Don’t sell Spo short

Coach’s work no different than before, just more obvious

Reggie Miller chimed in this week. The Hall of Fame forward and TNT announcer tweeted that Erik Spoelstra deserves to be named NBA Coach of the Year, “espeSo cially if the Heat end up making the playoffs. Miami had to reinvent themselves.”

That echoes a thought moving like the morning tide through the basketball world. And Spoelstra’s case is clear. The Heat didn’t have an AllStar this year. It leads the league in man-games lost to injury.

Its roster is stacked with developing players or one-year contracts having career years. It’s operating at three-quarters the salary cap because of Chris Bosh’s absence. It started 11-30, a historical point of no return for seasons.

But the Heat have the NBA’s best record the past two months thanks to a revamped, 3-point-heavy offense and sit on the edge of the playoffs heading into today’s game at Boston.

you see why Spoelstra is being touted as coach of the year. It’s obvious. But so is a seeming undercurrent in all this praise that a coach with a larger public ego would find a bit insulting, too.

To suggest Spoelstra has thought better, worked harder or produced more this strange season than previous years is to overlook his full body of work with the Heat.

The Heat had to “reinvent themselves,” as Miller said, just a year ago in mid-February when Bosh left with a blood clot. They were going nowhere with the fourthslowest tempo and changed to the fourthfastest tempo without perhaps their most important player. They came within a Game 7 loss of the Eastern finals.

That’s not even getting into the two rings Spoelstra has. Only 12 other coaches have done that. Sure, you have to be careful here. The last two rings were won by rookie coaches Steve Kerr and Tyronn Lue, the latter only taking over Cleveland in midseason.

So you can overdo the impact of NBA coaching. Talent wins. And the Heat had obvious talent in the Big Three era. But who brought their “positionless” basketball to an accepted place? Who unlocked LeBron James to accept playing all five positions?

Even if you didn’t notice the good work on the Heat sideline those years, consider the impact on the other sideline. Former Indiana coach Frank Vogel and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich both made similar coaching mistakes that helped cost playoff games with the Heat.

Vogel pulled out 7-2 Roy Hibbert at the end of a 2013 playoff game. That allowed James to attack an unprotected rim for the win. Popovich took out 6-11 Tim Duncan in the final minute of Game 6 of the NBA Finals. That allowed Bosh to get a final-seconds rebound and pass to Ray Allen for his epic, game-tying shot.

Why did each coach do that? Because Spoelstra pulled Bosh from the game, and those coaches responded in kind by going with a smaller lineup, just as the Heat had hoped. (Spoelstra snuck Bosh back into Game 6 between foul shots and Popovich didn’t respond quickly enough).

Popovich, of course, stewed over that all offseason. He got the Heat and Spoelstra back the next year with a quick passing game that shredded the Heat defense in the NBA Finals. Greatness isn’t just on the Heat sideline.

Spoelstra’s work this season is different than the championship years. He’s helped Dion Waiters show why he once was the fourth overall draft pick. He unlocked James Johnson from a part-time defensive specialist to a 6-9 ballhandler. He keeps Hassan Whiteside moving on an upward arc.

He pushed this team to win when the season looked lost. Not that he’ll say so. Just tiptoeing Saturday toward the subject of what he’s most proud of about this team brought a shake of the head.

“I’m not getting into that now, not at this point,” Spoelstra said, with 10 games left and the playoffs on the line.

And let’s be clear: To win coach of the year, the playoffs are a must. So is some sense of perspective on what that award might mean. Spoelstra’s work is more obvious this odd Heat season, but it’s no different than any year.

Erik Spoelstra pushed this Heat team to win when the season looked lost. Not that he’ll say so.

MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is being touted as a candidate for coach of the year, but to do so is to overlook his larger body of work.