Erik Spoelstra knows what's at stake. He also understands that everyone seems to be counting the Miami Heat out even before they've played a minute together. But on media day, he welcomed the critics and oozed confidence about his new-look Heat.
When asked about the skeptics on the Heat even after the acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Spoelstra didn't hesitate.
“That is right in my wheelhouse. I love the bunker mentality. … It’s about us...We want to build our own story and our own culture here. The majority of them chose us, and we chose them."
The Heat are once again going to embrace an underdog role
Embracing the underdog role is nothing new for Spoelstra and the Heat. In fact, there's a strong argument to be made that it's a position that they've thrived in over the last decade. It has resulted in two surprising runs to the NBA Finals in the last six years.
This time around, though, it will be much different.
Because there's a new leading man at the top. Giannis. And it's not just dangerous to give Spoelstra and a collection of good but not great players a huge chip on their shoulder heading into the start of the season. But the Heat will have the opportunity to be a completely different monster with Giannis playing with even more motivation (because of the doubters).
And all this offseason, it's not just Spoelstra and the Heat that have been doubted. Giannis has, too. In a very big way.
Whether it's analysts describing him as injury-prone, past his prime, or not a good enough leader, Giannis knows the narrative around him that has been building. And it's not a great one.
But that's where he'll have the ability to shut it all down with his play. So as the Heat prepare for the start of training camp, it's not just the Heat as a whole that is being doubted. It's Giannis too.
Spoelstra will use the outside noise as motivation for his new-look Heat
Based on Spoelstra's comments, it appears he's planning on using this as motivation for his team. If he mentioned it on media day, you can bet than he plans on doing so when his team shows up for day 1 on training camp tomorrow.
And that's what all the great head coaches do. They find every bit of extra motivation they can get to help fuel their team. It's part of what has made Spoelstra so great.
But again, this time around it's quite different. Spoelstra has a squad. He has a team. He has a dangerous one after the front office completely revamped it, starting with the blockbuster trade for Giannis.
So it's completely understandable why Spoelstra is so confident in his team this early. And honestly, how can you blame him?
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