In the coming weeks, the National Basketball Association will announce the winners of certain individual awards for this season, including the Sixth Man of the Year award.
The three frontrunners for the honor are Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro, Cleveland Cavaliers big man Kevin Love and the Phoenix Suns’ Cameron Johnson.
All three have had strong seasons, but Herro has to be considered the clear frontrunner for the award.
Herro Continues To Emerge As A Difference-Maker
When Herro was taken with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Heat, he was expected to perhaps be a decent player.
But from the start, he surpassed the expectations of just about everyone.
He averaged 13.5 points in 27.4 minutes per game as a rookie while shooting an excellent 38.9 percent from 3-point range, and he played a key role in the Heat’s Cinderella run to the NBA Finals by averaging 16.0 points in 33.6 minutes a game during the postseason.
The year, the University of Kentucky product put up 20.7 points in 32.6 minutes per game while upping his 3-point accuracy to 39.9 percent and his assists to 4.0 a game, compared to his 2.2 assists per game average as a rookie.
In Game 3 of the Heat’s first-round playoff series versus the Atlanta Hawks, Herro led his team in scoring 24 points while adding seven rebounds and five dimes.
Tyler: HERRO 🚨
Big 3 to give the Heat some breathing room 😤pic.twitter.com/On9K54oRKg
— Heat Nation (@HeatNationCP) April 23, 2022
Tyler Herro in motion 💫pic.twitter.com/HHb0RDz0p0
— Heat Nation (@HeatNationCP) April 23, 2022
Although Miami lost 111-110 on a runner in the lane in the final seconds by Trae Young, Herro clearly made his presence felt, as he usually did throughout the regular season.
The Other Two Candidates Haven’t Been As Impressive
Love had a nice bounce-back season for Cleveland, averaging 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while hitting on 39.2 percent of his 3-point shot attempts.
What he has done looks nice on paper, especially following three somewhat sub-par and injured-riddled campaigns from him.
However, Love did what he did for a team that missed the playoffs, and he just isn’t the same impactful player that Herro is, especially since he can’t really score points in bunches as Herro can.
Johnson did well for the Suns, who finished with the NBA’s best record, putting up 12.5 points in 26.2 minutes a game.
But per 36 minutes, the differences are clear: Johnson was at 17.1 points and 2.1 assists a game, while Herro contributed 22.9 points and 4.4 assists per game.
Of the three, Herro clearly has the biggest ability to explode and play like an All-Star on any given night, and he is often the X-factor for the Heat team that could very well return to the championship series if enough goes their way again.
His scoring went up significantly from 15.1 a game last year to 20.7 a game this season while he saw only a very slight increase in his playing time.
It begs the question of how much better Herro may get in the next couple of seasons.
He is just 22 years of age, meaning that he is still several years away from his prime, and plenty in South Florida feel that someday soon he will appear in the NBA All-Star game.
At the very least, he may become a starter for the Heat not too long from now.
NEXT: The Heat Need Victor Oladipo To Step Up Big In The Playoffs