Erik Spoelstra has been a great coach for a long time. He's been able to make wine out of water, lead bad rosters to great outcomes, and control the big egos of star players. But this most recent Miami Heat 0-4 start is a rare stain on his Hall of Fame coaching career.
To be clear, this is nowhere near an article asking for him to be fired. I still believe that he is a great coach who is just having an awful start while having to deal with significant roster turnover and a new shiny toy in Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Nonetheless, coaching through the Heat's first few games has been absolutely atrocious, and that's probably an understatement. Obviously, the head coach can't go on the court and play himself, but he has been making coaching decisions that I can't fathom.
Erik Spoelstra has made a few questionable decisions this season
On opening night, Spoelstra decided to play drop coverage on one of the best 3-point shooting teams last year in the Minnesota Timberwolves, who also added one of the best playmakers in the league who can find any open shooters.
And after the team made 12 of their first 26 attempts (a 46.2% clip), Spoelstra decided to make no adjustments and continue to let Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves shoot as many 3-pointers as they wanted. There weren't even doubles thrown at Edwards until the game was completely out of reach. Offensive issues didn't even matter with how bad the defense was.
And the rotation in this game, my goodness. Nikola Jovic, coming off the worst season of his career, somehow earned the right to be the 9th and final player in the Heat rotation, playing 24 horrid minutes. His plus-minus of -5 does not do this performance justice. He was awful, and he was awful last season, and Spoelstra just let him kill the momentum of the game.
Also, a 9-man rotation in October for a team that sat multiple players who proved themselves in pivotal moments last year just isn't smart.
From this point, it hasn't gotten much better. Mind you, it's only been four games, but the significant adjustments just haven't been there. The only slight adjustments that Spoelstra has made are that he's phased Jovic out of the rotation and has given Dru Smith more of an opportunity. But there's still an argument to be made that he hasn't given other players, who could make a difference, the chance to prove their worth.
For now, Spoelstra seems to be sticking with his rotation, strategy, and starting 5; none of which have worked thus far.
Of course, I'm confident he can fix these issues, but it has not been good whatsoever. And it's okay to blame him even if we still love him. Tough love is part of Heat culture, and hopefully the right people are in his ear to help him right the ship.
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