Miami Heat: Will Coach Erik Spoelstra Finally Get His Due?

The Miami Heat are headed to the NBA Finals to face the Los Angeles Lakers. That brings up a question, will coach Spo finally get some credit?

The Miami Heat are headed to the NBA Finals. For the first time ever in team history, a team without Dwyane Wade will head to the NBA Finals for a shot at the NBA Title.

After such a long and hard fought season, equipped with quite a few high’s and lows, it’s only right that they go to the Finals to try and finish it off. Here’s the thing though, with another trip to the NBA Finals for Coach Spoelstra and with this group, does he finally start to get the credit he is due?

It was just a relatively short while ago that basketball commentator Dan Dakich said that Coach Spo wasn’t a top coach in the league. You guys remember, right?

That one situation where he would take “Nate McMillan” and “a ton of guys” over Coach Spo. He’s “just a guy” and that we are “out of” our “minds” if we think he’s a top coach in the league?

That’s just one of the many blasphemous or underrating takes on the guy though. It wasn’t truly up until he began to dismantle opposing coaches in these playoffs that those calling the games couldn’t help but recognize his greatness.

The Miami Heat are headed to the NBA Finals. Will Coach Spo finally get his due?

If you listened to the evolution of the broadcasts, you heard what we are talking about. It went from a group of gritty guys and Jimmy Butler to Coach Spo being an “outstanding coach”. If you are familiar with certain announcer’s vernacular, then that makes total sense to you.

Nevermind the fact that he coached the guy Dakich would put above him, out of a job, before then proceeding to outcoach the two guys that have been crowned the latest and greatest over the past few years. While Coach Bud and Brad Stevens were busy getting all of the accolades, Coach Spo continued to polish his craft, his rings, and his trophies.

Mind you, this was all again while they soaked up the accolades, with no hardware to show for it. This team is not only the embodiment of the Miami Heat Culture, but they are the personification of Spo.

Work hard when nobody is watching. “Stay the course”.

Remain true to yourself and when the moments come that all of that needs to come out of you, it will, because you’ve lived, practiced, and drilled for those moments. That’s what prepares you for that.

So, with what the Miami Heat have achieved this year combined with what people expected from them, not only has Spo been the best coach in the league this season, but by a mile. Perhaps that, along with all of his previous accolades, provides him the opportunity to finally get the credit he deserves.