The Miami Heat have drawn headlines lately for the ongoing Jimmy Butler-Pat Riley feud, but don’t let that soap opera obscure the fact that Tyler Herro has elevated his game to become one of the premier guards in the NBA. Herro has made steady progress in his six years in the league, and he’s currently one of the favorites to win the Most Improved Player award thanks to career highs in points, rebounds, assists, and shooting percentage.
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But his journey of becoming one of the top guards started with his Kentucky head coach’s work. He talked of John Calipari’s impact on making him ready for the NBA in the shortest possible window for a college athlete.
During this week’s The OGs podcast episode Hosts Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, who are both former Heat players themselves but also Florida Gators, naturally had to ask Herro, a former Kentucky Wildcat, about his time in college. Haslem and Miller were especially curious about what it was like to be a one-and-done player under John Calipari, and Herro came clean on the experience:
“He’s gonna push you, he’s gonna make you put the work in, too. The work is not gonna be easy, and the things you have to go through to get to be able to be a one-and-done … really working hard, putting the time in, watching film. No shortcuts on going to class and things like that.”
Herro pointed out that some players come in and expect things to be easy because they’ve seen so many Wildcats follow the one-and-done path before, but those players end up flaming out in their careers. He compared going to Kentucky with playing for the Heat, saying, “It’s not for everybody.”
Calipari is a divisive figure, but Herro has nothing but respect for him
Calipari’s split with Big Blue Nation and subsequent acceptance of the Arkansas head coaching job has been tough on Kentucky fans, and Herro talked about how he still hasn’t wrapped his head around who to root for this season because he likes what new Kentucky head coach Mark Pope is doing for the culture, but he also still appreciates what Coach Cal did for him. Herro called himself a “Calipari guy” before talking about how he ended up playing for Cal at Kentucky.
“He took a chance on me. I was a four-star recruit, and at the time at Kentucky he’s taking all five-stars who are one-and-done. He took a chance on me, he believed in me, so it’s hard not to follow his steps and be supporting him at Arkansas.”
Herro’s journey is a reminder that even for one-and-dones, a successful NBA career doesn’t happen without hard work. That work is paying off for Herro in a big way.
