Eric Spoelstra

Three things I really liked from a recent article in The Athletic about Eric Spoelstra and the Heat.

1) He loves confrontation. Confrontation is an essential part of elite leadership, and an area that is avoided consistently by weak leaders.

2) The debate, almost always, is about winning…. and he demands 3 things: Eye to eye, nothing personal, and a solution. I love that approach to confrontations. Not only is he embracing confrontation, he is setting parameters to make sure the confrontation is productive.

3)To be coached by Spoelstra is to feel. It’s going to matter to you, one way or another, and if it doesn’t you won’t fit in here. Love it.

“A lot of teams avoid confrontation; he runs toward it,” Olynyk said about Spoelstra. “He likes confrontation … loves it. He thinks it makes you stronger, makes you better.”

The debate, almost always, is about winning, and how to achieve that. It doesn’t matter if the disagreements are about strategy, effort or selfishness, Spoelstra demands three things: eye-to-eye communication, nothing is made personal and the debate involves a solution.

To be coached by Spoelstra is to feel. It might be anger, it might be elation and it might be frustration. But they feel. And as the playoffs near, and the standings say the Heat are not contenders, the players in Spoelstra’s locker room feel differently.