Miami Heat: Erik Spoelstra’s extension, and what it means | Five on the Floor
Welcome to latest episode of five on the floor in the five reason Sports Network thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app Google podcast Apple podcast Spotify and red circle also the the Five Reasons YouTube channel make sure you hit like subscribe and turn the notifications on also check us out on
Off the floor you can find that on Discord that’s where you can communicate with us with other fans you can do it all day long we’re now up to nine different channels you can also find our promo deals there you can talk music culture and of course we’ve got a trade
Machine channel so check it out it’s off the floor we know about all these other group chats trust me you’re going to want to be here the link is posted up right here on the five reasons uh Twitter page at the very top also five reasons YouTube and the podcast feeds
Also want to tell you about a great returning sponsor of the five reasons Sports Network and five on the floor our friend Mark del Cruz and you break Wheel Fix ere Wheel Fix is Miami’s Premier wheel repair and refinishing company 20 years of experience repairing and refinishing damage wheels from Curb rash
Bends and cracks juice up your car with a fresh look with custom powed custom custom powder coating colors to set you apart from the rest they can do all the heat colors I would not recommend those yellow and black things they did the other uh a few years ago but you know
The vice colors you can still get those U brake Wheel Fix located in North Miami off of bis Gan and Northeast 143rd Street fast turnaround times minimize your count cars downtime catch you Brak Wheel Fix again that’s with a U at the start you break Wheel Fix on all social
Media platforms or contact Mark directly at 305 74801 one two and now today’s episode on the floor ride for my dogs where here the thing you can check the score Hustle Hard couple scars wear bubble frogs just like bu say you in trouble yo check the plan got it all B
Y’all seen the block stop with one hand and Trust have the guts we here to bring the heat y’all can hang it up welcome to five on the floor a daily Insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan scholet Greg sander and Alex Toledo plus others from the
Five reasons Sports Network right welcome back to five on the floor here’s today’s floor plan I’m Ethan scolnick you follow me Ethan J skullnick and at five Reon Sports I got Greg sander you can follow him at Greg sander make sure to check out the episode that Greg Eternal and Gad
Actually Gad was with us uh did after the heat Magic game the Heat winning against Orlando 9996 a throwback game and now they play Charlotte on Sunday and that will include a special ceremony honoring Dwayne Wade’s Hall of Fame induction so you’re going to want to check that out of course we’ll have
Postgame coverage as we always do also make sure to join us on playback during the game I can tell you of all the things we do in the network that’s probably where we have the most fun to be honest like I the podcast is cool YouTube is cool we always tell you to
Join us on Discord social media we’re everywhere but playback is where we’re on stage we have a rotating group of about 10 or 11 us from the network five on the floor guys we try to pop in there on the road games we’re always on there
Uh and Greg man’s a lot of it on the home games along with others to the network and again we’re on stage and you’re in the chat and we take your questions and we watch the game together so it’s a cool experience and you really should be checking out playback I tweet
It out every night also follow our guy Eternal bass he tweets it out several times a night so that will make Eternal happy that I told you to do that and to download the app maybe Eternal will keep me around in five reasons a little bit
Longer but today Greg and I are gonna do something that we really didn’t have a chance to do it was just a timing of it we did a little of this on a postgame episode the other day but the news of Eric pooler’s eight-year extension dropped late it dropped at night I will
Admit I was out at dinner I saw it uh I was like oh I’m not going home to pod I’m not in that kind of condition at this stage and so we didn’t do a podcast that night Greg but we did touch on it a
Little bit and I want to get into it more because I mean this is not insignificant like a coach gets hired a coach gets fired you do several days of podcasts on it right you look at how he’s gonna Implement his schemes how he’s going to deal with the players what
It means for the structure of the organization and when it gets fired the same what went wrong who’s going to replace him coach gets an extension it’s just like okay whatever it’s not whatever though because this kind of thing Greg does not happen in sports and forget the money because again that’s
They never typically release money again it got out this time it’s a lot of money apparently it’s $120 million great for SPO okay that’s fantastic I don’t care how much uh the Arison are paying him with the exception of one thing we’re going to talk about in this podcast okay
But that’s again that’s Eric’s money it is what it is doesn’t doesn’t affect the luxury tax which also we’re going to talk about in the podcast but to me it’s the eight years and it’s the stability and it’s this and I’m going to read you something that I tweeted out here uh the
Other day um from about coaches and sports so I did a little had a few minutes and I did a little bit of research on this the four major sports leagues okay NBA NFL MLB NHL Eric spoler is now the fourth longest tenur coach in those four leagues coach or manager obviously here
Is the list all right Greg papovich who we know he did sign an extension but I mean that’s not going to be forever here right Mike Tomlin number two ridiculously there were some questions about whether Tomlin should continue which is outrageous that’s his four- win team that he coached to 10 wins this
Year and by the way if a certain dolphin executive hadn’t considered him to be too hip hop he might be coaching the dolphins all of this time that’s another story entirely that I could tell you John Harbaugh who just handed it to the Dolphins is third I don’t think most
People would realize that they talk about the other Harbaugh but John Harbaugh is third Eric spola is fourth Andy Reid is Fifth and there’s a sizable gap between spoler and Reed because again Reed was with the Eagles he joined the Chiefs in 2013 ER spoler was already in his fifth
Season with the heat at that point the guy who was with spoler for a while was Rick Carlile he’s he signed with Dallas like days before SPO did but of course he’s no longer in Dallas he’s in Indiana six is John Cooper who is by far the longest tenured NHL coach NHL coaches
They make changes after winning the president’s trophy like there’s a new coach a week later the devil’s like I think change coaches four times in one year at one point so John Cooper being that long in Tampa Bay is is an accomplishment and then Steve ker who
Does not have an extension yet and who has been under some fire from his own fans this year is seventh and I can tell you there’s no major league manager anywhere in the picture at this stage like Aaron Boone is one of the longest tenured with the Yankees and he can get
Fired any day so it’s a remarkable list to be on and to be fourth and I just want you to reflect on that first before we kind of get to the rest of this podcast because when I went through I was like wait there’s got to be somebody
Else no there’s nobody else this very young man when they hired him 37 years old is now the four longest tenur coach in in major American Sports well some something else that you tweeted that I thought was pretty damn on point was it might be Pat Riley’s best damn decision
Of all decisions in this entire Pat Riley era to stick by spola not to just hire spola because um you know he took a shot there but then to stick by him through the the rough years the big three stuff you kind of chronicled all the moments that you know the nine and8
The losing in the finals there were all these moments where any other franchise would have fired their guy and they stuck by spola it’s reminiscent of the way that they stuck by Pat when he lost to a lower seat on his home floor three years in a row being the New York Knicks
And he did not get fired almost in any other scenario a coach would have been fired there as well so you’re seeing that this is is paying off for me it’s a huge win for the organization an eight-year extension is unbelievable it’s unheard of I think part of why the
Money got leaked Ethan is because the heat wanted that to be leaked because they rightfully so want to make it known just how much they are invested in spola the way that they view spola value spola and also um frankly like this is also a play to show the
Rest of the NBA specifically I mean we could talk about the grander Sports World and I’m glad you put it in that context earlier but just in the NBA it’s also a play of like the best coach in the sport he’s our guy and and and so
It’s a great day for Heat fans we’re gonna talk about some of the things that are most important to this decision but from I mean just from a fan perspective I think every Heat fan should be elated that Eric spoler is going to be around for at least eight more seasons and we
Know it’ll probably be even more that you mention it on the times that he could have been let go and and you’re right there was a chance that Pat took on him plucking him out of the video room how about just keeping him in the first place because again he inherited
Uh SPO just like he inherited uh Stan Ben gundi actually he made decisions to keep certain people there he inherited Andy ellisburg also and that turned out to be one of his better decisions to keep him and to continue to to uh Empower him right exactly okay and so you know it’s
One thing to go out and hire guys but it’s others it’s also for someone who has a reputation of being stubborn Like Pat does it is something also to be willing to take someone else who was not your guy uh and keep that player around or coach around uh or executive around
And we’ve seen many many coaches who don’t want to do that they or they come in or coaches Executives they come in they want a clean house I need my people uh and I’ve seen with the dolphins over and over they’ve made that mistake um and that’s i g i give McDaniel some
Credit for not doing that as much when he came in the first year he did make more changes the second Year Vic fangio is one of those examples but uh so many many people Nick Sav came in didn’t want to keep anybody that he had there uh he
Ended up keeping Rick Spielman uh sort of was forced and by default uh so again I’ve covered this on the other side with other teams and Pat has been more flexible than most in that regard but you mentioned uh to me the harder thing was keeping him uh after after making
Him the head coach because we do see a lot of coaches they don’t get to see the fruits of their labor and it would have this is not just us speculating I can tell you because again I’ve known Eric for a very long time when he was not in this role when
We were young men when I was 23 and he was 26 that’s when we we first met okay so I I was almost Brady’s age uh and that that’s how long he’s been in this organization and I had a conversation with Eric during the uh uh the second
Year of the big three and which he said to me in any other organization I would have been fired three times in the past calendar year he says I I would I would have been fired when we got LeBron he’s like because who is this guy who’s gonna
Coach LeBron James and by the way you know LeBron did put it out there and Dwayne was like no no you’d rather have SPO than Pat okay for for reasons that we saw after because you know Pat’s reputation of driving people into the ground so that was the first thing then
Of course there was n and8 uh the players only meeting that Wayne LED in Dallas the leak to espn.com that night about the confrontations between spola and LeBron I have said that spo’s most important press conference he ever held with the Miami Heat was the shoot around after we
Got back from Dallas I can tell you that we thought he might get fired after reading all that stuff that day I knew where it was coming from we all who were covering the team closely of course that was bumpgate that was Michael Wallace our good friend uh and I were in front
Of SPO right after the game and Mike uh asked SPO about the bump and SPO acted like he didn’t and which is possible because he gets so intense in those moments but he said I don’t even know what you’re talking about then a 45 to 55 minute meeting we found out later
That Dwayne was going around the room saying this is what you need to do better this is what you need to do better and then the leak and I honestly spoke I thought he was going to get fired then but he came out and basically
Made it very clear that it was his team and he was going to do things way he needed to do it he did it at that next shoot around he didn’t cower but the thing that didn’t get talked about at the time because we didn’t know was the
Conversations that were had between Pat and SPO and Pat and the players in between those two media sessions and I think without that media session SPO would not still be coaching this team and and then the third thing was the 2011 finals which we all know that the
Primary culprit for that was LeBron getting in his own head for whatever reason but SPO did not have a great series I I I think even if you look back at it and we were critical of him at the time that Rick Carlow coached him I don’t think
There’s any question and to me the single biggest mistake was the the wait to put Mario chamers in the starting lineup uh until game six and they ended up losing the game but Rio played really well Mike babby should not have been on the floor in any capacity during that
Final series the way that he had played uh during the the uh the rest of the postseason and so I think SPO learned from that we saw him make quicker decisions uh going forward when he put guys in starting lines we saw whether it was with drit or Mike Miller taking a
Player who hadn’t been a starter putting him in later on and I think that’s something we may see him do again this year but that was a major growth period for SPO but most people don’t get allowed to find themselves in that way not on that stage and there were very
Good coaches who were available in the 2011 offseason Greg and P could have repl him with one but maybe it’s because Pat doesn’t like to go outside his Circle or just because he believes in stability and look he was going to stick by the guy that he picked so F you if
You don’t like it whatever it was it was the right decision and so there were again three different times that I think and SPO recognized it when we spoke and I know he has said it to others since that he believes he could have been fired and probably would have been fired
If he’d worked for anybody else so now to look at it on the other end of it and not only is he fourth in major sports but if you look at the rest of that list will likely be first soon uh if you look at the three others on that list uh you
Know eventually because we know he’s he’s GNA Outlast pop in that position I think that’s pretty clear and then you look at at the others uh Tomlin maybe I mean who knows I mean I you know but maybe and John Harbaugh I would expect John Harbaugh there’s been speculation
About him moving on in the past so so SPO I think could end up being the most tenured coach in major sports before the end of this on the other side of this you I have five topics though we want to get to and I want to start I’m going to
Let you tee it off when we come back with the one you were mentioning about the heat sending a message here because I I think that is a big part and we into the five most important things before we do I want to mention a great news
Sponsor of the five Reis of sports network look not everything that we promote here is for us but it might be to make you look good in a different way so we’ve got a great local business right here in South Florida it’s called tub culture that’s one word it’s owned
By some friends of ours they also happen to make bath and& beauty products that are handmade all of them using gentle natural ingredients with no animal testing and they have something for everyone from soaps that GL gently clean to bath bombs that smell amazing and and
Add fun colors to the bath plus shower steamers for a spa-like aroma therapy experience at home handcrafted lotions because no one likes dry skin and scrubs that clean and moisturize in one step you see where I’m going with this be a hero go use the promo code 5 that’s FIV
At shop culture that’s one word shop culture.com and you get 10% off your order of 20 bucks or more so check it out shopt culture.com let’s get to number one here Greg because uh you hit on it and again I think there is a message being sent to a certain degree
And I’ll I’ll mention this one thing and get out of the way on this one the Heat have decided to invest in basketball operations okay they will point out to you whenever there’s a accusation of them being cheap not wanting to spend in the tax we spend in the top five in
Basketball operations and look around who’s left right they’ve they’ retained Andy Simon Excuse Me Andy Simon they’ve retained Adam Simon they’ve retained Andy ellisburg right they’ve retained Eric spola I mean Dan Craig’s like the only one to Really Leave the or and Jaan and Jaan left for his Alama moer
Otherwise they don’t leave because the reality is the heat do take care of those people and I and and it is a market inefficiency if you look at it because the you can exploit this in the salary cap luxury tax age particularly with the second apron that if you can make the
Players you have better by having an elite first thing an elite uh scouting staff which Adam leaves leads an elite uh money man who Andy is okay so you can find help on the margins right and an elite coach to make the players better that maybe it mitigates some of
The criticism and now this is where I want to go to you on this for for not spending crazy into the second apron and paying the penalties not just Financial but in terms of vehicles that you can use to upgrade the team that maybe this
Is a more efficient way to do that is that fair I think it is because I think not only is Riley spola all those guys well taken care of financially uh and obviously they have utmost job stability all of them do um the heat like let’s not forget they’re
Eighth in total payroll this year I mean they’re ahead of the Lakers Lakers have doubled the revenue they’re ahead of uh the Denver Nuggets the defending Champions ahead of the Dallas Mavericks ahead of the New York Knicks the Brooklyn Nets notorious Spenders Chicago Bulls another big Market I mean the only
Teams ahead of them are Philly Boston Milwaukee Phoenix Minnesota the Clippers and Golden State and I went all the way to the top uh or from the bottom to the very top as golden state is the highest payroll for me they project to be seventh in payroll next year so I guess
I’ll say this for all of the talk of them being um unwilling to pay certain apron charges I think a lot of that has to do with the roster building the punitive nature with which they’ve made the roster building stuff like you can’t get a buyout player that um makes more
Than a certain amount of money if you hit over that certain apron or you can’t get a buyout player at all like there’s all kinds of stuff that they’ve layered in here but if you do the two things what they’ve done in the front office what they do in the coaching staff in
Terms of keeping their play Keep keeping their people around taking care of them and also the fact that they’re top 10 and spending just on the roster itself to me I think that to call them cheap is off base I think we should stop doing
That I think that maybe if you want to say that they’re um sensitive at certain moments to and I think it really has a lot to do with the new rules y’all um certain you know really big luxury tax bills okay but I think that they’re making up for that with the marketing
Efficiency in the front office and I don’t want to be careful here because I know where some fans are going to go here there’s a segment say we’re carrying water for the organization so I want to give all sides of this but I will agree with you that
The word cheap is completely wrong it’s just is I mean there’s another organization in town that is cheap uh it’s not them and it’s not the Dolphins by the way because Steve Ross has been absolutely willing to spend that has not been the issue with dolphins over the years the issue has
Has been some of those he spent it on and a lot of those have been the front office and coaching type people that it hasn’t worked out for it I mean there’s this great celebration of Nick Sabin this week but that’s not how I remember Nick Sabin okay I remember because I was
Covering the Dolphins as a columnist at the time along with the heat I remember the celebration for Sabin coming in they went and got him okay obviously you know we we talk about that was before Ross that was heena but ainga went and got Sabin uh and Nick Sabin honestly didn’t
Know how to coach at the pro level I mean Nick Sabin was more concerned about painting over the media parking spots because that’s one of the very first things he did when he got there okay and belittling his own players than he was about coaching the team and he didn’t
Seem to understand that in the pros like if Jason Allen Falls to you that’s who you take in the draft you can’t just go recruit somebody else and I just don’t think he ever figured out like the difference between control control in college and also control of the media in
A small college town okay as opposed to controlling the media in a major sports town which again we get criticism from not being hard enough down here but it it ain’t uh East Lancing or Tuscaloosa in that regard okay the media tends to be fawning in college towns like that
Okay and so uh you know they spent the money on him or hazinga did uh and he spent the money by the way on Parcels to run that organization afterwards and then Ross inherited parcels and that’s one of the reasons Ross left Parcels left but that didn’t work either like
The Dolphins have spent money on those people who have delivered nothing Well Mickey Harrison spent the money to bring in and a draft pick by the way to bring in Pat Riley and it has amounted to more than a quarter century and then has continued to invest in Brain Trust and I
I think that you can make an argument that if you’re looking for stability in an organization investing in Brain Trust actually matters more than investing in a particular player because the Brain Trust allows you to get more good players as you go forward and so I I I
Do think again I don’t want to be accused of carrying what again if they if they don’t spend to go get somebody that I think they should go get I will absolutely call it out but I also think I think that some of this has been
Painted in way too negative a light and I do want to make one more Point here before we get off of of this subject with ownership I can tell you that during covid okay because I’ve been told this by many inside the organization who are not the high level people okay
Because again I’ve been around for 28 years I know everybody all right one way or another and I’ve been I’ve been told that one of the things they appreciated was that they were taken care of during that and I can tell you that in the majority of NBA organizations that was
Not the case so I I think I think that we have to we have to say look if there’s a chance to improve the team in Jimmy’s window and they don’t take it because of just dollars we will be critical of that absolutely and you and I have talked about the Lowry
Contract and using it if it makes sense this year but I also think that there’s been this and mostly on social that’s been painted that cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap and just that that like you mentioned the Lakers get crazy revenue from their television contract it’s much
More than the heat their payroll is lower than the Heats they also have invested in my view in the wrong Brain Trust there okay and their owner there jeie bus is too involved in these things whereas I think you would prefer to have the Arison style of ownership which is
To let Pat handle it okay that’s not what happens in La all right it’s not okay and again there were squabbles with gym bus and all the rest of that so I’m just saying before we get back to SPO here you can tell me I got a water pil
Here I don’t really care I the facts are facts okay and but again if they if they if they want it if they try to shave off the margins that’s not for a second apron reason and it costs them a playoff series I’ll call it out but right now I
Don’t think we’re there yet that’s that’s just what I want to say your objective I’ll carry the water don’t worry about that well I try to be I try to be as objective I I try to be as objective as I can I’m sure he Twitter’s
Gonna love me for that one all right let’s get back to SPO though okay because spo’s a very rich man maybe SPO should spend the money on some of these players out of pocket or at least buy somebody dinner because I can tell you that that’s not spos strength uh he has
Lots of strengths uh personally and mentioned those in a tweet also I I everybody’s happy for him I I’ll start with that because he’s a good person I I just and I I’m not going to get into all the examples in my life although there are many I mentioned one something he
Did for a friend of mine uh that will who cover the team who I’ll I’ll always recognize that and appreciate that but I can tell you that I’ve had numerous people at the game the other day who because I did tweet out that I was happy
For him as a person and I had people who’ been close to him who came up to me and and mentioned that tweet to me I was actually in the locker room uh because they want that to be recognized that he’s he’s a better person than he is a
Coach and and uh and that’s why I think that I think we’re pleased and I think that’s why the fan base is pleased and I don’t think I’ve ever seen and I me remember fires.com I don’t think I’ve ever seen the universal celebration of a man getting
Paid like this right like it like it was 99.9% in favor like I don’t there’s one idiot on Twitter who keeps and I who keeps tweeting at me well the $120 million man needs to do this or do that or do that I’m telling you that guy’s in
The major minority okay you again same thing you can critique stuff SPO does we do it here okay we do it we’re GNA continue to do it but in the totality in the macro to not be happy for him for what he’s achieved what he’s given the
Franchise and as he said to me specifically and it’s the only thing I’ll share from our conversation that he considers himself to be a caretaker going forward that’s the way he is going to approach this and so I’m personally happy for him and yes if I don’t like
One of his rotations then I’m gonna transform myself into coach sko for a minute and be an idiot and criticize someone who knows much more than me and that’s of how how could people be upset I mean this is a situation where you know the heat are going to be
Competitive now so like there’s the next important thing we can throw right out there you know they’re going to be competitive because they have air exposer the best coach in the sport coaching them going forward so even if you don’t you may not agree with everything he does but the results I
Mean if you want to be a results player for a second come on look at it like so whether it’s the process or the results I think spola one of the next things that we’ll talk about is that you can count on the heat to be a team in Miami
That’s gonna matter and I think that that is a huge part of this um and then for the spoler haters his input is probably going to be weighed heavier now and I’m interested to pick your brain here do do do you think that that pendulum starts to swing where spoler
Input actually does get weighed more or do you think that the equal votes among all Executives is how we will continue uh to March down the path as an organization I say we because I’m just stuck like that um what do you think that they do there or do you think
Spoler ends up um getting more of a say because he’s entrenched as the $120 million man as you said I think it’s already been happening um I I think he’s in the Inner Circle and and I think that if you look at Pat’s decision making over recent years he has leaned more uh
On that inner circle than he did previously um you know that’s a conversation when I did the interview with Pat after LeBron left where he talked about this group and a lot of this group is still the same as it was then and look he’s gone to Adam Simon on
Specific things um and asked Adam do you want to take this player do you not want to take this player U something times most of the time it’s worked out really well there’s one instance where maybe they would have been better off taking the picks but you can’t argue with
Adam’s track record in recent years we did an episode uh on that and you know and obviously if they gave Andy the extent the they gave Andy the title right they gave Andy an additional title and we know had the relationship the working relationship that spoler has
With Adam and that spoler has with Andy so I mean I look at at this stage and you know I say okay well obviously the Arison own the team so they’re always going to have some sort of f will say in in Direction um you know especially financially uh because I mean they’re
The ones paying the bills ultimately uh but you know Pat has been the primary decision maker about most things and now it does seem to be you know more and more being transferred to kind of SPO Andy and Adam together with others like zo I think Ruth Riley uh has been
Someone who has has at least what I was you know one of the things I was told in training camp was you know watch watch that situation because she’s getting more input too there seems to be great respect for her um and so I I I you know
Obviously look Chad camer never seems to actually leave like told he’s been retired forever but then he’s right next to Pat trading Camp you know so it’s you know it they’re they’re a very tight Circle I I used to call them Hotel California like you know you can check
In you can never leave um and we’ve seen very few actually leave over the years and like you said now they have you know look teams are going to come Adam Simon I mean I they should um but you know I don’t so I don’t know if he’ll be with
The heat forever but it looks like Andy and SPO will be um and so I think it starts there and I think the input is going to increase but it already has I you know you look at who’s been making presentations to free agents you know
Who was the one that almost got Gordon Hayward turns out it was a good thing it didn’t happen now they have the new Gordon Hayward in haime hakz right but like it but who was the one that was doing the ultimate pitch to Durant both of those were SPO like when the players
When they talked about who pitched them it was SPO now you look at it in the Big Three Time SPO was there but wasn’t it was more with recruiting The Big Three it was really more SPO was kind of like oh yeah we got this coach yeah right so
True I know I’m not gonna coach the team right we got this coach we think he’s really talented he’s taken us to the playoffs twice but I I I wasn’t going to say it’s a detriment in their recruitment because obviously Dwayne was an advocate right but it
Wasn’t a plus like this and I think we have combined some of the topics here but I think we should this is critical I think uh for players to understand and you put this on our show sheet we finally did one of these for players to understand who’s in charge and most
Organizations like you can you can go against the player because go against the coach because you don’t know if if the front office has his back in this case like they just legitimately put $120 million on his back like they stapled that to his back back like he’s
Not going anywhere so effing deal with it but I think that matters in terms of first the culture of your organization we talk about the word a lot obviously you do more than I do but it also in terms of recruiting players you don’t have to worry about who the coach is
Like you can make a decision do I want to play for exposure or not and it’s and an a exposure organization is somewhat different than a pet R organization look this load man I know he’s gonna hate me using this term but I mean whatever it is they’re doing by you know keeping
Players out as much as they are where you’re not going to have anybody but hakz and maybe Duncan play more than 70 games this year right whereas in the big three era everybody but Dwayne did and then you go to Matt Riley’s era well was it was a surprise if they didn’t all
Play 80 okay so the organization has changed he has tempered some things and I think that will help with some players we can argue whether it’s the best thing in the regular season for the heat but I I think that they know they know who’s
In charge and and they know how to how they’re going to have to deal with it and so I think his input increases almost by osmosis like because again he’s a big reason that a player is going to look at the heat now for better or
Worse I do want to P I’m gonna let you handle this uh to kind of what our last topic is going to be today and we appreciate our sponsors tub culture and you break Wheel Fix and always check out better Edge use the code five reasons or
Five RSN to get $20 there um I do think also it gives some clarity to the rest of the staff uh at this point and that’s something that you and I have talked about yeah because we were like okay who’s going to be spos successor if he ever
Goes to the front office or it doesn’t appear that’s going to happen now for the next eight years now Dan Craig left I don’t know that that was necessarily the reason um obviously Dan and and and SPO were very close when they were coaching together but you got Joan’s
Left uh you know obviously for for Michigan I mean is Alma moer um but it looks like to me Chris Quinn is a future head coach if not here then maybe somewhere else look I think Malik Allen has potential to be a future head coach and I think Karan Butler absolutely has
Potential to be a future head coach so I guess the only possible downside to this Greg is and obviously this is spo’s staff and they love SPO and all the rest of this but people are you know they’re human right like they want they want an opportunity I mean do you
See this possibly leading to defections on the staff we saw AC leave but again that was to be in more of a front of the bench role uh in me than he was in in Miami I think it’s going to take it’s going to take perfect situations for
These guys because they also understand the job security like uh I was actually talking with a college head coach yesterday who was mentioning how every year he has to sit down and talk with his wife about what’s going to happen next and like all people in all basketball operations are having to
Constantly evaluate if they’re going to have to move and if they’re going to keep their job and all this kind of stuff so I think that the staff will value that and so we should understand that part of it but also if you don’t see an upwards trajectory in succession
Planning and being able to move up in the organization and become a lead assistant or become a head coach or something like that as you’re seeing all these layers of coaches within the organization maybe you do see a couple of them try to find a jump up but I
Would would remind everybody that like when there’s been guys that have had to go on interview spoler dropped everything he’s effing doing locked himself in a room with the guy and prepped him for the interviews so I think also like there’s a part of this where they’re going to do right by these
Like people as people and so it’ll be always a positive thing but I just think the farm system of coaches I think you may need to accelerate more and more of these faces we see the Eric glasses of the world are going to get more and more opportunity because way right I mean
Wayne ell exactly just because I think inevitably you’re going to see a situation where some of these guys may try to find some upwards Mobility going in another organization as a lead assistant or a head coach well you mentioned what SPO did and I think that’s really important to to talk about
This this gets back to kind of where we started with who he is as a person uh David fizdale was I mean we talk D Craig were close obviously I mean Fizz was his guy during the big three er like fizz was the liais on to the big three and
One of the things that spos really improved at over the years because it used to be a constant complaint I can tell you and they would complain to me a lot about it was spos communication like during the big three era and it wasn’t just the big three guys it was you know
The the veter I’ll I’ll let you guys guess but it was like veterans who had big roles somewhere else who didn’t hear one of them might have a podcast with yanis hasb at the moment another one might be running the Phoenix Suns they would complain to me a lot before games
About not knowing from SPO when they were gonna play if they were gonna play and all the rest of this stuff and I can tell you that the big three guys like I wrote a whole piece about this about how they would go to Fizz like if they had a
Problem with SPO they would go to Fizz and and then Fizz would communicated with SPO SPO doesn’t need that anymore I think that uh one of the complaints about him was that he was non-confrontational at that point to a large degree he’s not non-confrontational anymore we’ve saw
That with Jimmy who probably is the hardest player to manage that the Heat have ever had at that level okay uh and so you know he doesn’t have that issue anymore and I I think when you when you look at it though what what when you go back to the Fizz thing SPO
Was living at the Ritz Carlon at the time uh in the Grove and you’re right he reserved a uh he reserved a conference room and he stayed up day and night to prep Fizz for the Memphis job now it didn’t work out uh ultimately because Fizz didn’t get along with Gasol and
Then we know Fizz ended up in New York and I think fizz working in Utah right now right like but he’s not on not as a coach uh but he prepped him for that and here’s why I think that matters because the heat will lose coaches now I do
Think so okay I I mean again we talked about being willing to pay basketball operations and coaching staff and I think they’ll be willing to pay but again you’re human you want an opportunity to show what you can do on the big stage and I think that the he’
Have three or four guys who look like they could do that we saw it in San Antonio right like pop has a Bud went somewhere else uh bgo went somewhere else right Becky Hammond should be coaching an NBA team right now okay ABS freaking lutely okay so but he’s always
Been able to find others why why has he been able to find time I mean Oka was with him too right why has he been able to find others because they know he takes care of them as a head coach he knows that that he’s not going to be
Bitter or whatever he’s going to prepare them for the next opportunity whatever criticisms you may have about pop okay that’s one of the things that people say about him and you know what they say the same thing about SPO and and so I do think they’re going to lose coaches but
I think they’re going to find good ones to replace them because good coaches will want to work on this staff just like good players who were overlooked are going to want to play for this team because of the track record that SPO has established in developing them and
Getting them paid okay whether it’s here or somewhere else like Gabe Vincent Max stru are perfect examples you think Max wouldn’t come back to play for SPO absolutely he would okay and as with others and so there are others who will want to come in and do
That and so I really think like there’s a lot of there’s a lot of decisions that are made in sports that you could say oh there’s a downside to this there is no downside to this he he he deserved the money he earned the money but it it
Helps the organization too it doesn’t just help him it helps them a lot and I will tell you this as a podcast and I’ll close here it helps us because I know that for the next eight years people are going to listen to us not because we’re
Smart because we’re not but because the team’s going to matter because he’s coaching it have a good day everybody thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the five Reon Sports Network after all someone needs to listen to my dad
Erik Spoelstra is now the highest-paid coach in the NBA, after starting in the video room. Ethan Skolnick and Greg Sylvander and look at all the ramifications, from the show of financial force from ownership to the stability it represents for the future. With plenty of stories.
Sponsors: Tubculture.com (five) and UBreakWheelFix
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for Miami Sports on Demand!
Content about the Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, Miami Hurricanes, Miami Marlins, Florida Panthers, NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, college football & more!
If you want more exclusive Miami Heat content, join our Off The Floor feed here: https://winno.app/offthefloor
If you want more exclusive Miami Dolphins content, join OnlyFins on Discord:
https://discord.gg/onlyfins
If you’re interested in sponsoring Five Reasons, contact us at fivereasonssports@gmail.com
#MiamiHeat #ErikSpoelstra #Heat
