Erik Spoelstra says Miami Heat must start season strong
BOCA RATON — At midseason of what would turn into last season’s run to the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat were a mess, falling to 21-20 after a disheartening loss to the Brooklyn Nets, in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, just three games ahead of 10th.
Adrift. Afloat. Rudderless.
This time around, coach Erik Spoelstra said the goal at the outset has to be to swim instead of sink, refusing to again allow the season to take on water.
That, he said, has been the goal of training camp, which continued Wednesday at Florida Atlantic University.
It wasn’t only the standings that told an early-season story of the Heat losing their way. It was, in Spoelstra’s view, a lack of pointed purpose.
“I’ve used this word a lot,” he said, “but we are going to be a lot more intentional, from day one, yesterday, today — that’s what we’ve been talking about, drilling about, competing on. We were so much more intentional after the All-Star break. It was costly to us before that.
“We dealt with a lot, so a lot of things can be true — missed games, a bunch of different lineups, of course that’s going to affect the overall rhythm. However, intention, and lack of intention will be just as just impactful in both of those segments of the year.”
From last season’s uneven start, the Heat got their offense back in order, stabilized the defense, and then pushed through the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, before wilting against the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
By the time it came to an end, team leader Jimmy Butler was running on fumes, with the Heat playing as a road team through all four rounds of the postseason.
“The way we finished, during the playoffs, against the highest level of competition, against the best defenses that you have faced, we were much better,” Spoelstra said, “and we’ll try to build on that.”
Eighteen games into last season, the Heat were four games under .500, in 12th place in the East.
So even with losing rotation mainstays Max Strus and Gabe Vincent in free agency, Spoelstra expects — seemingly demands — his team hits the ground running for the Oct 25 regular-season opener against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center.
“It’s all encompassing, right? We want to have a specific style that we’re trying to get to, which we know what this is. We want to get certain guys involved, get them to their strength zones,” Spoelstra said, citing Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. “That’s Jimmy, Bam, Tyler, for sure. Our spacing. And then making sure we’re disciplined to every single possession. It takes time and it’s a habit you have to build.”
Spoelstra hit on hit-the-road-running them again after Thursday’s practice.
“We’re going to do everything we possibly can,” Spoelstra said, “to work through this regular season with intent, to win games, to establish how we want to play, to get better as the season goes on, and ideally be our best version when we’re heading to the playoffs.”
Adebayo to Olympics
Even with Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid announcing his commitment Thursday to Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics — with his citizenships also allowing for participation with France and Cameroon — Adebayo said he has been extended an invitation to return to USA Basketball for those Games, after helping share in Team USA’s gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s to see how I feel at the end of the season,” Adebayo said following Wednesday morning’s practice. “At the end of the season, we’ll worry about that.”
Having served as a USA Basketball assistant to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr at the recently completed World Cup in the Philippines, it means Spoelstra will get to help coach Adebayo for the first time on the international stage.
“I think it’s awesome for Bam,” Spoelstra said. “I think that’s what’s continuing to help establish him as one of the ultimate winners in this league. He is one of the most impactful players for USA Basketball. I don’t even know what his stats were in the Olympics, but in talking to everybody in USA (Basketball), they felt like he was a must on that roster, because of everything he does on both ends of the court, and because he’s a winner.”
