Photo : Brynn Anderson ( AP )

He scored Miami’s first 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting in Monday night’s preseason game against the Hawks, but it is probably best not to read too much into 19-year-old rookie Tyler Herro, the greatest shooting guard in the history of the Miami Heat, and for that matter, the NBA. Preseason basketball has very little predictive value, so it does no good to say that Herro’s four three-pointers in the first five minutes of the first quarter have earned him a place among the game’s very best, Magic, Bird, Hakeem, etc. Can Herro create space off the dribble, pull up confidently and pass out of double teams, skills that he will undoubtedly only polish and refine moving forward? Sure. Does his elegant, high and immediate release, coupled with h is solid on-ball defense, rival the likes of Klay Thompson? Of course. But the NBA season hasn’t started yet, so none of this matters.




For whatever it’s worth, which is nothing, obviously, Herro finished with a tied for game-high 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting and 5-for-7 from behind the arc, for a plus-minus of +23. He remains just several tens of thousands of points shy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record; none of tonight’s counted because it’s a preseason game.