You may think that when it comes to the Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, he’s had an easy go about it. Four Finals appearances with “The Big 3”, 2 rings, he didn’t have to do much, just let LeBron, Wade and Bosh loose, kick back and chill.
No. If you think that, get your head checked. Spoelstra had to hold together a team with many ego’s. He’s done a great job as a head coach and similar to Rick Carlisle, he gets it done without the constant plaudits that Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr gets.
The Detroit Pistons face the Miami Heat tonight and Stan Van Gundy had great words to give to his counterpart.
“He’s a great coach. He always has been,” Van Gundy said. “But unfortunately for his reputation, he had LeBron and (Dwyane) Wade and (Chris) Bosh, so we had some of the talking heads on TV who didn’t know anything, basically not giving him credit for what he was doing coaching-wise.”
“As good as some of the other coaches in the league are, Pop, Doc (Rivers), those guys haven’t done that,” Van Gundy said. “They haven’t gone to four straight finals … winning back-to-back titles. The guy has been incredible.
“This year, Bosh goes out and everything else, and he’s winning again. I’ve said it for a long time, the guy is a Hall of Fame coach and hopefully they’ll be smart enough to eventually get him there. But he’s done a tremendous job.“
Now sure when all is said and done Erik Spoelstra will be a Hall Of Fame lock. Now? Well he’s only been a head coach for only 8 years, if he did a Marshawn Lynch or Calvin Johnson and retired early (yes I know the jobs are different.) would he be a Hall Of Famer now?
