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Spoelstra and Heat can't afford to chill
By BILL REITER
FOXSports.com
MIAMI – This seems like a good time to point out something important about Erik Spoelstra.
The Heat’s young and pressure-plagued head coach can make this work if — oh, the ifs — things can just get on track fast enough.
Fast enough to not lose any of his Big Three. Fast enough to dull the drumbeat of fans fantasizing about a Pat Riley takeover. Fast enough to show some promise and give Spo the sway to wait out the flowering of his process, or, just as likely, the fixing of his roster.
Fast enough to let Spoelstra become Riley-like and eventually bend the team to his will.
Not that his team is making that happen with any ease or support. Coming off Wednesday’s trampling of the Phoenix Suns, two things jumped out in quick succession:
• What a great win.
• Good gracious, Chris Bosh. Really?
I mean, really?
Coming off a sterling, 35-point performance that, for a night, cemented his place back in the Big Three, Bosh couldn’t even get off the court before dropping this gem:
“I guess (Spoelstra) felt he was loosening up a just little bit too much. He knows that he has to meet us halfway. He wants to work. We want to chill.”
We want to chill? My goodness.
Let’s first dispense with the apologists’ mantra that it’s the oh-so-bad haters filling the world with oh-so-much negativity about these poor, poor Heat players having to deal with such trauma.
First of all, this is what Bosh was saying: We want to be like Boston’s Big Three. We want a players’ coach. We want Doc Rivers.
Don’t do it, Spoelstra. Be whatever part of your mentor, Riley, you actually are. Don’t worry that these guys want to see your even-softer side.
It’s different than Boston’s Big Three and you know that. Boston’s trio is older, tougher, more mature, with the bling to prove it. Doc is managing old men, not egos. He’s worried about bodies breaking down, not relationships going sour.
Your guys are younger, not yet forged in fire, still getting there.
Spoelstra might as well be his own version of Riley. Better, for him, than Riley needing to be his own version of Riley.
There’s also the fact that Bosh will make $14.5 million this year. The Heat snared the greatest free-agent haul in sports history. The biggest catch of all, LeBron James, said on live television he was going where he could win multiple rings, not just one.
Their coach, the man tasked with marshaling all this opportunity, does not need extra aggravation.
Oh, and these heroes started 7-4.
Dude wants to chill?
No, this matters. This is no good. This comment, and what lurks beneath it, is one more problem clogging the Big Three’s route to greatness. More important, this isn’t doing Spoelstra any favors.
The Big Three probably will get a lot more time to show what they can do than Spoelstra will. Despite that, he actually has managed the circus aspect of this whole situation with skill and verve.
He almost certainly has met his players halfway on the “chill” front. The Heat have enjoyed a lot of days off, including Thursday, because Spoelstra understands the path he’s walking. He needs to get them on track, to take this thing seriously, and so there were two days of intense practices that led to Bosh’s comment.
Which, for those scoring at home, worked. Especially for Bosh.
But Spoelstra also has treated this team like the veteran club it is, handing out free time like it’s, well, Miami, and his guys might want to enjoy it some.
Spoelstra is a coach whose eyes literally light up when he talks about basketball strategy. The 40-year-old knows his stuff. He cut his teeth staring endlessly at video clips, scouting and preparing game plans.
There’s a chance, a good chance, that once/if things get rolling Spo will have a unique ability to meticulously game plan on a level — powered by a cooperating Big Three — few teams can match.
For now, though, it’s the egos he has to find a way to outsmart, the superstars he has to dissect and approach with care.
He has a few advantages here. Superstars want to win games, yes. They want greatness, sure. But getting to that point involves some alchemy along the way, whether superstars know it consciously or not, and that means a lot of things.
They need order. They need guidance. They need, yes, good or great coaching. They usually need to believe in, and certainly respect, their leader.
They need help.
Legendary players often need legendary coaches to shepherd them. Magic Johnson had that in Riley, even if no one at the time knew that would become the young coach’s destiny. The mettle of the man was there, inside him. Then the rings came.
Michael Jordan also enjoyed a pairing with a worthy coaching partner, Phil Jackson. Has LeBron had that, ever, at any level? No.
Maybe the guy needs it. It would be no easy thing to be anointed to greatness at an early age (See: Tiger Woods or Michael Jackson) and be able to hold 100 percent onto your sense of perspective. Which is where a coach comes in.
Can it turn out Spoelstra has his own mettle down deep, something hard and true and mixed with his X’s-and-O’s skills and his passion for the game and years with Riley? Maybe. I think very much maybe.
But he’s also got the most highly anticipated NBA team in history to deal with, and that’s equal part albatross, equal part golden opportunity.
Before he can help his guys, they need to help him.
I’m talking to you, Bosh. You too, LeBron.
Stop talking about wanting to “chill” and expecting your head coach to meet you halfway. In fact, stop thinking about chilling and start thinking about becoming a bad ass, a stopper, a killer, a winner.
Stop calling out Spoelstra because you played too many minutes (which you should be craving, by the way) and start seeing it as a sign the guy believes in your ability to get it done. So go get it done.
One way or another, you need a coach. You need a leader. Might as well give Spoelstra a go.
Help the guy out.
If you give him the chance, Spo just might turn out to be someone worth fighting for
Spoelstra and Heat can't afford to chill
By BILL REITER
FOXSports.com
MIAMI – This seems like a good time to point out something important about Erik Spoelstra.
The Heat’s young and pressure-plagued head coach can make this work if — oh, the ifs — things can just get on track fast enough.
Fast enough to not lose any of his Big Three. Fast enough to dull the drumbeat of fans fantasizing about a Pat Riley takeover. Fast enough to show some promise and give Spo the sway to wait out the flowering of his process, or, just as likely, the fixing of his roster.
Fast enough to let Spoelstra become Riley-like and eventually bend the team to his will.
Not that his team is making that happen with any ease or support. Coming off Wednesday’s trampling of the Phoenix Suns, two things jumped out in quick succession:
• What a great win.
• Good gracious, Chris Bosh. Really?
I mean, really?
Coming off a sterling, 35-point performance that, for a night, cemented his place back in the Big Three, Bosh couldn’t even get off the court before dropping this gem:
“I guess (Spoelstra) felt he was loosening up a just little bit too much. He knows that he has to meet us halfway. He wants to work. We want to chill.”
We want to chill? My goodness.
Let’s first dispense with the apologists’ mantra that it’s the oh-so-bad haters filling the world with oh-so-much negativity about these poor, poor Heat players having to deal with such trauma.
First of all, this is what Bosh was saying: We want to be like Boston’s Big Three. We want a players’ coach. We want Doc Rivers.
Don’t do it, Spoelstra. Be whatever part of your mentor, Riley, you actually are. Don’t worry that these guys want to see your even-softer side.
It’s different than Boston’s Big Three and you know that. Boston’s trio is older, tougher, more mature, with the bling to prove it. Doc is managing old men, not egos. He’s worried about bodies breaking down, not relationships going sour.
Your guys are younger, not yet forged in fire, still getting there.
Spoelstra might as well be his own version of Riley. Better, for him, than Riley needing to be his own version of Riley.
There’s also the fact that Bosh will make $14.5 million this year. The Heat snared the greatest free-agent haul in sports history. The biggest catch of all, LeBron James, said on live television he was going where he could win multiple rings, not just one.
Their coach, the man tasked with marshaling all this opportunity, does not need extra aggravation.
Oh, and these heroes started 7-4.
Dude wants to chill?
No, this matters. This is no good. This comment, and what lurks beneath it, is one more problem clogging the Big Three’s route to greatness. More important, this isn’t doing Spoelstra any favors.
The Big Three probably will get a lot more time to show what they can do than Spoelstra will. Despite that, he actually has managed the circus aspect of this whole situation with skill and verve.
He almost certainly has met his players halfway on the “chill” front. The Heat have enjoyed a lot of days off, including Thursday, because Spoelstra understands the path he’s walking. He needs to get them on track, to take this thing seriously, and so there were two days of intense practices that led to Bosh’s comment.
Which, for those scoring at home, worked. Especially for Bosh.
But Spoelstra also has treated this team like the veteran club it is, handing out free time like it’s, well, Miami, and his guys might want to enjoy it some.
Spoelstra is a coach whose eyes literally light up when he talks about basketball strategy. The 40-year-old knows his stuff. He cut his teeth staring endlessly at video clips, scouting and preparing game plans.
There’s a chance, a good chance, that once/if things get rolling Spo will have a unique ability to meticulously game plan on a level — powered by a cooperating Big Three — few teams can match.
For now, though, it’s the egos he has to find a way to outsmart, the superstars he has to dissect and approach with care.
He has a few advantages here. Superstars want to win games, yes. They want greatness, sure. But getting to that point involves some alchemy along the way, whether superstars know it consciously or not, and that means a lot of things.
They need order. They need guidance. They need, yes, good or great coaching. They usually need to believe in, and certainly respect, their leader.
They need help.
Legendary players often need legendary coaches to shepherd them. Magic Johnson had that in Riley, even if no one at the time knew that would become the young coach’s destiny. The mettle of the man was there, inside him. Then the rings came.
Michael Jordan also enjoyed a pairing with a worthy coaching partner, Phil Jackson. Has LeBron had that, ever, at any level? No.
Maybe the guy needs it. It would be no easy thing to be anointed to greatness at an early age (See: Tiger Woods or Michael Jackson) and be able to hold 100 percent onto your sense of perspective. Which is where a coach comes in.
Can it turn out Spoelstra has his own mettle down deep, something hard and true and mixed with his X’s-and-O’s skills and his passion for the game and years with Riley? Maybe. I think very much maybe.
But he’s also got the most highly anticipated NBA team in history to deal with, and that’s equal part albatross, equal part golden opportunity.
Before he can help his guys, they need to help him.
I’m talking to you, Bosh. You too, LeBron.
Stop talking about wanting to “chill” and expecting your head coach to meet you halfway. In fact, stop thinking about chilling and start thinking about becoming a bad ass, a stopper, a killer, a winner.
Stop calling out Spoelstra because you played too many minutes (which you should be craving, by the way) and start seeing it as a sign the guy believes in your ability to get it done. So go get it done.
One way or another, you need a coach. You need a leader. Might as well give Spoelstra a go.
Help the guy out.
If you give him the chance, Spo just might turn out to be someone worth fighting for
