Spoelstra: ‘We’re playing to win’

Talk of tanking draws rebuke from coach

Erik Spoelstra has no time for the skepticism. Or the losing. Or any type of woe-is-we talk, even with Justise Winslow lost for the season after shoulder surgery.

At a time when the Miami Heat arguably could draw longterm benefits from losing when it comes to the random-but-weighted NBA draft lottery, the Heat coach is concerned about finding a way to win, not trying to win over cynics.

“It’s always the main thing with us,” he told the Sun Sentinel after the game Wednesday, as the Heat turned their attention to their game tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center, the third stop on a six-game trip.

That doesn’t mean, Spoelstra said, there isn’t a long view of a different sort, with the Heat also trying to rebuild back into contention.

“We’re a process-oriented team and organization,” he said.

While that might come off more as maxim than method, simply raising the notion of losing-as-winning is greeted with swift and assertive pushback.

“’We’re playing to win every single game,” Spoelstra stressed. “That’s why you feel the emo-

the pain, the frustration of having the most clutch games in the league, but losing the majority of those games.”

An exception was the Heat’s 107-102 victory Wednesday over the Sacramento Kings. But that victory was achieved hours after the announcement that Winslow had torn the labrum in his right shoulder.

But immediately after announcing Winslow’s injury, Spoelstra reiterated to the Sun Sentinel that nothing about his approach had changed.

“It doesn’t change,” he said resolutely. “We’re always going to play our games to win. It’s been tough to be in this situation right now. But we’re developing. Guys are getting better. The team is progressing and that’s all we’re focusing on right now. The mentality won’t change.”

For the majority of these past two decades under Pat Riley’s stewardship, the Heat approach has been that if you can travel, you travel, even if unable to play. This season, the approach has changed, with Dion Waiters, Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson away from the team during the previous western swing, and the Heat opening this trip with Winslow, Hassan Whiteside and Josh McRoberts rehabilitating in Miami.

Spoelstra stressed that approach is to maximize recovery, not in any way to limit lineup and rotation options. Whiteside, in fact, is now scheduled to rejoin the team this weekend, possibly in time for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

“We’re not holding back,” Spoelstra said, going as far as to even exhaust his timeouts in the waning seconds of a 99-90 loss Tuesday to the Phoenix Suns, if only to offer additional possessions to maximize late-game execution.

And when the younger players are playing, Spoelstra said it’s not solely because of future possibilities.

“We’re not playing guys on anything else based other than merit, and earning it,” he said. “And we’re going through the process of learning how to win.”

To take any other aption, proach, he said, would be toxic to the team’s growth, especially as the Heat develop components for future success.

“We have new guys that have never been in roles like this before,” he said, “where they’ve been asked to shoulder this kind of responsibility. And our young players are learning how tough it is to win in this league, while they’ve have more responsibility this year.

“So, from that standpoint and progress and improvement, it’s been great for our group.”

What Spoelstra said he insists on avoiding is players becoming numb to the results, even if those results are trying.

“You don’t get those types of benefits unless you’re trying to win,” he said. “You don’t feel the emotions of loss and earning a victory and earning playing time, all of those things.”

It is not a topic Spoelstra deems worthy of extended discussion, no matter how much of a talking point it might have become outside of his locker room, the Heat moving into a featured position in the latest mock drafts.

“Every single year,” he said, “regardless of what we’re going through, we’re playing to win.”

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES “[O]ur young players are learning how tough it is to win in this league, while they’ve have more responsibility this year,” says Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.