Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Heat Central: Coach Spo on Luka being in 'better shape' this season: "I think there's probably been too much talk about that. He was in very good shape last year. He can make every play in the book you need to make as a point of attack guy.... He makes the right plays over and over. That's what the greats do"
Will Manso: About as open, honest and frustrated as I’ve seen Heat coach Erik Spoelstra in a long time. He makes clear the defense is not acceptable right now, and everyone is to blame, including himself: “I need to do better job of getting this group to defend to our potential. We’re all accountable to this.”
Anthony Chiang: Erik Spoelstra on Klay Thompson: "He is the definition of ignitable."
Anthony Chiang: Erik Spoelstra on Klay Thompson: "I'm confident that he'll get there. And even with the percentage that he's shooting, he still provides us that gravity."
Anthony Chiang: Erik Spoelstra said he just found about the change to Dwyane Wade's statue this afternoon. "I think it looks amazing," Spoelstra said.
Advertisement
Q: I got to ask you about the Heat, they're off to a really slow start and it doesn't look pretty on the court. What are your thoughts on this Heat team? A lot of people are talking about the Giannis and Bam pairing that it's not working out right now. What is your evaluation of this? Amare Stoudemire: “With the Miami Heat, I know two things for sure. You have a great general, Pat Riley, and you have a great deputy chief in Coach (Erik) Spoelstra. So those two guys are going to come together and figure out the proper game plan to get the team to play cohesively and figure this thing out. The players are going to lock in because they are tired of hearing all the talk about what they can and can't do. So they're going to go into the gym and lock in also. “I'm not worried about the Miami Heat. I think they're going to be able to figure this thing out. They have a great team. I feel like they're a team that can be very competitive in the Eastern Conference. So I'm not concerned with the Heat at all, man. With Bam and Giannis, two great players, they'll figure it out. “They're great players, they're All-Star caliber players. They're gonna figure it out. Trust me.”
In the opener, there were 24 minutes in the home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the second game, there were 13 in the home loss to the Detroit Pistons. The following night, only six minutes in the road loss to the Charlotte Hornets. And then none Monday against the Mavericks, when his minutes instead went to point guard Dru Smith. “I’m still trying to find that spot for Niko,” coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday morning.” So this is different than last year, because he’s been giving us good minutes. But we felt that we needed a little bit more perimeter based with Dru, to be able to set everybody else in their normal positions. “But I did extend our frontcourt big minutes the other night, so Niko is still fully in the mix. I just have to figure it out.”
Anthony Chiang: Mavs coach Dusty May (former FAU coach) on learning from Erik Spoelstra over the years: "I came down and probably watched 50 practices and workouts in the offseason. I spent a couple training camps with him. A lot of what we do has been things that we've stolen from them and from studying and watching them and finding creative ideas."
Anthony Chiang: Erik Spoelstra during pregame media session: "We need to be more consistent. It can't just be a quarter or two quarters."
In total, the Greek Freak stayed on the court for 25 minutes, and coach Eric Spoelstra posed a rhetorical question in the press conference. While Spoelstra didn’t want to blame the calls for the result, he defended Giannis: “I’m not making this game about the officials so everybody else can just kick rocks. I’m just talking about the physicality he endures every game, and then he’s the one fouling out? – That’s like Shaq.”
Advertisement
Heat Central: Coach Spo says he told the team they need INSPIRATION: "Our system is our system. We can be that active at any point during the game. When we aren't we're choosing not to and paying the price right now. I told our team 'we need inspiration'"
Heat Central: "We just have to find a way. That's what it is right now" - Coach Spo on the Heat 0-3 start
Anthony Chiang: Erik Spoelstra on season-opening loss to Timberwolves: "We all felt horrible about it. That's not how we wanted to present the season to our home fans."