Last week NBA on TNT color commentator Stan Van Gundy had a little fun at the expense of injured Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro. During Game 4 of the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics Eastern Conference finals series, Van Gundy, a former NBA coach who has once coached the Miami Heat, took a subtle jab at the aforementioned Herro’s wardrobe as the 2022 NBA Sixth Man of the Year sat on the bench.
The joke was thought to be mere fun, and just passing time as the Celtics ran away with the Game 4 victory to avoid a sweep. Van Gundy’s line, which went like this, got a chuckle out of Hall of Famer Reggie Miller:
“His fashion is so bad on the bench, we need him in uniform.”
SVGs was funny and shed light on a real problem around the league as pertains to the fashion choices of many of today’s players.
Herro Claps Back, But Did He Make It Personal?
In response to SVGs subtle jab, Herro took a dig at his coaching résumé. The former Kentucky Wildcats star took to IG to respond to Van Gundy’s wisecrack:
“My fashion as bad as he was on the sideline.”
While it’s intended to be funny, it’s a dig at a coach who went 554-425 in his coaching career with stops in Miami, Orlando, Detroit and New Orleans. He took a one-All-Star Orlando Magic squad to the NBA Finals in 2009. He was also the coach of the Miami Heat when they lost in seven games to the Detroit Pistons in 2005, before being replaced by Pat Riley in mid-December of the 2005-06 season.
So to call his coaching into play isn’t really a good angle, because while he’s not the best, he’s also nowhere near the worst.
SVG Calls Today’s Generation Soft
The back-and-forth between the two seem to begin as fun, but now seems to be more personal with Van Gundy saying this during Saturday’s Game 6 broadcast.
In retrospect, SVG has to be able to take Herro’s comments without maybe calling today’s player sensitive. Just like he thinks Herro could and should dress better, the Heat sharpshooter believes he could’ve been a better head coach during his time on the sidelines.
With Game 7 on the horizon for Monday, maybe we won’t have to hear much of this anymore if the Heat were to lose. But if the Heat win this could spill over into the NBA Finals with Herro slated to return if they advance.
