Erik Spoelstra Talks Tyler Herro Return, Norman Powell Injury, Miami Heat New Offense & Cooper Flagg

Erik Spoelstra Talks Tyler Herro Return, Norman Powell Injury, Miami Heat New Offense & Cooper Flagg

Okay, coach, obviously Tyler turning to play tonight. Can you just talk about the general excitement of what that means for this team and will there be a minute restriction on him tonight? I’m really excited for Tyler. Um, I know how much work he’s been putting in, but uh I know how much he wanted to be ready uh for training camp. I literally went to uh one of his workouts uh in late July before I went on vacation and he looked amazing. Um and then when I came back uh middle of August, he was starting to feel u that it was off. Um but uh you know it’s it’s exciting for the group. It’s exciting for him. Um and we just want to you know you know start this process which I I don’t think it’ll be a a major uh adjustment. Obviously Ter’s back but Norm now is out. An injury he I guess he tweaked in on Friday in Chicago. Was was there a setback since then? And no, no, I think the bigger thing was um that it was a backto-back. We’ll treat him dayto-day. I don’t have a timeline on it. Um but the level of concern is not super high. Spo your reference to the talking about Tyler about you don’t think it’ll be a big adjustment. Have you had to have a conversation with him as far as you know what you expect from him in this offense? We haven’t got to see him in it and just that it’s not like he hasn’t been working behind the scenes. Did I have a discussion with him today? No, but uh we’ve had a lot of practices, shootarounds, um a lot of discussions, you know, since training camp about uh you know, how he can fit in. This is just going to be a a a absolute ad. You know, his skill level uh is going to fit right in. Um and we’re familiar with him. He’s familiar with us, you know, so yes, there’s some things we’re doing, you know, a little differently offensively, but, you know, defensively, he he’s been with us, you know, for a long time. He’s been with our our our culture. Um, he was on a really good defensive team last year. Um, so I I I think it’s uh it’s an exciting day. I’m happy for him and I’m happy, you know, that we can start this uh process with him in the mix. Eric, for those who have not seen you guys a whole lot this year, what what was the moment or is there an epiphany that you know last year 27th in pace, this year you’re first like you know historically like the fastest paced in 44 years. What what what brought you to that moment where you said we got to change? Uh yeah, I mean what uh I’ve told everybody uh in this room several times uh you know we were absolutely outclassed and embarrassed uh in a really bad way uh in the playoffs. Um last time we walked off this floor we we uh got beat by 55. It was almost like a misprint. Um it’s the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever been a part of. Um the locker room felt the same way and we had uh plenty of time uh to re-evaluate things uh during the offseason. We were we were done in wasn’t even May and we were done. Um so we had plenty of time to to uh to work on things. Um and then we just wanted to be open-minded. you know, the the first day of uh the of uh camp, I I said I would just want to embrace, you know, the unknown. And I viewed that as a good thing. You know, that there’s uh some possibilities here, but I also want to for there to be and continue to be surprises as the season goes along. Was there someone specifically that you spoke to who had experience playing that way? I mean, there are a lot of uh lot of people that uh contributed to to this. Um it’s it’s been well documented. Um we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We’re not trying to trick people. We just want to do something that made sense for our team. And then to be open to it. I I said in the preseason I was asked every game, where would our pace be? And I said, I don’t know. Like the season will let us know. We’ll adjust as as we go. and it just it kind of fed on itself and um you know we’ll continue to see where it goes. It it has to make sense. Like for us, we wanted to do something that made sense for this roster um to look at things um you know, in a in a different way. Um if we had a different roster, maybe it would make more sense. You know, I see across the league there’s a a lot of really intelligent plans, you know, that make sense for for teams. Um and that that’s not that’s not our team, not not our roster. Eric, you were around Cooper Flag when he was a member of the US select team a couple summers ago. What stood out to you about him then and how have you seen his game evolve? Yeah, I think probably more than anything I’ve I’ve always just been um impressed with his competitive spirit, but also how competitively mature he is for his age. He’s not even 19 yet. Is that correct? That that’s that’s crazy. uh you know the one and done guys anyway when they come in at 19 usually turned 20 you know at some point but he’s a year younger than that and he’s been on the scene uh you know with a lot of expectations for for several years u that’s a lot to carry u and he’s been able to to respond in a way where he just has he just competes in a way where it’s winning basketball uh and to have that kind of maturity where you’re not just stat hunting. Um, if I was 17, 18 in his shoes, I’d be stat hunting like crazy. Um, but he has uh, you know, just uncommon m maturity. Eric, when Steve Kerr was in Florida last week, he talked about pace and injuries and soft tissue and his concerns and all that. With Norm now going through a strain and you see you see strain all over the injury report now. Is is there do you think now that there’s been a few days for it to sink in, is there anything to it, do you think? Or is is this just there potentially could be? Um but look, like you know how much we have to uh disclose now. Um you know, you wouldn’t even uh say Norm’s injury was a strain 10 years ago. You just say he’s sore. Uh and then you have to say it’s what grade it is. Uh I don’t know. like yeah I I see that the game is is bl being played faster which is true. Um the competitive defense and the extending of the defense uh is um covering more ground than it used to. Uh the four five out you know requires a lot more closeouts uh into space into three-point space into you know closing to 26 feet you know sometimes. So you’re you’re moving your body in different ways. guys train for it, you know, probably better than they used to. So, I I don’t know where the where the line is right now with us. Knock on wood, what we’re dealing with right now with uh the the three guys is manageable, you know, right now. Um and so we’ll just, you know, we’ll see where that is. They’re all dayto day, which I’m I’m super grateful for. All right. Thank you.

Erik Spoelstra speaks before Heat vs Mavericks