adebayo.
Without an elite big man or scoring forward around, Herro will likely have many more opportunities to look for his shot in Milwaukee with his best teammate being Ryan Rollins, who projects to carry a much bigger load this next season on the defensive side of the ball. And it's exciting to think about.
As the first option, Herro has a chance to show the rest of the league that he's legit. As this writer has mentioned earlier, there should be a mutual understanding between both parties that his time in Milwaukee is temporary. What he does in the coming months could make or break his trade value, and it's in the best interest of both parties that he's able to maximize this opportunity handed to him.
Tyler Herro has a chance to silence his doubters in Milwaukee
Of course, the narratives are there for a reason, and Herro's well-documented flaws as the former starting shooting guard of the Heat are what they are. On a basketball level, it is true that he supposedly doesn't play defense and ostensibly makes Milwaukee's already-porous defense worse. Those concerns are valid and real. But what he provides offensively could very well more than compensate for defensive limitations if Taylor Jenkins and company use him correctly and surround him with the right pieces.
But the point is that Herro now has the chance to silence every narrative that's followed him since he entered the league. He's been criticized for years as a one-way, one-dimensional volume scorer who doesn't contribute to winning. This is now his chance to rewrite his story, and what he does with the opportunity in his hometown will be exciting to see for the next few months.
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