Erik Spoelstra: Notion that Heat did not take regular season seriously is ‘off base’

The Miami Heat, less than 48 hours removed from getting eliminated in five games to the Boston Celtics, conducted exit interviews Friday afternoon.

For the second consecutive season, the Heat, who finished 46-36 in the regular season, ended up in the play-in game and ultimately landed as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. It was mired by injuries–forcing the Heat to utilize a franchise-most 35 starting lineups–but there was contentious debate whether or not the team took the regular season seriously enough or not.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra disputed those claims.

“To say that we, philosophically, don’t take the regular season seriously is off-base,” he said. “I can see why people would point to that because of the missed games. We are not a load management team. There were things that happened, and sometimes you can’t control that. There were still opportunities to find ways to win a handful more games, and I’m sure every team is going to reflect and look back on that.

“That’s not reality. We ended up where we were, and we ended up getting knocked out in the first round 4-1. And that’s what we’ll have to think about all summer.”

Miami missed the 10th-most games due to injury, per Spotrac. The biggest came in the postseason, where Terry Rozier missed the team’s final 10 games with neck spams and star forward Jimmy Butler suffering a sprained MCL in the play-in. Duncan Robinson, who’s dealt with left facet syndrome over the last month, was essentially available only by name during the final stretch after being one of the Heat’s most important offensive players throughout 2023-24.

The injuries were a real concern, compounding their lack of lineup and philosophical continuity, which contributed to the Heat’s 21st-ranked offense this season.

“We basically had three primary offensive philosophies and a lot last season, based on who’s available,” he said. “The styles of play were different based on who was available. I don’t want to make an excuse for who’s available, who’s not. We also have to what’s real and what’s not real, and if we have everyone available, what is the best plan.”

Miami fumbled multiple games throughout the season. It lost by nine at home to a shorthanded Grizzlies team with nine injured players; it fell apart late at home against Washington; it blew double-digit second-half leads to Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and Dallas (on the road); it fell flat at home against New Orleans, Golden State and Dallas (at home) in the final month of the regular season.

There were plenty of games that the Heat didn’t win. To Spoelstra’s point, the lack of continuity didn’t help, and every team will reflect on the “what-ifs” each season. But the concern stemmed from Jimmy Butler’s uneven regular season.

Every conceivable impact metric surrounding Butler–his rim attempts, rim efficiency, free-throw attempts, steals, etc.–also didn’t reach par, relative to expectation. Miami’s margin for error shrunk even smaller when Butler’s disposition didn’t meet expectations, forcing others to play above their weight.

That’s not to say Butler–or any other Heat player–“didn’t care,” per say. But as I discussed in the offseason preview, one can wonder if there are philosophical changes about how it approaches the regular season–frankly, from multiple angles.

“We’re going to look at everything because it’s not all apples to apples” he said. “I think what we do in terms of getting guys ready and in shape helps with soft-tissue stuff. It’s the other stuff that we have to take a dive into.

“Two seasons ago, we were good. The last two seasons are a little bit skewed based on guys that missed the entire season that weren’t fully in our rotation. But that doesn’t also absolve. We want to look at all the different angles on this.”

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