MIAMI -- Erik Spoelstra has been with the Miami Heat for nearly two decades, and the team is hoping they remain together for years to come. Spoelstra and the Heat finalized a multiyear contract extension Sunday, two days before the two-time defending NBA champions start training camp. Spoelstra, who is the longest-tenured coach in the Eastern Conference as he starts his sixth season with the Heat, was entering the final year of his current contract he signed in 2011. Spoelstra was expected to get a significant raise on his scheduled base salary of $3 million, and his new deal may come with a role in the team's front office. The Heat announced a restructuring of their front office on Saturday, promoting longtime assistant general manager Andy Elisburg to general manager and longtime director of player personnel Adam Simon to assistant general manager. Spoelstra, who has already had a voice in personnel decisions, could get such a title formalized as well. Team president Pat Riley retains the top decision-making role. Juwan Howard and Dan Craig will be new assistants for Spoelstra this season, which starts with the team's annual media day Monday and then the first two training-camp practices in the Bahamas on Tuesday. Spoelstra is 260-134 in five seasons on the sideline and 50-29 in the playoffs including the past two championships. He has gained a strong reputation as a coach that can motivate the likes of stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in addition to being an innovative offensive coach who combines traditional methods with analytics. Yahoo! Sports earlier reported the pending deal. "I want Spo here for a long, long time," Riley had said last season. Last season may have been Spoelstra's best coaching performance. The Heat rolled through the regular season, winning 27 straight games at one point on the way to a 66-16 record. Then in the playoffs, Miami had to rally from a 1-0 second-round deficit against Chicago and ultimately had to grind out seven-game victories over Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals and San Antonio in the NBA Finals. "What's overlooked for him is the management of the team," Wade told the AP last season. "It's not the coaching part of it. It's, 'Can you manage these egos, these personalities, without having one your damn self?' He's done it." Hired as a video coordinator by the Heat in 1995, Spoelstra's rise through the ranks has been well-chronicled. He was a scout, an assistant coach, a key part of Stan Van Gundy's staff in Miami and then started becoming considered Riley's protege not long after Van Gundy stepped down 21 games into what became a championship season for the Heat in 2005-06. Riley retired for good in 2008, and the Heat didn't wait long before making Spoelstra the head coach. He inherited a 15-win team and improved it by 28 games in his first year. The Heat went back to the playoffs in 2010, then found a way to keep Wade while landing James, Bosh and a slew of other players the following summer on their way to making three straight trips to the NBA Finals. http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/9742895/erik-spoelstra-miami-heat-coach-signs-contract-extension
I remember people calling him to get fired after like 2 weeks. The players don't respect him, they won't listen, hes inexperienced, bla blah blah. Well, 2 championships later...
I don't think he would have lasted if it wasn't for Riley backing him up. It's tough for guys to gain credibility without having NBA experience. There are four successful coaches that didn't have a lot of basketball experience before becoming NBA coaches and 3 of them were given their opportunity by Riley. The Van Gundy's and Spoelstra. Only Lawrence Frank wasn't from the Riley tree.
Underrated coach. Put into a position where: - Superstar team, expected to win - Team with a lot of divas and egos - Riley ousted Stan and ended up winning for the coach in the past - Annoying city/fan base - Young coach with nervous/sheepish look. Didn't seem like a "player" coach. All these factors made it easy for media/public opinion to hate on Spoelstra, if only just to be right about failure, because there were so many things going against him. The reality is he dealt with the pressure, made it all work, and produced two championships.
I also liked how he thought out of the box and said to himself, what if LBJ actually played 4 positions depending on matchups instead of being pigeonholed into the SF spot? If you think about it this is the exact opposite of what Mr. Pringles did in LA, instead of fitting your roles to the strengths of your players he gave players roles without regards to their strengths and made DH into defensive stiff number 1 and Gasol into a backup stretch 4.
Not very accurate. It was more Rick Pitino and Stu Jackson. Both Jackson and JVG were assistants for Pitino in college, and Stu Jackson's the one who hired JVG, and Stan Van Gundy.
Overlooked for changing the Heat's offense almost entirely over the past two years. Casual fans still believe -> they got three all-stars, the coach has nothing to do with it. No coach can win without star players, but most still don't even with them
I have to be honest, I am curious about his salary. Any info in that regard? I haven't followed Spo's career very carefully; he has stated in multiple interviews however, that as an assistant, he often worked long stretches literally 24/7, never seeing the light of day or even leaving the tape room.
What offensive philosophy? ISO Lebron , ISO wade. Rudy T thought of this almost a decade ago with Cat and Francis. If Cat and Francis were as good as bron and wade Rudy T would be considered an all time great,
That's not a fair or accurate assessment of the heat offense. Their ball movement from what I saw, was absolutely outstanding. They rivaled the spurs in that regard. As far as their defense, it's absolutely stellar. No further commentary or elaboration required. Sure, they have elite talent. But their level of play was absolutely phenomenal on both ends last season.
Isn't that reason enough to keep him on there? You could bring in a better coach, but if he clashes with Lebron/Wade, the team will go downhill And Spoelstra truly is underrated
I seem to remember reports coming out the first year that Lebron an co were unhappy with Spoelstra's offense which may have been more of a media thing but I recall Wade and Riley having to stand up for him a few times. A little after the all star break another report came out saying that they could have more "freedom to play their way" on offense as long as they focused on Spoelstra's defensive philosophies. However, I did read a piece saying that a visit with Chip kelly in the offseason, when he was in Oregon, inspired him to implement a revamped pace and space motion offense. He has the most talented roster in the league so it's hard for me to say he's a great coach but he has done a good job.
If the teams are on equal footing and the coaching is the deciding factor, I wouldn't bet my money on him. Two years ago, Rick Carlisle absolutely ate his lunch when it came to coaching.
The bigger picture is that the heat have made 3 consecutive finals appearances and have won back to back championships. That's impressive by any standard. Lots of good coaches have had superior talent yet couldn't win a ring: del harris with shaq and kobe; doug collins with jordan. Scottie brooks barely made it out of the 1st round last season with durant and westbrook; and lost 4 out of 5 against the heat in the finals with his own 'big three': durant, westbrook and harden. I will admit that spo's 'here come the cavalry' motivational speeches during timeouts are some of the worst ever recorded, but his results have been exceptional.
Carlisle is probably a top 2 X and O's coach in the league with tons of experience. Spoelstra was just getting his feet wet. He's obviously improved in the last two seasons.
Granted I don't watch a ton of Heat regular season basketball. I do remember from the highlights that the Heat were really a very good offensive team... during the regular season. Great ball movement, high scoring, etc. You do have to wonder about the playoff struggles. Struggles?!?! Well, 2 championships in a row... yes, but it's been a struggle, no doubt. They were down 3-2 against the Celtics two years ago, and of course 3-2 this year, and needed one of the most miraculous shots and plays probably EVER in the history of the NBA. Look, I know Bosh is a shell of his former self. I know some of the other role players - Miller, Battier, Haslem, etc. - aren't exactly in their primes. But let's not forget what happened when the Big 3 came together. You were, effectively, combining Bird and Magic (maybe a step below... but really not that much) AND then adding Kevin McHale. All three right in the very very very prime of their career. At the end of the day it's up to the players. And Wade was a bit hobbled. And Lebron clearly seems to have a problem closing things out in a way that MJ certainly never did... but still, there have been times in the playoffs, when coaching matters more, where the Heat just looked very very confused. I'm with whoever said Spoelstra hasn't helped or hurt the Heat. To that end, sure, might as well keep him around. But in a what if world, it certainly would be interesting to see what would have happened had the Spurs closed it out, and it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years. A lot of it rides on Wade's health, I think.... but the top of the NBA seems as crowded as ever. The Spurs always find a way. The Pacers should improve. The Bulls should be healthy. The Rockets and Warriors should be improved, in the Rockets case much improved. I'm one of the few Vinny Del Negro fans and even I'll admit the Clippers with Doc are twice as potent. The Grizzlies just flat out compete. The Nets have a short window, but so much talent. The Nuggets win a lot of games. Not all those teams are real championship contenders. And not all of them have obviously great or better coaches than Spoelstra. And the Heat still have the best player on the planet. But I would not put money on the Heat this year.