Is It Time to Have a Serious Conversation About Erik Spoelstra?

Does head coach Eric Spolster have too much leeway with the heat as a team waddles through

mediocrity? We look at whether Spowe deserves some or none of the blame. Plus, we look ahead

to the series versus the Brooklyn nets in West. They've got to be able to win these games, right?

Some might call them mushed wins.

You are locked on heat. You're daily Miami Heat podcast. Part of the

locked on podcast network. Your team every day.

Both of us are credentialed heat media members who cover this team every day,

recording this on Tuesday morning before the heat start a home double header against the

nets. We're going to talk about that match up here in a minute. Plus, get to what ended up

being a pretty big reveal from Nikola Yovic about his back injury. But I want to start today with

this clip that was making the rounds on social media yesterday, David. This is from the Dan

Levitard show. And the clip is captioned. It's time to have a serious conversation about Eric Spolster.

And in that clip, they go on to talk about how the heat have been mediocre as a regular season

team for half a decade now. And they fail to develop these young players. And they fail to get

these superstars. And at what point do we hold people like Eric Spolster and the front office

accountable? They included the front office within the conversation in the clip in itself within

the show. David, I we tend to not try to call out other shows and do that kind of thing here on

this on this show. But I do think that there's a responsibility to kind of come in here right into

way. And because Levitard show has massive influence locally, obviously, and they're an institution

been around forever. And as we're the number one rated Miami heat show in South Florida. And I do

think we have a responsibility, maybe to step in and add some context here. Because while I think

the question itself of our Eric Spolster and this front office untouchable, or maybe rather

what would it take for Spo and this front office to become untouchable? I think that question

is an interesting one to ask. I think that's an interesting conversation to have in and of itself.

But where I thought the Levitard crew, and we know people on that show and we like them and

everything, I'm not trying to call them out and not trying to do that. But I do think where they

missed the mark here is sort of the jumping off point of where they started this conversation.

The idea that the premise that this team isn't maximizing, it's roster, that this front

like that Eric Spolster in particular. And we want to start there because the the caption

singled out Spo specifically. The idea that on the show they're talking about, he's failed to

develop these young players, right? It's not up to Spo about whether or not to heat get the

superstar players. That's that's up. That's the front office's job. The idea that they haven't

developed these young players, I think is completely wrong. And we can have the discussion about

and the argument and the debate. And we've had it here on this show about how they've handled

Kalalware in the minutes. I don't think we can have that debate and you can have whatever

thoughts you want and opinions you want on that. And I think you everybody has basketball

reasons behind them. Good ones. I don't think there's any argument that Kalalware has not developed.

He is clearly, if you look at what he was as a rookie when he first got to the league and where he

is now, he is a much better basketball player right now. And that's where I think the premise of

where the laboratory show was falling short. And where I think it was faulty was this idea that

Spo isn't developing these young look at Heimahaka's junior. He might win six man of the year this year.

Right? You look at guys like Bam and Tyler. You might want more for them. But these were guys

picked in the middle of the first round. Look at that draft that Bam was picked in Mark L. Foltz

and Lonzo Ball were the first two picks. You don't think those teams would have rather had Bam?

Of course they would have. So this idea that this staff doesn't do a good job of developing

young players. I think is a wrong premise to base that conversation on. But where are you on this?

Yeah, I'm not sure that they were looking at the was it specifically just the youth movement that

the team isn't developing or because I think that is all the question that they raised to start

the conversation. So that's why I said the premise of how they got to that point was faulty.

I made the point recently and I know you pushed back on it. I don't think Spo has maximized this

roster and totality. But I don't think there's any denying that they've gotten the young players

to at least contribute with the exception of Nikola Yovic. I think by and large this team has

done a really good job and Eric Spolster specifically has done a good job of getting these young

guys to feel comfortable as contributors now. Do they have off games? Yeah, that's what happens

when you're 21 years old and still trying to find your footing. Like Kallilson is second year

and to your point the player that he was when he was first drafted was not a very good one.

Like I mean he struggled to stay on the court. He didn't have the endurance of strength. He had

some talent, some ability but there were questions about his drive and his motor leading up to the draft.

And I don't think those were answered in a positive way. So I don't know exactly why you would

make the point that maybe they haven't developed young players because I think what did you find?

How did you take the clip? Maybe I'm wrong here. But I went I watched the clip and then I went back

and I watched the full show. So I'm just telling you where they came from. But maybe there's an

interesting conversation to be had here. How did you take it? Well, like I said, I think that the

bigger question is how they've done enough with the players that they have. And I think that's

where I'm kind of on offense about because I think the players might not be great but I think

they're good enough so that they don't have to be like BAM's recent point and I know D Wade made

his response about to BAM. You know, BAM said we're better than this. We shouldn't be in the play

internment and Dwayne Wade basically said, are you sure? Yeah, because that's kind of the reason why

the numbers don't you are what your record is basically. So I get that great teams have struggled

through the regular season too. Like I mean, the big three wasn't exactly knocking people out.

They weren't David. They weren't almost going to miss the playoffs. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I know.

Look, I get it. You know, at some point that he wanted to win 60 games they could have. They just

didn't, you know, Dwayne Wade load management thing and they just, you know, that's a very different

story. I get that. And I look at this roster though and I think they should be better than

whether I the record should be better based on what they're at right now. And so I don't know

if that falls in the players, just not caring injuries to combination of those things or perhaps it's

I'm sorry. How much better? I think they should be five games better than they are right now.

Like five more wins. I don't think that's a huge margin. It's not. And that's why I it's almost

negligible, right? Like five wins I understand makes you to succeed or maybe competing for that

fifth spot in the east and I get that. Is that materially different than what the heat are right

now as a top seed in the play in tournament? I don't think the conversation overall of this team

has been mediocre for half a decade. And the fact that we don't the way we do locally we call out

the Miami Dolphins, the Miami Marlins, the Florida Panthers, right? Like the Miami Hurricanes for

sure. I mean, these teams that called out after one bad year and not even bad, one mediocre year,

one disappointing season, you could argue since 2022. Every season since then every regular season

has been disappointing. Take the 2023 finals run out of this regular season. Every single one of

them has been disappointing. And that's why you see BAM get so exacerbated about the fact that this

team is going to be in the play in tournament probably yet again. And why he continues to say and

spoke continues to say in this group continues to say we're better than this where my point has been

I don't think you are materially better than this. Maybe there's I thought last year and I was on

this show I called out Spone multiple times. I thought he cost the heat real games last year.

I thought he did his worst coaching job that he did in a very long time. Does that change the fact

that the heat we're going to I don't think that heat team gets out of the first round anyway,

right? That they were playing Cleveland or somebody else in the first round. I mean we know that

you know they were but they weren't make it they weren't doing anything materially different.

They didn't get swept it by the calves because of Eric's bolster. Right. And so I do think that

let's say they won more five more games because you think that Spowe hasn't done a good job max

finance or answer. This is the point that I made yesterday on social on Twitter specifically is

that it's so easy for content creators and analysts to come in and blame the coaching when things

aren't going right because we don't see 99% of what actual coaching in the NBA is. And I think we

have a conversation around NBA coaching that is very similar to the conversation we have

around NFL coaching. And in the NFL we see I would argue 90% of the coaching. We see all of it.

They call every play on both sides of the ball. We talk to media talks to them in every position

coach throughout the week. We see the game plan. Like football is chess and you're and the coach

is the chess player. Right. We see all of the moves in the NBA. It's very different. The NBA is like

a Picasso painting or something like that where you're just like I don't I'm not really sure I

see what's going on here right or Jackson Pollock where you're just like I'm not like what's going on

I'm not really this is art. I don't really it's more about the process necessarily than the result.

I think the conversation would change if we were allowed to have practices opened up again.

I think you're I think you're right. I think that's a very good point David. And maybe that's a

reason why we should open up. Although Spowe is not really worried for his his job security. We're

going to continue this conversation plus Nicolio, which made a pretty big reveal about his back injury

yesterday's practice after it does not sound good. We'll talk about that next.

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show notes or had to locked on heat dot supercast dot com to learn more we'll talk about Nikola Yovic

here in a second and the big reveal he made about his injury plus we'll look ahead to tonight's

game the first game of a double header at home against the Brooklyn nets but continuing this

conversation about coaching David like I said I think coaching is like an iceberg I think we see

the top 1% of it and we analyze the top 1% as content creators and analysts and people that does

and I think it's a big mistake I think we we don't see 99% of what goes on in coaching and so

what we judge is things like rotation playing time when a player when a when a coach calls a time

out ATOs and sideline out of bounds plays which is why Brad Stevens was anointed greatest coach

ever and then it turns out he didn't really have what it took to stay being a head coach in Boston

he just decided to go into a front office role with Spowe and I think and I think the secondary

problem with that with people like Eric Spowe is well we don't see the fact that he is maximizing

and developing his players and so what we see on the court is and when it's mediocre we say well

it should be more shouldn't it but maybe that is it maybe that's all there is and I do think

that Spowe and we can you want to argue about three four five wins here and there okay I guess but

materially I don't think there's a 60 win team sitting here and we tend to like the coach of the

year conversation for instance we look at a 60 win team and we say wow that coach did a great job

maximizing that group that that team won 60 games that coach did a great job but what if there's a

team that wins 40 games yeah did that coach not maximize that group maybe the best that team is

is a 40 win team maybe that coach did a better job maybe that coach took a 20 win team and turned

it into a 40 win team but that coach doesn't get coached the year because we don't see a 40 win team

being maximized because I there's just like baseline assumption that everybody should be able to win

50 plus games in the NBA maybe subconsciously but that's sort of my point with Eric Spowe's

I do not think that the Miami Heat are blameless for the fact that they've been mediocre for half a

decade now I don't think that that's true maybe I come off of as an Eric Spowe's topologist here

and like I said I think that there are things that he could do better I think the cluelware stuff

is head scratching I do not think if he starts cluel if you place cluelware or starts cluelware

if you place cluelware 18 minutes a game versus 14 minutes a game or start some instead of playing

them in the middle of the game I don't think that we're looking at a team that is what it is right

now mediocre versus a team that's competing with the nicks and the calves and the pistons and the

boasts all sorts of top these I don't think cluelware is minutes turn that team into that team

so I look at the front office and I say those are the people that do need to be held accountable

and I've done that over and over again on this show I just don't think coaching is where we have

to have this conversation it's a tough nuance to break down because what separates

Miami from those teams at the top and I've always had an issue with this idea of talent

what the hell is talent is it the ability to jump on the enter too higher

is your ability to dribble a little faster is it's your ability to knock down a shot much more

regularly like I mean is Steph Curry talented or did he just work incredibly diligently

to find a very specific thing that he had been building slowly over the course of his life by

virtue of training as his son of an NBA great shooter I would argue he's talented we have never

seen how how what yeah how why what is you and I can choose my high pointer yeah he's my

high like it's not like he's a great athlete or anything like that right to Doug he's got so

supernatural ability to take to throw a ball in the air and make that that wasn't an eight that's

the thing that's part of it that's an eight people have done the thing on the hand

act coronation and all that kind of stuff that's a skill that you develop that's a skill that he's

developed we see the training where he's dribbling a tennis ball and having a ping pong ball thrown

at him or something ridiculous like that following the laser with your eyes of everybody in the

world who has worked hard on their three point shot for this one man a skill that by the way you

and I because I didn't share your point of time like you and I can't dunk the way that like

prime Blake Griffin can dunk like that's just a talent or a skill or whatever that is yeah you and

I can shoot a three pointer we can take a ball and throw it at the basket from beyond the arc you

we anybody right most 99% of the population can do that the fact that this one man is so much

better at it than everybody else on the planet there is something else going on there that's

all I'm saying we can call it divine invention we can call it something I don't think so I think

he really worked harder on it than everybody else I've refused to believe that it was shooting three

pointers at four when I was too busy watching cartoons he was out on an NBA court putting all

their NBA players shot three is it four years old the all the all the origin stories and he's not

bad either so you know but you're okay I think you're overall point to be a greater point okay so I

think let's not call it how it ties into this conversation okay so to me what I'm saying is that

what separates a player being great versus just good enough is the work put it and who has to

oversee that work aside from the individual player is the coach now we've heard all these great

stories about young assistant they're not going to shoot the three like Steph Curry I don't care

how much I'm not saying that necessarily we've heard all these great stories about young assistant

Eric Spolstra pushing Dwayne Wade yeah Dwayne had incredible talent we saw that in the final four

whatever we knew that he was going to be great he was drafted fifth overall but what took him from

great draft pick which we see great draft picks bust all the time or at least not become

Hall of Famers yeah what separated him was the work and the drive etc now I know that an individual

player has to have it but it's also up to the coach to try and draw that out of him and push

them to that point maybe nobody in this roster possesses the athleticism to your point to be

able to become a great a superstar but at some point it's it's how much work you're putting in

to develop whatever it is that can make you great I don't know like can bam at this point

works exclusively on dribbling skills that he's doing it since he was four right before

Mark Jackson ever got a hold of him right yeah I know there's a point because he's never really

a Hall of Fame coach or did he just kind of be like you know what I'm glad Del was your dad

you know I mean I do think that I

bam's touch could be better bam has the athleticism to your point he's a top you know 5%

athlete in the NBA but there's got like he's just I don't care how much work like for example

like could you just these untrafted players like Caleb Martin who came in and turned himself

from out of the league into a role player for this team don't you think that this coaching staff

maximized Caleb Martin are you yes are you arguing with more work he could have become Jimmy Butler

that's a tough one but I think he became a really good player like I think he's like that's as much

as he's gonna be ever maybe maybe maybe you're right maybe there's only so much more work who knows

I don't know look we've all heard stories about Jimmy being maniacal and everything that he's done

like we assume this version of Jimmy is very different right sorry I just lost we know about

Jimmy Butler being maniacal but everything how much more work did he put in behind the scenes

those late night practices instead of playing dominoes this version that we've seen of him lately

where he's already achieved this level we know that he's worked hard to get there so he was this

a late draft pick too did he become a you know a potential Hall of Fame player by virtue of work

or did he have some kind of a natability and look you look at a specific player this year

Jalen Durin Jalen was a young player who had quite figured it out did Bernie bicker staff push him

to the next level I don't know at some point he became an all-star this year that potential may have

already been there but somebody has to help draw it out if you were put you in a position succeed

and that's where I think Eric Spolster has done a pretty good job and maybe there's another level

for him to take even more so and I'm sure he would say the same thing that maybe he could

specifically help get a player to be a little bit better and if that's the case that's the difference

that's the difference between the winner two here I'm not you're talking about a winner two I'm

talking about mediocre middle of the pack in the east which a winner two doesn't change middle

of the pack in the east first each player in the roster contributes to a winner two yeah it does

that's the whole thing that's what I'm talking about like you're talking about like three or four

players that can help swing the the course of a season because they have one or two games one of

them might be Clilware one of them might be BAM in a bio so you're presuming that that already

hasn't happened there have been games where Clilware swung those already that's what I'm talking

about is we see we always see what's in front of us and always ask for more and for some reason

that always falls on the coaching staff across sports we do this Clilware has swung games this season

BAM has swung games this season Tyler and Norm have swung games this season Tyler here are one

that game against Dallas when he came back like these are things that have already happened and yet

we're sitting here being like well this team isn't where we want it to be and so I'm gonna we

want to ask for more and I'll say this again the season has taken some weird twists and turns

and suppose not without criticism I am not sitting here being saying that suppose absolutely

void of criticism but going into the season what did we think this heat team was potentially competing

for five or six are they all that different than that right now not really like we could have

this arbitrary plane tournament versus not whatever it is it's kind of the same thing it you're not

a serious player in the Eastern Conference whether you're the fifth seed or the seventh seed

and so I that goal was a important advantage and I think we thought that they'd be able to achieve that

to be the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference stretch goal we talked about that perhaps

but if you would have asked me where I was asked on this program and other programs where do you

think they he finished I said six I said they end up six in the East and so maybe they finished seventh

you know I don't think that's all that different um to your earlier question about what the

differences between the top teams and this one we can have that argument about what talent is if

we want I think the answer is production right you get 30 points per game from Jalen Brown the

heat are not getting that from anybody you get a 25 and 10 from Cade Cunningham the heat are not

getting that from anybody you know everything Donovan Mitchell putting up an MVP type season 30 points

per game you're not getting that from anybody on this roster we can have the argument maybe it's

coaching but I can also just look at this team and say nobody on this team has ever done that

and Jalen Brown is a finals MVP Donovan Mitchell has a track record with two different teams putting up

these kinds of numbers James Hardin has a track record with a million different teams putting up

these kinds of numbers Cade Cunningham was a number one pick in his draft and projected to be exactly

this and he is doing it and delivering on that I don't know how much coaching has to do with any

the Jalen Brown has played for two different coaches like I I don't know I I I just think that we

tend to put too much it's not that sposed without blame but I have I have a problem with us putting

all of the blame on Spowe and being like this guy isn't doing this where in reality he probably

is doing it and we're just not seeing it. Nikola Yovic or last word on this day because I don't

want to break without giving you a chance to to respond here so a quick response and then we'll

get to the Yovic stuff. I think it's incumbent of a coach to try and put a player in a position to

win and then a player has to do everything they can to become the best version of themselves and

everybody's doing work behind the scenes and that includes the players themselves like they're

late night shooting sessions there's extra work done over the offseason there's everything possible

to become the best player you can and I think it all has it wand up leading to this season where

maybe players could have been better than they've been and I think the coach necessarily hasn't

necessarily done a great job of putting those players in the best position to win so I don't know

it's a combination of things and I think the conversation would be very different if they were

five games better which is the difference I'm talking about because then you're looking at

teams like well can they be a fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and do they have a chance

at realistically beating one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference because I think that's

the conversation that would be surrounding them instead of oh why hasn't Eric Spolster done

enough to get them out of the plan terribly. Let us know what you think in the comments section

clearly David and I disagree a little bit on this very interesting to see where people fall in

this I was actually very surprised by the amount of people who agreed with me on Twitter when I

made the point that I did there but very interested to see what you all think leave a comment on YouTube

let us know what you think about how much coaching is to blame here for Miami being mediocre in the

regular season for half a decade here meanwhile Nikolay Yovic big reveal about what his back injury

really is plus a little preview of tonight's game against the Brooklyn Nets we'll talk about it next

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thanks again for making locked on heat your first listen every day uh let's jump into some

of the news here before we wrap up today's show niko jovich was talking to reporters after

practice yesterday and talked a little bit more about this lower back injury that has been

not only keeping them out for several games but apparently bothering him all season long

i'm gonna give you the full quote here this is from the Miami-Herald Anthony Chang uh wrote the

story quote my discs are great and i think that's the more important thing as the doctor said

before my bones were not strong enough for the load that i had i guess i was really young before

to have all of that load right now my back is kind of firing up and i got some inflammation and a

few parts that's what's bothering me end quote uh so the discs are fine right the discs in the

spine are fine which is good obviously um and you know Chang went on to write that this was not

related to his rookie to remember jovich missed half this rookie year because of a back injury this

is not related at least niko does not think it is uh but i hear things like his bones were not

strong enough in my ears perk up a little bit that doesn't sound awesome for me and we've seen

players and i'm not necessarily saying that this is the case with niko right now i'm just pointing

this out we've seen players six eleven taller than that like niko is at six ten six elevenish

just their bodies not hold up under the pressure of playing professional basketball and playing

82 game season and playing as many games as they've played throughout and niko does not really take

breaks right he plays a lot of overseas stuff during the summers and stuff like that there's

there's a lot of pressure that he's put on his body over the years but that's how this happens

right and when i when i see stuff like this uh it sounds to me like he has a lot of work to do

in strengthening and conditioning his back david and look i had scoliosis and i had scoliosis

scoliosis surgery at the beginning of high school i it is hard when you're i i have

spent my life since then trying to strengthen my back to reduce inflammation and i got to tell

you to this day it's still chronic issues every once in a while like there's a lot of work and a

lot of maintenance that goes into keeping your back okay so that you can walk every day without pain

and that's just me as a non-nv player walking around just trying to live life not

a six ten guy trying to play NBA games and bang bodies with guys sometimes twice his size

i look at this and i'm a little concerned honestly no i mean every time you talk about back injuries

it's a huge concern especially for an NBA player as you said like the the size of the the body

and the stress that it goes through those things are difficult like you look at a player like

Tracy McGrady there have been countless numbers more than we i can't even remember

that i'm my head but Tracy McGrady all a vain player who knows how much better he could have been

maybe even one of the all-time greats even beyond what he was at back at you know i remember

reading uh you know daily headlines about whether or not he was going to be sidelined or

back spasms taking him out from game-to-game basis like there's things to make a difference there so

you just hope that Nico can figure it out and i don't even know like i mean maybe you can speak

to it but like you talk about strengthening bones like what are you going to do to strengthen

bones it kind of feels like that's the hand you're dealt when it comes to bones start things you know

i know great a lot of whole milk i mean yeah there's only so much calcium supplements you can take

to strengthen those bones i know it's about surrounding the tissue and strengthening that as

much as possible so that you can withstand the impact of day-to-day but you you wonder if that's

starting to take its toll already at a young player and uh it does not bode well so hopefully he

can figure it out and look i i mean i know the injury is one thing and i know that his

up and down season uh was already problematic enough as it is but you just hope that he gets

better and and is able to stay healthy out there because he's under contract and um he's a good

person you know he's a good guy that has has been uh uh fun to talk to you over the course of his

career and and he's a young player and and i think every young player deserve the chance to thrive

and in today's league one of my favorites in that locker room one of our favorites in the locker room

to your point obviously hope for the best for nico one of our favorites to talk to

it media day and everything he's very very generous at this time but yeah you know i if there's

the optimist in me says well the heat of had this guy since the draft if they were that concerned

about his back being a long-term thing they wouldn't have signed him to this extension but the

problem with back injuries is they do deteriorate right and maybe this is something that they didn't

necessarily foresee and and i don't know that they deserve a lot of blame that we could talk about

the contract extension but we're not going to do that right now um let's talk quickly about

tonight's game against the brooklyn nets it's the first of a two-game homestand for Miami Tuesday night

Thursday night against the same brooklyn nets team tonight uh brooklyn will be without

the agor demon and drake pal my amy's gonna be without uh norm pal who's still out with the groin

injury and davi on michael's questionable with a shoulder injury so tbd on michael's status the net

center tonight's game losing uh eight straight games over the last 15 they ranked 29th in offensive

rating which means there's only one team that's worse um good news for brooklyn is that they're

all the way up to 27th in defense of rating so they're not quite as bad as they are on offense uh

there's no the the heat i don't care about norm pal i don't care about davi omit the heat should win

this game they need to win this game this is a must win game you cannot drop these in this playoff

race and try not only to keep moving up in the the eastern comfort standings but potentially hold

off charlie who you're gonna be playing on friday night yeah no i you have to win these games i'm not

gonna say much they have to win these games undoubtedly oh i'm concerned yeah i think it's a

level beyond much like so you cannot wow like at this point if you do not win either of these games

if you lose either of these games sit everybody for the rest of the season i know that's hyperbolic

and i don't care i i think if you're gonna just if you're gonna fall apart

for whatever reason i don't care if you start kashad johnson simon fentechio and my grandmother

who's been dead for a long time if you have to beat the prickle of that's yes like somehow you have

to figure it out and if you don't then everybody else should just be like you know what go to kank

goon early by the way the max are telling the the netcher saying you have to beat us

yeah please beat us that's our whole thing that's what we're doing right now it's our whole thing i

i do not like comments from danie wolf recently when he uh was spoke to media and he was asked

about to losing and everything else like this and uh he made a great point like all the players on

that net's roster they're losing collectively now but entering their stints as brickland nets

they were all best greatly great players on really great teams that won a lot of games they're used

to winning so this is a whole completely different thing and i just my concern is if wolf's comments

kind of sparks a little collective rage in that locker and says you know what because losing sets

in and i've seen it i've i've been covering that magic team and i wasn't covering the magic i

was just covering the NBA through the Orlando magic locker same as you were in Sacramento games

like that long ago and every media day it was this incredibly boundless enthusiasm we're going to

make the playoffs we're really talented we're contending team 15 and 48 later you know what maybe

you're not contentious and that losing just kind of piles up and piles up and piles up and you

just can't shake the stink off of it yeah did you and so we signed erin aflalo this is our year

exactly we got taren's wrong exactly um the human torch uh look brickland has lost eight straight

because they're not going to lose every game for the rest of the year no matter how badly they

want to they're they're almost do please heat at home wait two more hey hey just take

you got two games two chances to blow this do not blow this win these games set up an awesome

Friday night game against the charlotte hornets which could potentially be for the division uh

but we'll talk about the brookland nets game after that game tune in for the post game reaction but

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