In a draft class that highlights mostly around Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Ja Morant, there’s one rookie very few people are talking about: Tyler Herro. I really have to give Jon Tolarchyk credit on this, because I never really thought about it until he said something. Tyler Herro has a legit chance to win this award right under people’s noses.
Tyler Herro Preseason Stats
Herro has only played one game so far this season, but after watching him in the preseason, you are left to wonder if he could actually win it. I understand it is just preseason, where you aren’t going against the best of the best the whole time in those 5 games. But to be fair, his preseason stats are already synonymous with the one game he has played. In the preseason, he averaged 14.2 PPG on 46.4% shooting, 2 APG, and 4.4 RPG. These aren’t bad stats as a rookie. Plus he’s going to be better as the year goes on.
Tyler Herro does have his work cut out for him if he’s going to have a shot to win Rookie of the Year. I think he’s in the top 5 for the reward regardless. He has one of the best opportunities at the moment. He is starting over Dion Waiters. In terms of opportunity, RJ Barrett and Ja Morant have the best shots at winning. Ja Morant doesn’t have a lot of talent on his team and he can really excel there if he capitalizes. The Knicks roster is better than the Grizzlies, but not enough to hold RJ Barrett back from being a go-to guy. He’s already played 36 minutes in 2 games this season. He’ll probably play more. Tyler Herro has a better opportunity to win than Zion Williamson honestly. This isn’t saying that Zion isn’t better than Herro. But Zion will have a tougher time to win with his team being much better than the other rookies’ teams. Also, Zion is already missing games, it’s fair to say that he is already coming off as injury-prone. Tyler Herro will be in the running for the award, if he becomes a real contributor for the Miami Heat, don’t sleep on him to win.
