Spoelstra appreciates debate on Coaches Challenge

It is an experiment that came with an expiration date, onepotentially athand amid the wind down of the NBA Finals.

WhentheNBAadopted a Coaches Challenge for videoreplay, it formallyadded it “on a one-year trial basis for the 2019-20 season.”

For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, it is an experimentthat, at the least, needs further tinkering, if not elimination.

“My instincts would say that it’s adding more confusion,” Spoelstra told the

South Florida Sun Sentinel, “because there’s some things you can challenge and there’s all the things you can’t challenge. And I think that just adds another layer of complexity and confusion.

“And is it helping speed up the game or slow down the game?”

Theses NBA Finals between the Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have offered numerous case studies for the risks and rewards. In one case, Lakers coach Frank Vogel challenged merely to gain possession. In another, a blockcharge ruling that went against LeBron James and was upheld forced Los Angeles to play the final 9:05 of Game 5 with just one remaining timeout.

“I’m not sure it’s going to go away,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously, it adds another level of strategy. Iwould like to see, from a fan perspective, if it is really popular and tangibly helping viewership of the game.

“As a staff we do spend time talking about strategy and when to use it and studying other teams, and things of that nature, just to try to get better at it.”

Win or lose, the rule grants coaches a single challenge per game. Win and the timeout required to trigger the challenge is restored. Otherwise, it is lost.

For a league already with a list of replay triggers, as well as ample stoppages, the challenge created more time with game officials in front of a monitor. So perfect? Or eliminate? “I think that’s the rabbit hole that you inevitably end up going down,” Spoelstra said. “Do you really commit to getting it 100 percent right? And then if you do, what is the timeline and howfar back canyougoona certain play?

“And that’s what’s been very debatable, when the play is in motion and anything from that specific timeline, which can be highly debatable, as you can imagine. And then, as you get into the complexity of it, there become more things to analyze, more things to discuss, more things to just take time.”

With, all the while, the goal to getting back to actual coaching.

“Ultimately,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t think it’s speeding up the game.”