Admittedly, the Miami Heat's Hiero was one of the biggest revelations earlier this season. At the start of the season, Hiro was definitely a strong contender for the Heat, and in fact, his performance made him a strong contender for the season's best sixth man of the year.
Despite his good performances, Charles Barkley is not ready to join Tyler Hilo. Hiro is a huge fan of the Heat's young players, but at this point, the Hall of Famer doesn't think Hiro has reached elite level.
Hiro himself recently made a rather bold statement claiming that he was on the same level as Luka Doncic, Trey Young and Ja Moran. In his opinion, the Heat's point guard thinks he should be like the aforementioned stars.
"I feel like I'm in the same conversation with those people, the young people who have grown up in the league are going to one day become all-stars, superstars, Luca, Trey, Jamorant and other people like them," Hiro said. I feel like my name should fall into that category as well. ”
People always have their own opinions when it comes to Hiro's future and his plans, so I asked him what position he thought he was in all of this
It was Hiro's bold statement, and for him, Charles Barkley refused to accept Hiro's request, and he had to say what he was thinking:
"I'm a huge fan of Hiro, but because they have the same numbers, they carry a team every night, and first of all, the second problem is that he's going to play with the bench, and when you're on the bench, you're playing against the bench. So, no offense, Hiro is a nice little player, but when you become a man, first and foremost, and at the same time, the pressure of being a man doesn't tell anyone, get off the bench and shoot when you want to shoot. You're going to dominate the game in the second lineup. ”
Again, Barkley made a good point. Hiro has averaged an impressive 22.4 points per game for the Heat this season, and he achieved that on the bench. For Barkley, however, that's exactly why he thinks Hiro can't be compared to the NBA's Luca, Trae Young and Morant. The fact that Hiro is part of the Heat's second-team means that for the most part, he's facing non-star opponents. There is a big difference between facing the league's best players and facing an opponent's second team.
As for Shaq, there is no doubt that he has a contradictory view of Taylor Herro. Shaq has said in the past that he believes Hiro should have the same conversations with Luca and Trae Young, and he has doubled down on his beliefs here. It's clear that O'Neal has a high opinion of the Heat, and as usual, he and Barkley are not very compatible in this regard.
Anyway, in Miami's first seven games, Gero scored a total of 157 points. That's the highest score for a bench player in the NBA this season, and the gap is quite large. After a disappointing sophomore year league last year, there's no denying that Hiro is now recovering. However, to say the least, there is still a great deal of controversy about whether he is a superstar-level player.