The Verdict on Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra – NBA Special
The NBA Finals are over, Dallas Mavericks won and the Miami Heat lost. Most fans, coaches and players now go into the off season to catch a break and prepare for next year. However, things are not that simple for Erik Spoelstra.
The Heat’s loss wasn’t in the script, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh came together. It wasn’t in the script when they slayed the Boston Celtics and put down the rising Chicago Bulls on their way to the NBA Finals.
For the Miami Heat and The Big Three, winning the NBA World Championship was the essential cog of the destiny.
For all the criticism being thrown at LeBron James and his teammates, they are still going to come back next year and come back stronger. However there is one man in the Miami Heat franchise who is receiving the plaudits of many
despite his team’s loss, and yet he is the one in danger of being axed.
That is the head coach, Erik Spoelstra.
Spoelstra has done a lot of good work throughout the past season. Taking reigns of a team of superstars and super ego’s as a young coach is never easy. Add to that the fact that one of those stars was King James, a man who drew
the ire of fans across the NBA last year, and you have quite a task on your hands.
Spoelstra has faced numerous difficulties in his short tenure as the Miami Heat coach. The team didn’t click at first; the player’s seemed to have issues early on. Add to that, the roster at his disposal, was one of the shallowest
in the league and then there was the fact that everyone wanted them to fail. Through it all, Spoelstra led the Heat into the NBA Finals, looking at adversity eye to eye along the way.
It is a commendable effort no doubt, but ultimately the Miami Heat lost. So what now for Spoelstra? Rumours are already abounding that he will be replaced next year. As harsh as it seems, it does make some sense as well.
Spoelstra is young and is learning, he is growing as a coach everyday and he is growing into a very, very good coach indeed. However the question is whether Miami have the time to let him grow? The Heat are not a normal team and
their circumstances are not normal circumstances. Miami have assembled the biggest superstar trio in a very long time, the strongest in the sense that all of the Big Three are in their prime. They have already made promises so tall that they even overshadow
the unmatched star power of the Big Three.
Miami need to win. They need to win now. If you or I were in that situation, we certainly wouldn’t pick a young coach still learning his trade to do the job. Especially, and this is in no way to belittle the enormous progress Erik
made with the Heat, when the coach in question fell short at his first try.
Still, there are factors that could work in Spoelstra’s favour. The kind of proven, NBA Championship winner, coach that Miami would require simply isn’t on the market. Doc Rivers re-signed at Boston, Phil Jackson is retired and
Pat Riley doesn’t look like he wants to grind another season on the sidelines.
Also, the players have gone through a lot of adversity under Erik and as such would be able to relate to him more than to anyone else. Spoelstra is already one of them now .The “us against the world” scenario that the Miami Heat
players find themselves in probably demands a coach who’s in it with them.
Erik Spoelstra is that coach.
Tags: