Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra worked his way up the organization to where he is. He was almost ousted though, way back as the video coordinator.
The Miami Heat are a team that is all about perseverance and hard work. That is just what it took for current Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra to make it this far.
There is also a saying that says “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. That was said to inevitably say this, no matter how good or diligent someone is at something, in more situations than we might think, luck had a part in it working out the way in which it did.
It had to be pure dumb luck in the Miami Heat’s scenario here as well. This references the fact the Miami Heat are still coached by Coach Spo. The “dumb luck” references the fact that he was almost ousted before he ever got a real chance to begin to work his way up.
In case you didn’t know, Pat Riley landed with the Miami Heat via what essentially turned out to be a trade with his then New York Knicks, although not a fair, regulated, or typical one for New York. Negotiating with Miami behind the backs of Knicks personnel, Pat Riley eventually left the Big Apple for Biscayne Bay.
The “trade” part references the compensation that the Heat eventually had to send the Knicks as apart of their penalty for doing the deed with Riley. When Riley came, however, he wanted to bring his staff, but thank god it didn’t happen. Here is Coach Spo with TNT‘s Ernie Johnson telling the tale himself, via the twitter account of WPLG Local 10 News‘ Will Manso.
Erik Spoelstra tells Ernie Johnson a great story of how he almost didn’t make it through his first season in the video room with the Heat. Miami fans can actually thank the Knicks for this one. pic.twitter.com/MDBRUvjx7g
— Will Manso (@WillManso) May 6, 2020
Whew! That sounds like it was almost a close call for the man that has become one of the best coaches in the league today and one of the many great coaches that the league has ever seen.
We sure do think the Knicks for being stubborn on this one. If they hadn’t, who knows what might have happened. Heck, Spo may have even ended up there, but we are sure glad he didn’t.