Heat coach Erik Spoelstra discusses how he uses analytics. And a Dion Waiters update
When told the Heat was leading the NBA in pace through the first three games, coach Erik Spoelstra stopped and paused.
“It’s unbelievable,” Spoelstra said following Tuesday’s home win over the Hawks. “I have a stack of analytics. I feel like I’m buried in analytics every single morning. That was the one stat I didn’t realize. We’re first in pace? That one actually doesn’t mean anything to me.”
But which numbers do mean something to Spoelstra? When asked that question in advance of Thursday’s game against the Hawks at State Farm Arena, he smiled and said, “There are some.”
Spoelstra didn’t want to give away any secrets, but it’s clear analytics play a role in his preparation for games.
“Right now, it’s just so prevalent league wide,” Spoelstra said. “You have to be aware of it. But I’m not necessarily basing my decisions on what a number says.”
The numbers help guide and confirm some of Spoelstra’s decisions, though. The Heat’s video room compiles an analytics report and leaves it on Spoelstra’s desk every morning, and he takes time to look over it during free moments throughout the day.
“The video room, those guys do a great job,” Spoelstra said. “They always find a way of condensing all the numbers and giving me the ones that make sense to me that can have hopefully the most impact without it just being a math class.”
Spoelstra was once the person who had to compile those reports for former Heat head coaches Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy.
“I hated every minute of it. But I also found a respect and importance of it if used in the right way,” Spoelstra said. “Pat was like way ahead of the curve. He was running analytics in the ‘80s with the Lakers. But they were just called statistics. Pat had his player performance ratings for each player that now the most similar thing would be a plus-minus. He had that with the Lakers before it was in vogue. So when I was the video guy, we had to provide the statistics for him. ... I thought it was genius stuff.”
While Spoelstra wouldn’t disclose his favorite numbers to look at, he didn’t hesitate when asked what the most overrated number is — points.
“The number on the far right,” he said. “I hate that, because that’s what everybody looks at first. So much in this league is motivated by that number.”
Waiters still waiting
Guard Dion Waiters practiced with the Heat on Wednesday for the first time since serving his one-game suspension in the Oct. 23 season opener for “conduct detrimental to the team.” But Waiters did not travel with the Heat to Atlanta, as he remained in Miami to continue to condition.
When asked if Waiters’ conditioning has become an issue, Spoelstra said before Thursday’s game against the Hawks: “He’s getting better. He’s working, and we’ll continue to evaluate him every day and then figure out the next step of reincorporating him into the team.”
While forward James Johnson was sent away from the team on the eve of training camp on Sept. 30 after failing to meet the Heat’s conditioning requirements, Spoelstra said Thursday that Waiters “met enough to start camp.”
The Heat has not made Waiters available for comment since his suspension was announced on Oct. 19.
Johnson, who returned to the team on Oct. 11 but has remained separate from the team on game nights and has yet to be on the active roster during the preseason or regular season, traveled with the Heat to Atlanta for Thursday’s game.
▪ With the Heat away from home on Halloween, Spoelstra was disappointed not to be with his wife, Nikki, and one-year-old son, Santiago, for the holiday.
“It’s an absolute bummer,” Spoelstra said. “They’re going out to a block party and going trick-or-treating. I love what we do. But this is the other side to it, we miss holidays and events and things like that. That’s the give and take of this profession. But I’m definitely bummed that I’m missing [Santiago’s] first active Halloween.”
Nikki posted photos on social media of the Spoelstra family all dressed as Elton John.
▪ Heat forward Justise Winslow was ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Hawks because of lower back stiffness.
Also, forwards Derrick Jones Jr. (strained left groin) and KZ Okpala (strained left Achilles), and guards Daryl Macon (G League assignment) and Waiters did not play Thursday.
This story was originally published October 31, 2019 at 1:34 PM.
