Erik Spoelstra sees the possibilities of what the new-look Miami Heat can be

MIAMI (AP) — Klay Thompson didn't sleep particularly well before his first training camp practice with the Miami Heat.

It wasn't nerves, wasn't a bad hotel room, wasn't anything like that.

The problem was Erik Spoelstra. And it was a good problem to have.

The Miami coach — entering his 19th season with the Heat, by far the longest current tenure of any coach in the NBA — always addresses his team on the night before the start of camp. And what Spoelstra said in this season's kickoff speech had Thompson so fired up that getting rest proved difficult, if not impossible.

“He cares,” Thompson said. “And it’s good to be around a head coach who doesn’t mind to kind of get into you. He respects your work, but he also wants to get the most out of you. And he doesn’t believe in ‘you’re past your prime' or ‘your best years are behind you.’ He believes that you can still be effective at any stage you want — as long as you’re willing to work.”

That part, the commitment to the work, never changes. But a run to the NBA Finals in 2023 was followed up by first-round exits in 2024 and 2025. And last season, when Miami wildly changed its offense but didn't have anywhere near enough chemistry, the playoffs were missed entirely.

So, change did happen. Norman Powell, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel'el Ware — four of last season's top seven overall scorers for Miami — are gone, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bobby Portis and Thompson in their place. And based on early returns, it's easy to see why Spoelstra is firing people up when he talks about this season.

“We all know what we’re here for," Spoelstra said. "Everybody understands what they’re signing up for. There’s not any confusion about the agenda. There’s more an excitement about trying to commit to doing something collectively that’s really hard to do and hopefully ends in something so special at the end of the year.

“You want to have that feeling as a coaching staff and as a front office, you also want the players to have the same type of feeling,” he added. "And it’s early right now, but it just feels like those things are aligned.”

Spoelstra's story is well-known. He grew up in Oregon and idolized Jack Ramsay among others, played college basketball, was in the game when Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers tragically died, got hired in the Heat video room before team president Pat Riley even came to Miami to coach, eventually became an assistant under Riley and then was the hand-picked successor to become head coach when Riley retired in 2008. In 2027, he'll coach the U.S. team at the Basketball World Cup and in 2028 he'll lead the American men into the Los Angeles Olympics.

He'll be in the Hall of Fame one day and it's easy to see why. In 18 seasons under Spoelstra, the Heat have finished below the .500 mark only three times. He's taken six teams to the NBA Finals, the first four of those when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh formed a Big Three in Miami.

“I can guarantee you that Erik Spoelstra is going to be motivated going into this year," Bosh said. "He’s going to have a plan. They’re going to score a lot of points. And I think Giannis will love playing that way.”

With Antetokounmpo now playing alongside Bam Adebayo, longtime NBA coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Doc Rivers — who coached Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee — sees parallels between the James-Wade-Bosh era of Heat basketball and what's possible in this one.

“I look at Miami and I look at Spo and Bam and Giannis, I mean, that’s a hell of a Big Three,” Rivers said. “Anybody can go get the stars. The key — great organizations know this, and Miami is one of those — is figuring out how to build around them when your resources are lacking. Every person you sign has to be the right person. And if I was going to pick anybody to do that, Pat Riley and Spo would be at the top of the list.”

Most decisions have to be right as well, and the one with the offense that Spoelstra made a year ago might pay huge dividends now. Miami started playing very fast, shooting earlier in the shot clock, trying to get the ball over halfcourt in a couple seconds, putting constant pressure on defenses.

It seems tailor-made to fit Antetokounmpo's game.

“When you have a coach like Erik Spoelstra, it makes the job much easier,” Antetokounmpo said. “You know that you’re going to be in the right places and you’re going to be successful when you play.”

The Eastern Conference will be loaded this season, playoff spots will be difficult to grab and Miami — even after some preseason glimmers of great — can't say with any certainty yet about how the season will go.

But Spoelstra is energized. His team is noticing. Excitement seems high, and that tends to mean very good things are coming in Miami.

“We don’t want to reinvent guys. We just want to add to (them)," Spoelstra said. “And hopefully we can make our guys better when they come into this building, but also just really accentuate what they already do and maximize that and put it all together where everybody’s maximizing each other’s strengths. The possibilities for us are exciting.”

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