Erik Spoelstra Talks Miami Heat Starters, Jimmy Butler Relationship and Nikola Jović's Development

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra talks Miami Heat camp battles, the team's young talent, his relationship with Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jović's growth and his travel calls.

Transcript

00:00through. We got Eric Spolstra in the house with us here from

00:02Miami. He be there. Coach, thanks for your time, man.

00:03Really appreciate it. Alright, appreciate it. Looking fresh.

00:05Energized. All the above. We've had too much time. Too much.

00:09Yeah. As we're talking, remember, we've been off since

00:11uh early May uh and losing to Boston and then seeing them

00:16win. You know, that that offers a little bit of a different

00:19motivation in the off season. I think we're all um able to get

00:23time away. Understand that we're going to have to come

00:25together and and get to a higher level. That's what

00:28happens when a team wins a championship. They force you to

00:30raise your level and you know, that's what we're looking

00:33forward to out of our group. You said uh you plan on

00:35watching none of it. Did you watch any of Boston's run? I

00:38didn't watch any of it live. No. But uh yeah, of course uh

00:41this summer, you have to get to work. I just was not going to

00:43watch it. You know, as it was happening and I certainly did

00:47not watch the coronation uh any of that. I don't need that part

00:50you know, to see their parade as as motivation but to get to

00:53school, yeah, you have to understand what the enemy is

00:56doing and what uh how they adapted and got to a higher

01:01level uh because that's what's going to be required uh for our

01:05ball club. You have such an interesting roster with uh you

01:07know, young guys ascending the guys that the main stage you

01:10had. What do you imagine camp competition is going to be like

01:13for you going into this with roles and all that because I

01:15feel like there's a lot of fun things you can play with with

01:18this roster. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. We're going to

01:20get right to it. You know, and uh uh I commend the group for

01:23in uh prepared ready. We've checked the boxes of

01:26conditioning, the conditioning test, the player development,

01:29working out. Uh guys have been playing enough pickup. Their

01:32bodies are ready. Their minds are clear uh and now we have to

01:35get to it uh and I do have some evaluations uh to make. I I do

01:39have an idea of some of the main things you know and and

01:42the direction that will go but I want to be open to the

01:45competition. I want the young guys uh to come in here with

01:48that kind of exuberance they showed during summer league. We

01:51have a lot of young talent in the building now. We wanted to

01:54restock uh our talent pool you know with uh um some young guys

02:00um and I want them to push the vets. I want the vets to come

02:03into camp uh not entitled but to actually have to earn their

02:06spots as well to have that kind of mindset uh and then we'll

02:09see where it goes and in terms of mixing and matching, that's

02:12what preseason will be about. Um we won't have all the answers

02:15by day one but I'm going to be very intentional in camp of

02:18um trying to get to it and trying to make some decisions

02:20early on. Isn't this um this is one of the first times I've

02:25seen this much young talent. Usually it's you add some

02:29veterans, you move some pieces around and it's mostly a

02:32veteran squad. Uh to have so much young talent is is this

02:37something new for you because I I can't remember you having

02:40this much young talent you know on the team that's going to

02:44actually contribute. We've had different uh times where we've

02:48had talent ads. Uh obviously when we added Bam. Right. When

02:52we added Tyler um and then uh that first year when we added

02:56Jimmy, we felt like we had some young talent uh in the in the

02:59pool. Uh this is a little bit different because there's a

03:02little bit more um in terms of we still have uh Jaime, we still

03:07have Nico. Right. Uh add them to the mix of who we added this

03:11summer. That's where I think the Heat fan base is was excited.

03:15Uh the group uh found a way to win the summer league

03:17championship. Uh our draft picks um were talented um and

03:22Kalil and and Pella. Um they show that they can produce and

03:26and impact winning even just at that level that matters uh to

03:29us and then you know guys like uh uh KJ and um you know Josh

03:35Christopher uh they made us watch and that that's what I

03:38want. You know the first thing when you're a young player uh

03:40you have to you have to commit to the work. Then you have to

03:45uh make us watch. Make us pay attention. Uh if you're not

03:49doing that enough, you're not earning that, alright? And then

03:52the next step is find a way to impact winning and that's when

03:56you start putting pressure on some of the veteran players. So,

03:59I don't know. You know, at this point, you know, it's it's

04:02exciting summer league but now you turn the page. It's a

04:04little bit different. You know, when the vets come into camp

04:06but uh I want that to be a very competitive spirited camp and

04:10um we have to collaborate, you know, together um but I don't

04:14want them backing down from anybody. Right. From uh from

04:17Jimmy's standpoint, you've you've been in the position

04:19where guys get a little bit older superstars. Uh how do you

04:23feel like? Is there any way you feel like you have to handle

04:25him differently or do you just let him be who he's been with

04:28you guys? Uh he's really prepared. You know, coming into

04:30the season. Um he understands that he needs me. You know, to

04:34be at the top of my game where he is in his career. I have

04:37experienced coaching uh players his age and I need him to be at

04:41the top of his game. Not only physically, mentally, emotionally,

04:45spiritually but as a leader and at this point in our careers

04:48where we've been together now going on our sixth year based

04:52on my experience, that's where you can have the beauty of

04:56unspoken leadership. Where we're moving the locker room.

05:01When he needs me to move the locker room and move in a

05:04certain way, I do it. When I need him to do it, he does it.

05:07When we need to collaborate together, you know, that's when

05:10we really can can be powerful and sometimes, you know, the

05:13first two or three years, you're just getting to know

05:15each other and uh I just think these are amazing

05:19opportunities. Um that's so it happens so infrequently, you

05:23know, in our league. Unfortunately, we're able to

05:25coach somebody for for that many years in a row and that's

05:27that goes for Bam as well. You know, I'm going on uh eight

05:31years uh with Bam but five collectively uh between Bam uh

05:37and Jimmy and I and we're the leaders. You know, we're going

05:40to need everybody but they're going to follow us and our

05:44ability to be in sync. Uh that's that's where we can

05:47really, you know, make the biggest difference. Have you, I

05:50guess, message wise to him like what has been his mindset

05:53because obviously he has just as high standards as you guys

05:55do to win championships and for him to be on the sidelines at

05:59the end of it, you know, seeing you guys get eliminated, how

06:01tough is that for him when you speak with him about it? Yeah,

06:03I mean, we were in contact when I was uh you know, overseas

06:06and uh he's in the same place. Look, we're all competitors.

06:10We're all type A. So, when you're you're frustrated and

06:13you see somebody else win um and he wasn't even able to to

06:17get out there. Well, we've had time enough to reflect on it

06:21uh enough to to fuel us, you know, to have a great off

06:24season. He put in uh a great deal of work uh this summer. I

06:28think he's able to prepare for this season, you know, more so

06:31than he has in in previous seasons because he simply is

06:34we've had more time and uh I like where he is um and all

06:38those places that I talked about and just looking forward

06:41to getting him and everybody else back in the mix and

06:43getting this thing started. How cool was the uh uh I always

06:47wonder because there's been an influx of European players.

06:51They come over here in 1920 years old. Um how do you treat

06:56some of these guys that have been professionals since they

06:59were 1516 years old and then they come here. I I know it's

07:03not the same but they have been professionals. Nico's been

07:08playing against grown men, you know, for 3 years before he got

07:13here. Yeah and you know, I first had that experience with

07:16Gorin. Okay. Gorin literally played professional basketball

07:20in Spain at fifteen. Right. And as he explained that whole

07:24process, you can see why he was so mature and ready. The first

07:28year or two, you have to get used to how the NBA moves.

07:32That's a different association and that was part of Nico's uh

07:36deal that first year. He had to get healthy. He had to

07:38understand the NBA. He had to understand and learn our

07:40culture. Well, those are big asks. Yeah. And that's a big

07:43transition, you know, for somebody but that next summer,

07:46he went back to work and put on, you know, twenty-five pounds.

07:48I think that really helped him these last two summers playing

07:51for the Serbian national team and have that team having the

07:54expectations to win just like ours. I think it's really

07:58helped him understand how to impact winning uh and then him

08:02earning that role last year. Nothing is given here and I

08:06think that that's just for us. It's not, I'm not saying that's

08:09the only way to do it. Um but we're not gifting minutes just

08:12to give you experience. You have to earn minutes to be able

08:15to learn how to impact winning uh and there are frustrating

08:19times for Nico. I get it. I understand it. I like that. I

08:22like that. Like you gotta fight for it and he fought for it and

08:25by the end of the year, he earned that starting spot uh

08:28and played some really productive basketball. I think

08:30that playoff experience also was really important for him.

08:33We were talking to Karan about him uh couple weeks ago and he

08:36had mentioned that it was like a real show of mental toughness

08:38that he played through because he was dealing with whatever it

08:41was that he happened to him in the workouts just to have

08:43himself available for Serbia. Why did you guys want to show

08:46that? Let him show that because a lot of teams would be like,

08:48eh, let's just keep it, you know, ready for camp and said,

08:51you guys let him be be there for his Serbian team. Look, this

08:54is the Olympics. This is such a big stage and I I saw last

08:59year firsthand that Serbian team in the world uh

09:01championships. Um I spent a lot of time with Nico uh over

09:05there uh in the Philippines and I saw how connected that group

09:08was uh and how much winning mattered. To me, that

09:12translates. You can't get any kind of pickup game in the

09:16summer or any kind of one on one like player development

09:19workout that's going to translate like playing for your

09:22national team and the expectations. He played for a

09:26crazy Serbian coach. So, I know he's he's the demands. You know,

09:31I loved it. I loved it. I I bumped into the coach and I

09:34told him, I know you're going to but coach him harder and

09:37right and he had all those things and he had to fight and

09:40earn his spot there and he earned a starting spot. Um so,

09:44I think that experience was really important for his player

09:46development and we didn't know whether he was going to play.

09:48We just wanted to be on the team just to be there for the

09:50Olympics because I knew how much that that meant for him.

09:52We gotta, we got two things that we love that you do or

09:54that we we want to ask you about. The Spoh travel call.

09:58There's an art to it because there's like, there's the, yeah,

10:00there is. No, we watch it. You get carried. So, we we go, we

10:03go fingers and then we go to full arms. Do you, do you know

10:06when it gets to the point where we go from fingers to, alright,

10:09I know what he's doing. He's walking all over the place. Oh

10:11boy, is this a meme or something? Yes, come on. Just

10:15with us. We're seeing it. It's like it's it's it's I haven't

10:17seen that one. I've seen the one I call the horns. Like, I

10:22have seen that. I've not seen the travel but I, hey, if

10:25you're not paying attention, alright, then, hey, I'm gonna

10:28make you pay attention. You know, I guess that's what it is.

10:31It's, it, it stands out because you're so stoic on the

10:34sidelines. Like, you don't and then, all of a sudden, it's

10:40like, it's beautiful. I don't know. I have to have TD like

10:44that for me. I was not aware. Oh, he's laughing too. He's

10:46seen it. I was not aware of that one. Yeah. Uh so, we

10:52appreciate the time. Thanks so much. Appreciate you guys.

10:54We're looking forward to the season and I appreciate you

10:55giving us some time. Likewise.

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