The words Spoelstra offers again and again, and how it has impacted Herro and others
Every coach who has passed through this market has had a unique vernacular.
Ex-Dolphins coach Brian Flores repeatedly talked about seeking players “who love football.”
Heat president Pat Riley would say “the main thing is the main thing” — essentially code for keeping your priorities straight.
Guard Tyler Herro smiled at his locker recently when asked to recall the first time Erik Spoelstra used one of the Heat coach’s favorite “Spoisms.”
“The first day I got drafted,” Herro said of Spoelstra’s continuous directive to impact winning.
“I remember the first day I was in Miami I’m pretty sure he said those words: ‘If you want to play next year, you have to impact winning.’ And that was my goal from that day on for myself, to impact winning and continue to do it as I got older.”
Spoelstra has a lexicon all of his own that he has carved out over 15 years on the Heat sidelines, from “competitors only” to “sweat equity” to saying a poised player doesn’t get “sick at sea.”
But “impact winning” holds particular meaning for Spoelstra, who can get frustrated when outsiders look first at a player’s point total — the number “on the far right of the boxscore,” as he puts it. To the NBA’s second-longest tenured head coach, there are far more telling ways to measure a player’s value.
So while “culture” is the word most associated with the Heat among those on the outside, “impact winning” remains the most-cited message internally.
“He talks about it a lot — every game, pregame, postgame,” Duncan Robinson said.
So what do players think of when he mentions impacting winning?
“Deflections, proper rotations, being in the right spots, being reliable, taking charges, making the sacrifice cuts, the sacrifice block out, all those things that don’t necessarily show up in the box score,” Robinson said.
“And I’m sure they monitor a lot more than they show us. Rebounds is a huge one we talk about a lot.”
Sometimes, it takes awhile to convince young players that little things needed to impact winning are more significant than numbers in a boxscore. With some players, Hassan Whiteside as an example, the message never fully resonated.
Spoelstra won’t offer names of any Heat players who haven’t fully embraced his “impact winning” message, or those who took it to heart after resisting initially.
But he said it’s more difficult to persuade some players of this era to place less focus on scoring and more on, well, impacting winning.
“Probably,” Spoelstra said. “It depends on how [players] view the game. There’s much more attention in general for guys that score and put up big numbers. The game is set up now to have bigger scoring outputs. I think that’s all good for the game. But for us, it’s about developing the complete basketball player than really can understand how to move the chess pieces to really help you win a game.”
It’s no coincidence that the Heat, particularly in recent years, have gravitated toward two-way players whose contributions can’t be fully measured in the boxscore — from Jimmy Butler to Bam Adebayo to P.J. Tucker to Kyle Lowry (traditionally among the league leaders in charges drawn), to Caleb Martin. Udonis Haslem, the embodiment of Heat culture, would fit that description.
“That’s what this league is all about, trying to figure out how to impact a win,” Spoelstra said. “Our veteran players have that reputation of doing winning things. That also means doing it on both ends of the floor. That also means doing a myriad of things that probably don’t even show up in the box score. But our young players have that mentality as well.”
What’s clear is that the message has resonated with Herro.
Spoelstra, unhappy about a loss in Sacramento in late October, shrugged off a question about Herro’s 34 points in that game, declining to offer praise because it came in a loss.
But during a private moment, Spoelstra made clear recently that he believes winning is what fuels Herro.
“With Bam and Tyler, they both want to win,” Spoelstra said. “That’s their driving force. As they learn how to really move the needle, continue to figure out different ways to do it when it’s not just scoring.”
Spoelstra quickly referenced Herro’s first career triple-double (11 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) in Atlanta a month ago on a night he shot 3 for 13.
“Even having a poor shooting night, he had his fingerprints all over that win,” Spoelstra said. “Did it defensively in our zone and his playmaking was critical.”
There was a particular moment of candor for Herro after that game, when he admitted: “Honestly, scoring probably doesn’t make Spo as happy as it does seeing me impact the game.”
What gives Herro that impression?
“He already knows I can score,” Herro said, smiling. “That’s what he told me since I came here.”
Herro acknowledges that Spoelstra’s fixation with “impacting winning” is something he has grown increasingly cognizant of — even though he heard it the first day he arrived — and resonates more than ever.
His assists are up from 4.0 to 4.6, including nine in Wednesday’s 112-98 win against the Lakers.
His rebounds are up from 5.0 to 5.8.
“Especially when my shot is not falling, I [need to] impact the game in other ways,” he said. “I’m a threat with the ball in my hands either way.”
Robinson said that hearing Spoelstra use the term “impact winning” has an impact on players. “Absolutely,” he said. “For sure.”
Martin also is earning high marks on the impact winning meter.
“Night after night, he’s taking on challenges, whether he’s guarding smaller super quick guys or bigger wings or switching onto centers, Spoelstra said Wednesday. “He’s got great instincts for deflections and steals. Our defense seems to be a whole lot more active and fast when he’s on the court.”
The “impact winning” gold standard will always be set by Adebayo, one reason the Heat has never made him available in trade talks for superstars.
“Bam is the epitome of that,” Spoelstra said. “He is the ultimate winning player, will do whatever it takes to put your team in position to win, with his voice, leadership, defense, willingness to guard 1 through 5 and this year his willingness to anchor our defense with multiple schemes, his playmaking, getting other guys better, easier shots. And we really [have] needed his scoring as well.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Kyle Lowry, who missed Wednesday’s game for personal reasons, traveled with the Heat to Denver on Thursday for the start of its five-game West Coast trip that begins Friday against the Nuggets (9 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
The only two players who did not travel with the Heat to Denver were centers Dewayne Dedmon (left foot plantar fasciitis) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery).
The Heat listed Jimmy Butler (knee injury management), Nikola Jovic (lower back spasms) and Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) as probable, and Caleb Martin (left ankle sprain) and Udonis Haslem (right Achilles tendonosis) as questionable. Butler is expected to sit out one of the two back-to-back games (at Denver or at Utah on Saturday).
▪ Duncan Robinson stands just two three-pointers away from tying Tim Hardaway’s Heat franchise record for three pointers (806). Hardaway did it in 367 games with Miami. Robinson has played in 264 games.
“Any time you have an opportunity to do something like that, it would mean a lot,” Robinson said Wednesday night. “There are a lot of records but that’s one that’s meaningful for sure.”
He said has spoken with Hardaway in the past and has a friendship with his son, Mavericks wing player Tim Hardaway Jr., who — like Robinson — also attended Michigan.
▪ Butler has made 59.6 percent of his shots from the field during the past 10 games.
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 10:39 AM.
