What is Heat’s Erik Spoelstra worth as a head coach? Apparently, a lot
Erik Spoelstra earned the respect of his peers from around the NBA a long time ago.
But in Spoelstra’s 11th season as the Heat’s head coach, some inside and around the league believe he still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.
“I don’t think people appreciate this on Erik Spoelstra,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on the latest episode of his podcast. “If you made Erik Spoelstra a free agent tomorrow, he would be a $10-million-a-year coach.”
To put that number into perspective, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich reportedly makes in the $11 million range annually. Spoelstra, 47, signed a contract extension with the Heat in the summer of 2017, but the terms of the deal — including the length — were not disclosed.
“I had a team reach out to me in the middle of last season, saying: ‘Do you think the Heat would trade us Erik Spoelstra for our first-round pick?’” ESPN’s Zach Lowe added to the conversation regarding Spoelstra on Wojnarowski’s podcast. “And I said, no. I don’t think they would. I know they would not.”
Spoelstra entered Thursday’s game against the Washington Wizards with a 484-321 regular-season record and a 71-47 playoff record as Miami’s head coach. He passed Pat Riley to become the franchise’s all-time wins leader last season.
In addition, Spoelstra has won two NBA championships as a head coach in 2012 and 2013. Both came in the Big Three era with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade on the roster.
“To know how he is viewed in the league,” Wojnarowski said on the podcast. “That was not an easy team to coach in Miami, no matter what people think. And he got things out of LeBron that LeBron had not been willing to do as a player. He made LeBron a more complete player in Miami. There’s no question about it, he’s the best coach LeBron James had ever played for.”
Good news for Heat
The NBA informed teams there will be no changes to allow high school players to enter the draft before 2022, according to Wojnarowski.
That’s good news for the Heat because initial reports were the one-and-done rule could be eliminated for the 2021 draft. This would have been the worst-case scenario for Miami, which has its 2020 and 2022 first-round picks but is the only team that has traded its 2021 first-round pick.
Whenever the one-and-done rule is eliminated, the first draft without the restriction is expected to be one of the deepest in NBA history because it will feature the best prospects from two consecutive high school classes (NCAA freshman who could not apply for the draft straight out of high school the previous year and graduating high school seniors).
The Heat’s first-round pick in 2021 was originally sent to Phoenix in the Goran Dragic deal, but was subsequently traded to Philadelphia in a draft day trade in June.
This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 3:23 PM.