Heat's Tyler Herro: My struggles last season were 'all mental'

Tyler Herro’s sophomore season was on par with “Space Jam 2” in terms of disappointing follow-ups. Now the Miami Heat guard is offering a surprising reason for why he struggled.

Herro spoke this week with Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press (h/t NBA.com) and said that he was unhappy last season, which affected his mentality.

“Last year, it was all mental,” Herro said. “I didn’t enjoy coming into work every day.”

The 21-year-old also said that he was bothered by hearing criticisms about how he supposedly was not taking basketball seriously.

“For me, one of the biggest things was hearing people say that I partied too much, that I’m not in the gym, that I don’t love the gym,” Herro added. “If you knew me, you’d know I try to be the hardest-working dude out here. So, I think you’ll see that this year.”

Finally, Herro said he is in a much better place mentally now and credited the birth of his daughter earlier this offseason for giving him some added motivation to be his best.

“I just feel good,” he said. “I feel like I have a reason now. Not that I didn’t before. But now I have another reason to be motivated every single day when I walk into the arena. I have to be the best I can every single day because I have a daughter now. And I’m in a very good spot right now.”

Herro’s surface numbers last year were actually up from his rookie season. But he was less efficient, turned the ball over more often, regressed further defensively and even became unplayable down the stretch in certain games. At one point, the Heat even grew concerned about Herro’s growing celebrity status affecting his play.

But the former lottery pick has been putting in major work in the gym lately and looks to be a major bounce-back candidate for the 2021-22 campaign.