Miami Heat: Will Bam Adebayo injury prompt the Heat to start Tyler Herro?

Will Bam Adebayo’s injury prompt the Miami Heat to start Tyler Herro? 

Life for the Miami Heat has gotten a bit more difficult. And Wednesday night, they got a little taste of how hard it will be to win without Bam Adebayo will be after he suffered a thumb injury that will keep him out of action for 4-6 weeks – though, it seemed as if the timeline is closer to six weeks, perhaps longer.

Without Bam (and Jimmy Butler), the Heat seemed overmatched by the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers and was blown out from the opening tip. If the Heat is going to survive and stay afloat near the top of the Eastern Conference without Bam in the lineup, there’s going to have to be some recalibration and adjusting.

Question is, does some of that recalibration and adjusting include a change to the starting lineup that goes beyond Bam’s replacement?

If Miami didn’t want to pull the plug on Duncan Robinson, who continues to struggle with his 3-point shooting, right now, the Bam’s injury might force their hand. Without Bam’s scoring prowess in the starting 5, there’s no question that the Heat is missing some production – even more so as Robinson continues to be a non-factor for the team.

Considering that Kyle Lowry is no longer the offensive scorer that he was previously with the Tonorot Raptors – he hasn’t been that through the first quarter of the season for the Heat, nor has shown the ability to flip the switch on that front – Miami is going to need a second scorer in the starting 5 next to Jimmy. And it’s certainly not going to be PJ Tucker or Dewayne Dedmon.

Miami may not have any other option than to swap Herro for Robinson in the starting 5. It may be the only option that the Heat has to keep itself, or to at the very least give themselves the best opportunity to, stay afloat in the East.

And the Heat doesn’t have much time to mess around. After Wednesday night’s loss to the Cavs, Miami has already dropped to fifth in the East. Even though the schedule loses up a bit with three of its next five games at home, Miami doesn’t have much room for error.

Especially considering that a good portion of their allowed error has already gone to Bam being out of the lineup for what appears to be the next two months.

Through the first quarter of the season, there have been three positive things that have stood out for the Heat – Jimmy, Bam, and Herro. With Bam out for the next couple of months, it’s going to be imperative for them to get the most out of Jimmy and Herro.

I’m not sure if that can continue to be the case if they limit Herro to a bench role.

The Heat may want to wait out Robinson’s cold-shooting stretch, but the injury to Bam doesn’t give them much flexibility. If they didn’t want to make the move until the second half of the season, their current circumstances might force them to do it now.

If Miami envisioned Herro as a starter at any point this season, there might not be a better time to make the move than now. And, quite frankly, they might be forced to make it either way.