Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra looking to avoid the past mistakes – NBA News
Erik Spoelstra knows the history of the Miami Heat well. And he is trying his best not to repeat it.
After the Miami Heat won the 2011-2012 NBA title, a great weight of expectations was taken off their shoulders. The first title is the most difficult to win and LeBron James and Chris Bosh will be feeling much more confident when
they take the court next season.
But people still expect the Heat to win more titles, and they would like to do so as well. Only difference is that they know they cannot do it with the same team.
After the Miami Heat won the 2006 NBA championship, they returned for the 2006-2007 NBA season with the same roster. And the result was that they lost in straight games in the first round of the 2006-07 NBA Playoffs. The next two
years saw them perform even worse.
It’s common for something like this to happen in the NBA. For some reason, if you’re staying the same, you’re actually getting worse.
And this fact was proven in the offseason this year, when teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder got better. Even teams such as the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Hornets and Portland
Trail Blazers are looking good for next season with some sensible trades and acquisitions.
And Erik Spoelstra is not going to put the same roster back next season. Miami have gotten good shooters in Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis this offseason, who will help spread the floor and make shots easy to come for James and company.
A good quality and consistent perimeter shooter was one thing missing from the Heat line-up, apart from a solid centre. And they got two players this offseason to fill the role.
“If we learned one thing from the 2006 title, it was that you need to continue to reinvent yourself and improve as a basketball team. That year we brought the exact the same team back, we thought it would be the same path and same
journey. It never is. It’s always going to be different. And we ended up losing the first round and we were swept in four games,” said Spoelstra while talking to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel on a recent trip to Asia.
The Heat will now take the floor next season with an upgrade from last year’s roster. They are going to need all the help they can get as they face a renewed and improved Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference, while the Los
Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder are looking better than ever in the West. It is going to be a tough road back to glory for the reigning champions.
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