It was a little past 2 p.m. on Sept. 27. Herro and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra were having lunch at a ritzy Coconut Grove restaurant on Miami’s waterfront. Spoelstra didn’t know then whether he had coached Herro for the last time.
When Spoelstra returned from a six-week stint on Team USA’s coaching staff at the FIBA World Cup, he asked Herro to lunch.
“We were just catching up,” Spoelstra said. “Shootin’ the shit.”
As the lunch went on, Herro’s phone kept buzzing. Finally, he told Spoelstra he had to pick it up. “Look, Coach,” interrupted Herro, a father of two. “I don’t want to get this but I just got to make sure everything’s good at home.” Herro turned his phone around.
“That’s when he told me,” Spoelstra said.
Lillard had been traded, but not to Miami. To Milwaukee. At that moment, Herro knew he was coming back. Spoelstra and Herro couldn’t help but laugh. Then, the conversation shifted from shit-shooting to the upcoming season.
“It was like,” Herro said, “let’s have a real talk.”
because the NBA is scripted