NBA Team: Miami Heat
Born: Nov
1, 1970
College: Portland
Coaching Career
Erik Spoelstra completed his fourth season as head
coach of the HEAT and his 17th as a member of the organization. He
was elevated to his current position on April 28, 2008 when HEAT President Pat
Riley stepped down as head coach, and made him the league’s youngest head
coach. In his first four seasons, Spoelstra has led Miami to a 194-118 record
and four consecutive postseason appearances.
During his rookie season, despite having one of the
NBA’s youngest rosters, Spoelstra led Miami to its greatest single-season
improvement in franchise history. He took a 15-win team from the previous
season and directed them to a 28-win improvement, marking the greatest
single-season improvement by a rookie head coach in NBA history, bettering the
previous record of a 20-win improvement by Chicago Bulls Head Coach Ed Badger
during the 1976-77 season. It also marked the seventh-best single-season
improvement in NBA history by any coach. As a result of a 43-win season, the
most by a head coach in his first year guiding the HEAT, Spoelstra led Miami to
the 2009 NBA Playoffs. The 2009 postseason appearance made Miami just the
second team in NBA history to win 15-or-fewer games one year and make the
postseason the next, joining the 1968-69 San Diego Rockets.
He followed that impressive debut with a 47-35 record
during the 2009-10 season and another trip to the playoffs. Miami recorded 23
road wins, the fourth most in franchise history, including eight straight to
finish the season. Under Spoelstra’s leadership the HEAT closed the season by
winning 18 of its final 22 games, including a 12-3 record in March which earned
him NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors. Known for his defensive
mindset, Spoelstra led Miami to one of its best defensive seasons ever,
allowing the fewest field goals (2,813) in the NBA during the 2009-10 season
and finishing second in both points allowed (94.2) and field goal percentage
allowed (.439).
During the 2010-11 season, his third as head coach,
Spoelstra led the HEAT to a 58-24 record. The 58 wins marked the third-most in
franchise history and only the seventh time Miami has posted a 50-win season.
Additionally, the HEAT’s 28 road wins were the second-highest total in
franchise history, tying for the most in the NBA that season. Spoelstra’s
defensive gameplan held opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field
18 times while placing Miami amongst the best defensive teams in the league as
they finished first in point differential (+7.5), second in opponent field goal
percentage (.434), sixth in points allowed (94.6) and ninth in opponent
three-point field goal percentage (.345). Spoelstra was named the NBA Coach of
the Month for December 2010 as he led Miami to a 15-1 record en route to their
third consecutive playoff berth under his guidance while capturing the Eastern
Conference Championship.
In the shortened 66-game 2011-12 NBA season, Spoelstra
managed to produce a very respectable 46-20 record, good enough to place the
Heat 1st in the Southeast Division for the second straight year. In June,
2012, Spoelstra etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Filipino-American
and only Asian head coach to lead his team to an NBA championship. As an
organization, the Heat are the first NBA champions to trail in three different
series on their way to winning the title. Miami was down 2-1 to Indiana, 3-2 to
Boston and 1-0 to Oklahoma City.
Before taking over the reigns as the sixth head coach
in franchise history, Spoelstra had served the HEAT in a number of roles in his
first 13 years. He originally was hired as video coordinator and over the years
was promoted to assistant coach/video coordinator, assistant coach/advance
scout and assistant coach/director of scouting before ascending to his current
position. He made a name for himself
around the league with his game preparation and superb attention to detail. In
his seven seasons as the HEAT’s assistant coach/director of scouting, he had
the primary role of developing game plans for Miami’s upcoming opponents. To
that end, he coordinated the video staff and advance scouts while overseeing
the development of scouting reports and videos.
Spoelstra has earned the respect of players throughout
the league with a strong reputation as a teacher over the years by heading the
HEAT’s Individual Player Development Program. As an assistant coach, where he
also served for three seasons (2005-07) as the head coach of the HEAT’s summer
league team, and as the HEAT’s head man now, he has worked tirelessly with many
of Miami’s young players in areas of fundamentals, skill development and
shooting. This consistent emphasis of fundamentals contributed to the HEAT
setting a franchise-record in 2008-09 for fewest turnovers in a season,
committing 96 fewer turnovers than the previous franchise record, and then
responding the following season with the second fewest turnovers in a season.
Additionally, Spoelstra helped design and integrate a
proprietary statistical database and scouting software for the HEAT. Under
Spoelstra, the HEAT continues to embrace the use of technology and continues to
use the state-of-the-art statistical software to evaluate team productivity,
individual player productivity and trends for both the HEAT and the team’s
opponents. That use of technology as a teaching tool also included putting the
team’s video playbook on iPads for his players.
In 1992,
he graduated from the University of Portland with a degree in communications.
While attending Portland, Spoelstra was the starting point guard for four years
and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year in 1989. Upon
graduating he spent two years as a player/coach for Tus Herten, a team in the
professional sports league of Germany.
A team
member of the NBA FIT initiative, Spoelstra takes pride in encouraging families
to engage in physical activity and healthy living practices with their
children. Additionally, he created “Spo’s Shooters”, in conjuction with the
Miami HEAT Community Education Ticket Program. This program reaches out to
South Florida’s less fortunate student-athletes and gives them the opportunity
to enjoy HEAT games and meet their favorite HEAT players and role models.
Raised in
Portland, OR, Spoelstra, who was inducted into the Jesuit High School Athletic
Hall of Fame in September 2009, is the first Asian/Filipino-American head coach
in any of the major North American sports leagues. He has returned to his native Philippines in
past summers with the NBA and U.S. State Department to host clinics and promote
education, health and wellness to thousands of at-risk youth.
Spoelstra
is the son of Jon Spoelstra, a long-time NBA executive who has guided the
Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Buffalo Braves and New Jersey Nets. His
mother, Elisa Celino is a native of San Pablo, Laguna. In 2008 and 2010 when
Spoelstra visited his mother’s hometown he described it as a “truly life
changing” experience. Furthermore, having grown up in the US he explained that
he wanted to develop a stronger connection with the culture and his relatives. His
grandfather, Watson, was a Detroit Tigers beat writer for many years.
ERIK SPOELSTRA HEAD COACHING RECORD
SEASON TEAM RECORD FINISH PLAYOFFS
2008-09 Miami HEAT 43-39 (.524) 3rd/Southeast 3-4 (.429)
2009-10 Miami HEAT 47-35 (.573) 3rd/Southeast 1-4 (.200)
2010-11 Miami HEAT 58-24 (.707) 1st/Southeast 14-7 (.667)
2011-12 Miami HEAT 46-20 (.697) 1st/Southeast 16-7 (.696)
____________________________________________________________________________
TOTALS (4 Seasons)
194-118 (.622) 34-22 (.607)
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