Q: Everyone is really sleeping on the Heat, even on these awards. But let them, for more motivation to the championship. — Brian.
A: Actually, with the exception of Bam Adebayo not being a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year, the Heat came out of the finalists process as well as expected, with Tyler Herro one of the three remaining in contention for Sixth Man of the Year and Erik Spoelstra for Coach of the Year. The Heat did not have a candidate for Most Valuable Player or Rookie of the Year, and it would be a difficult argument for anyone for Most Improved Player other than Herro, with more worthy contenders elsewhere. The question is if there were three finalists named for Executive of the Year (which is voted upon by executives and not the media), would Pat Riley be in that group, considering the additions of Kyle Lowry, P.J. Tucker and Caleb Martin, and the development of emerging undrafted prospects such as Max Strus and Gabe Vincent? The Heat front office assuredly deserves notice for its work, as well.
Q: Ira, Erik Spoelstra should have sat Tyler Herro in the fourth quarter in favor of either Caleb Martin or Victor Oladipo. We had a big lead, Tyler was not in a playoff state of mind, he was reckless turning the ball over, and terrible on defense. A message should be sent to the team this is playoff time. Never mind what he has done during the regular season. — Barry, Deerfield Beach.
A: Which assuredly is not the Erik Spoelstra way. When is the last time, even after the worst of performances, that Erik has shown up or publicly criticized a player? It’s not what he does. What he does is devote a video session Monday to cleaning up the mistakes. It is among the reasons he has such respect from his players. Now, some of his veterans might publicly call out teammates, including Jimmy Butler’s interesting comments when asked after Game 1 about Duncan Robinson (which Jimmy opted to instead praise Max Strus). But Erik Spoelstra has his own way of making things right.
Q: Can you explain to the Heat fans how do the playing minutes get distributed most efficiently in a nine-man rotation? You would think logically with five starters that there would be five backups for each. — Christopher, Vancouver.
A: Because in a salary-cap league, where you can carry only so many stars, you want to maximize that star potential. So the thought is to always have at least one of your starters, and actually one of your stars, on the court at all times. And that is Erik Spoelstra’s approach, whether it is Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry or Bam Adebayo. The thought is to cycle back to one of those three, rather than play a 10th man. So, basically, instead of also including Caleb Martin in his Game 1 rotation, Spoelstra went back to Butler. Caleb is good; Jimmy is better.
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