Erik Spoelstra announce that he is leaving Miami heat now another significant issue for the team……….

Erik Spoelstra has been one of the best coaches in the NBA since his arrival and it is making a huge difference for the Heat against the Celtics.

Erik Spoelstra’s prolific coaching style has made him an all-time great in adjustments and adaptations.

Despite talent gaps, Spoelstra’s strategies and adjustments keep his Heat competitive against the Celtics.

Spoelstra’s impact on the game extends beyond winning games, as shown by player testimonials and revolutionary tactics.

Erik Spoelstra is in his 16th season as head coach of the Miami Heat and is in his 29th season within the organization after starting as the video coordinator for them.

He slowly worked his way up through the organization in a variety of different roles until officially becoming their head coach prior to the 2008-09 NBA season.

Since that point, he has coached many legendary players, including Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Jimmy Butler, succeeding with all of them.

He had multiple NBA Finals appearances with each of them. They all had two common denominators. They were stars within their roles, especially on the Heat, and Spoelstra brought out the best of their abilities.

James had this to say about Spoelstra before the 2020 NBA Finals via NBA TV:

“He prepares his team every single night. If you just watch the Miami Heat, no matter who’s on the floor, they gonna play Heat culture, they gonna play hard, they gonna play together… He prepares like it’s his last time ever coaching again, every game.”

Last season, Spoelstra led the Heat to their sixth NBA Finals appearance in the last 13 seasons, including becoming only the second eighth seed to go that far in the playoffs.

Spoelstra’s results as Head Coach of the Miami Heat

Spoelstra is the second-longest tenured coach in the NBA and is likely to stay put for a very long time as he signed an eight-year extension earlier this season. His resume is extremely impressive and speaks for itself.

An All-Time Great in Adjustments and Adapting

Spoelstra’s adjustments and strategies are unmatched in today’s league

Erik Spoelstra

Spoelstra has been an incredible coach at winning games, especially in the playoffs, without his top guys. Last season, the Heat went the entirety of the playoffs with Tyler Herro only playing in one game.

Butler injured himself in their Play-In game against the Philadelphia 76ers and has missed each of the first three games against the Boston Celtics. He has no timetable to return, so it seems likely the Heat will be without him for the remainder of their series against the Celtics.

Despite Butler likely being out, the Heat have already shown they have what it takes to beat the Celtics. Without Butler, much of the Heat’s success still hinges on how well Herro and Bam Adebayo play. Spoelstra can only change so much if his players don’t show up, but his impact is clearly shown and has been during his time with the Heat.

His impact is so great on the players that even his former players give him shoutouts. James is one that is quick to send praise towards Spoelstra.

James had this to say about Spoelstra during his time with the Heat via his podcast Mind the Game:

“Spo [Erik Spoelstra] is the reason why we were a better team and our team was more assembled properly… He knew in order for us to reach our potential, one, I had to be ten f–king ten times better than I was in that previous June Finals, but Chris Bosh had to go to the five.”

James explained that Spoelstra went to Oregon to talk with Chip Kelly, the college football coach, and learned how to apply a spread offense to the game of basketball, which is why he made the change for Bosh to play the center position.

He made Bosh start to shoot corner threes in order to drag weak perimeter defenders out to the three-point line and give the Heat a major advantage. At that time, the center position was really limited to in or around the paint on offense, but bringing the spread offense adaptation to basketball revolutionized the game.

There are now more stretch fives in the NBA than ever before, with much of that attributed to how Spoelstra was able to bring that offense to basketball. Now many teams across the league run a spread style of offense where the centers often play away from the paint.

The Celtics and the Indiana Pacers are two teams that run this style of offense, and they just put up the best top-two offensive ratings of any team in the history of the NBA, both becoming the first teams to eclipse the 120 mark.

Adebayo isn’t able to stretch the floor as much as Bosh was able to, but Spoelstra adjusts to that just as much. He runs an offense that often opens up easy mid-range shots for Adebayo, a shot he has been excellent at this postseason.

He is shooting 60 percent from 10-16 feet in the three games so far, with much of that attributed to the actions Spoelstra runs that give him those open looks.

His Coaching Closes the Talent Gap vs. Celtics

Celtics’ 2-1 lead is mostly due to talent

Jayson Tatum and Tyler Herro

Spoelstra’s Heat came out in Game 3 with a lackluster effort and the talent gap in the game was more than evident. Despite that, Spoelstra still believes they have what it takes to win.

It may seem like a common theme for a coach to back up his players, but sometimes those little notions can make a world of difference when it comes to instilling confidence into a team.

It’s hard for any eighth seed to compete with a one seed, especially a team like the Celtics, who won 64 games this year, seven games better than the second-highest team (Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets).

Despite the clear gap in talent shown, especially in Games 1 and 3, the Heat are still very much in the series after stealing Game 2 in Boston. Much of that is due to the coaching adjustments of Spoelstra.

He had this to say about winning in the playoffs prior to Game 2 via Celtics on CLNS:

“This is the deal, look, if you want to win, you have to wrap your mind around doing tough things.”

Spoelstra’s halftime adjustments were a huge reason the Heat were able to win Game 2 of the series. His team held the Celtics to only 40 second-half points after giving up 61 in the first half, and the Heat won the second half by 13 points.

He has constantly been switching between zone and man to throw different looks at the dominant Celtics offense.

It has been extremely impressive the job he and the Heat have done despite missing Butler, Terry Rozier, and Josh Richardson.

After losing Game 1 by 20, Spoelstra made adjustments and the Heat were much more competitive in Game 2. They lost by 20 again in Game 3, so time will tell if he and the Heat are able to bounce back again.