Miami Heat: Erik Spoelstra would never leave for Portland… regardless

The Miami Heat are coming off one of their most horrendous playoff showings ever. Losing their first-round series of the 2021 NBA Playoffs to the Milwaukee Bucks, they were the victims of what was to be the first ever sweep for Coach Spoelstra in his career as a head coach.

Putting that on pause for a second and fast-forwarding throughout the slaughterhouse that has been the slew of NBA Coaching firings, but focusing in on the situation in the Great Northwest, there was interesting chatter about that one. Amid rumors, there was talk that the Portland Trail Blazers had Miami Heat head man, Spoelstra, on their list of targets.

Interestingly awkward, however, it would kind of make sense. Spoelstra is not only one of the best head coaches in the NBA, he consistently excels with the least or less, but can win with the best.

There is also this. He has major Portland ties.

The Miami Heat and Erik Spoelstra are synonymous at this point. It’s safe to say that he’s a lifer, meaning, never ever leaving.

His father was an executive for the Trail Blazers, meaning Spo had time to live, develop, become a highschool basketball standout, and eventually, a college basketball player in the Portland area. In fact, he even played his college ball at the University of Portland, a point guard for the Portland Pilots basketball team.

While the Blazers had Spoelstra on their list of targets though and for good reason, that doesn’t mean that they were on his. Heck, it’s almost without any doubt that Spoelstra doesn’t even or never even, for that matter, had a list.

He would never leave Miami unless he was totally leaving coaching… basketball as a profession even. There is no way of convincing otherwise.

The relationship between he and The Godfather, Pat Riley, is too strong for that to happen. There seems to be more than just a professional respect or even a great bond to win birthed from competitive mutuality… there is a real relationship.

For as shallow as they can seem on the surface at times, mostly because of their blandly clever demeanors, there has to be a belief that there is a deep shared connection between the two that wouldn’t allow Spo to leave this place. That’s also the reason for what is the biggest reason why he won’t ever leave.

To be clear there, the reason that this next fact is so is because of the way Riley feels about Spoelstra and because of all that Spo has been able to accomplish. This is also the biggest reason why Spo wouldn’t leave.

When Riley is done, 76 years old, you can be certain that the show is all Spo’s to run. That’s it.

What more could Spo want as a coach? Nothing.

That’s if he still even wants to remain the coach of the Miami Heat and not, simply, take over Riles‘ role. In any situation, the noise seems to be dead anyway but in case it wasn’t, it’s more than safe to assume that he would never have considered leaving in the first place.