Two days after his team was knocked out of the NBA playoffs by the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was back at the FTX Arena on Tuesday to try to sum up the season.
Some of his thoughts:
– He said the entire season, “I feel like I still need time to decompress.”
– But, he noted, “It was just a really memorable and rewarding season.”
– He said: “It will be a great season even though we didn’t reach the goal we set for ourselves.”
– And, “We’ve grown even closer because of all the adversity.”
– Of growth within the roster, he said, “I think what we’ve proven, it doesn’t matter how old you are.”
– He added: “I think Jimmy [Butler] is an example. In his thirties, he became a much better player.
– On the team’s fall in the playoffs in 3-point shooting, he said: “Our team has proven that we can win in a lot of different ways.”
– But he said the next step is to “do shots under duress, in shorter windows.”
– He called the shooting struggles ‘overplayed’ and said, ‘There are a myriad of different ways. »
– Asked about Kyle Lowry’s conditioning, Spoelstra said: “You have to put everything into context: the missed games. Injuries. It’s not just apples to apples.
– He then replied instead, “I thought Kyle was on an incredible pace about six weeks before the playoffs.”
– He added: “I think Kyle will come back to training camp in the best shape of his career.”
– From there he continued, “He trains hard. He’s really working on it.
– On Tyler Herro’s fall in the playoffs before his groin injury, he said: “Every great player has a playoff journey.”
– He added: “There is always a process to this.”
– And, “What that proved, in my mind, they saw how important he is.”
– He noted, “He’s just going to continue to improve exponentially over the seasons, and then that will translate into the playoffs.”
– He praised PJ Tucker, noting previously unanticipated versatility.
– Of Victor Oladipo, Spoelstra said he sees an even higher level in his decline from injury, “without a doubt”.
– He added: “For him to do what he did in this playoff is really unheard of.”
– And, “His instinct, once he got healthy, immediately you saw him on the defensive.”
“He said a healthy working summer is what we need most next.
– To keep the roster together, he said: “Any time we’ve been close and knocked on the door and even ended in a disappointing loss, our story is that we’ve usually brought back the core or the majority of the core.”
– And, “Yeah, you want a chance to do it again with the same band.”
