Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra Deserves Consideration for NBA Coach of the Year

It’s early, but it’s the truth.

If a vote were taken for NBA coach of the year presently, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra would probably head the field of candidates.

If just for the simple reason that in his position Spoelstra always maximizes his time and creativity.

And he gets excellent results. Currently, the Miami Heat—despite Dwayne Wade missing one-quarter of their games (he’s just back)—inhabit first place in their division, with a very presentable 18-6 record. They’ve won eight of their last ten.

A lot of that achievement is Spoelstra driving each individual player to an undefined potential.

Around the league, coaches doing superb work thus far would include Scott Brooks of Oklahoma City, Doug Collins of Philadelphia and perennial bench wizard Gregg Popovich of San Antonio, as well as one or two others.

Yet Spoelstra might stand out because he implemented a viable, vibrant, and evincing whole new team philosophy this 2011-2012 NBA season, with a squad that was just two games away from a championship last year—and he got them to buy in big time.

That takes moxie. But that’s who Spoelstra is, a gutty innovator inside the coaching box.

Coaching two of the five best hoopsters (Wade and LeBron James) on the planet, fails to daunt Spoelstra or curtail his celestial X-and-O aspirations.

To his credit, Spoelstra never pretends to be something he is not.

That is especially impressive when you have team president Pat Riley, he of five championship coaching rings, attending virtually every one of your practices.

It’s also distinctive when you are coaching the world’s best player, LeBron James.

Spoelstra’s authoritative profile is the reason Miami ensured his contract status this campaign.

The Heat reasoned: How many NBA coaches have the fearlessness, foresight and passion for fundamentals that Erik Spoelstra has? To that query the team brass got a favorably rhetorical answer.

It’s why Spoelstra is a Coach of the Year candidate this year and for many years to come.

Riley explains his full support of his former protégé:

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He’s [Spoelstra} not afraid to take some risks….He does a great job on the bench coming out of timeouts and being prepared for things… And I think the experience last year of also being in the finals and going down to the game that meant the difference in your season and going through that and that pain will help him. I think he’s grown leaps and bounds, and he’s the perfect coach for this team.”

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In other words, there is no doubt that on every forty-eight minute night, Spoelstra, not Riley, determines how the Miami Heat will play.

The Miami Heat players are as firmly behind their coach as the team president is, principally because of Spoelstra’s iron focus and because of the way Spoelstra always conveys a clear purpose.

And it’s often in Miami’s infrequent losses that Spoelstra’s vision—as well as his understanding and smarts—truly reveal themselves.

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For instance, take the case of Miami’s recent loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, 105-97, wherein Spoelstra engaged in effective overstatement:

"What that second half showed, is we still have a long way to go as a ballclub…. It can go the other way quickly if you don't stay close to your identity. There was a real lack of energy to match the force they were playing with…. The ball was stopping and sticking." 

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Within Spoelstra’s commentary on that game, his philosophy is illuminated: Keep to your team identity, match the other team’s force, and move the basketball. And in general, don’t get stuck on yourself as a team (“we have a long way to go”) because if you do, you’ll be taken down fast.

Spoelstra’s basketball text and narrative was advanced further during the NBA lockout. While most, player and coach alike, sat around wondering why, Spoelstra stayed in character, finding new ways for Miami to succeed.

Such as the now well-documented, but still well worth mentioning, new Miami “spread” offense learned from Oregon Ducks football coach Chip Kelly.

Spoelstra’s general motivation for adopting it, and the detailed scheme of applying it, goes like this:

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“The No. 1 thing I was trying to do was learn….I had a lot of time on my hands and I didn't just want to sit there.

"The more that we've tried to think conventionally in terms of guys playing just a specific position, it restricted us a little bit…. We can put pressure on teams to adjust to us."

Kelly adds about the design:

“That's what we try to do…. All we try to do is get speed and space to create big plays, and [the Heat] are similar from that aspect because they have great athletes….

"You look at those guys and they're all finishers…. It fits with those guys. LeBron's a finisher, Wade's a finisher, [Chris] Bosh is a finisher.”

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During lockout summer, not only did Spoelstra meet with Kelly, he additionally visited college recognizables such as Mike Krzyzewski, Billy Donovan, Tom Crean, and John Calipari—from whom, for example, he learned more about the dribble-drive.

It all figures, in the case of a coach who is out-visioning his colleagues.

LeBron James is with the program, as he indicated near the beginning of 2012:

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“So I think [Spoelstra] has done an unbelievable job so far, in this training camp, of getting guys ready, but making them comfortable, as well.”
As well, the coaching fraternity is high on the Spoelstra  approach to basketball nirvana.

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Said Orlando Magic’s Stan Van Gundy:

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“It [Spoelstra’s contract extension] was well-deserved….

“Come on, the guy was two games away from a championship last year, so I was very glad to see it happen. I would have been surprised if it didn’t happen and I’m sure he’ll be here for a lot more years than that to be quite honest….

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“It’s always good to get that sort of tangible vote of confidence and then a little bit of security. So I was happy for him but not the least bit surprised.”

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Surprised? As Van Gundy articulated, no one is surprised at the great things Spoelstra does anymore.

Coach of the Year so far?

You bet.