The Heat is (back) on
Spoelstra embraces league’s ‘new normal’ with visions of a title
It wasn’t until the NBA Board of Governors on Thursday approved the return of the league in a “bubble” type of setting that Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra allowed himself to consider that a season like no other would conclude like no other.
“Before that,” he said to a group of three South Florida reporters, including one from the Sun Sentinel, “it was just a concept and it seemed so far out there that they were really just words on a paper: Go to a bubble, play games without fans, compete. And you don’t really internalize that.
“But now, yeah, that will be different.”
With the league idle since March 11 due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the NBA has invited the 22 teams with the best records for a restart on July 31 at the Wide World of Sports complex on the Disney World campus just outside of Orlando.
Those games will be played in the void of fans, with players and team staff members isolated in a quarantine-like setting in a bid to avoid COVID-19 infection.
“Again, you can’t discount that or discard it or minimize it,” Spoelstra said of the extreme setting that will include daily testing. “But it will be an even playing field. It will be different for everyone. Just like everything in the last 21⁄2 months, we’re really starting to exist and operate in a new normal.”
But, Spoelstra said, with the same championship visions.
“These have been extreme circumstances that last two months plus,” he said. “And our guys have done a really commendable job of staying physically fit. But it is a challenge when you don’t know whether we’re going to start back up or not, or you don’t necessarily know what date that it
could be. Well, now, this gives us a little bit of specificity and everybody is starting to get excited. And you’re able to wrap your mind around a concept of playing.
“Will it be different? Yes. It’s also exciting. A lot of people could use sports right now, NBA basketball and competition on TV.”
As for the notion of an asterisk season, with the Heat’s regular season reduced from the standard 82 games to 73, and no homecourt advantage in the playoffs, Spoelstra was ready with his response.
“I’ve heard it probably like anybody else, ‘Well, does this mean the World Championship this year, there’ll be an asterisk next to it?’ ” he said. “Yeah, I think, if you can make it through all of this and be worthy of winning that championship and really earning it, this will be one that’ll probably be remembered more than any other.
“It’s been that kind of year, this year. It’ll take a lot of compartmentalization just to keep your mind on the task at hand. There will be a lot of moving parts, a lot of things that can perceived as excuses, but at least it’s an even playing field. Everybody will be dealing with it.”
Leonard update
Spoelstra was optimistic about the status of center Meyers Leonard, who missed the final 16 games before the shutdown, due to a severely sprained left ankle.
“He’s feeling great,” Spoelstra said. “You can say that in many ways that time off was really good for his body. It would’ve been a tight squeeze to get him ready if it was normal playoff time.
“But this has served his body well. He has been able to rest and then also do treatment and rehab. But the rest was the most important thing, initially.”