Inside The Heat

Erik Spoelstra on more Miami Heat running: "Players are full of crap"

Ethan J. Skolnick|
Erik Spoelstra has the tools to increase pace
Erik Spoelstra has the tools to increase pace | Ethan Skolnick

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Miami Heat

It's been a running joke for a long time.

When the Miami Heat have touched on this topic throughout the last few seasons, it's felt like they were playing fast and loose with the truth.

At every training camp, we hear what Nikola Jovic said at media day, from someone.

"We got to play fast."

It hasn't mattered much who was on the roster. There's always this conversation and then the Heat are grinding out possessions by the 10th game of the season, and slipping into the bottom third of the NBA in pace. And it's not always been coach Erik Spoelstra doesn't want more sprinting; he's often seen whirling his arm, trying to get more motion, into transition or early offense.

But this season, it has to happen, right? Miami doesn't have an elite one-on-one bucket-getter, nor anyone who gets to the line like Jimmy Butler, and not even top scorer Tyler Herro for the first month or more. They also have their youngest rotation with years, with only Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell in their thirties.

Well, we think so. But it was worth asking Spoelstra at the first day of 2025 training camp at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. He's always said that players say they want to run, until he asks them to. Apparently, his outlook has not changed.

"I have an idea of how we want to play," Spoelstra said. "You know, we're putting in that plan. We'll see."

But then he couldn't help adding this.....

"Players are full of crap. They always say they want to play fast."

Then he playfully cut off a long-time Heat PR official who was ending the group interview, which had already gone on longer than Spoelstra typically likes.

"I'm not done, Rob," Spoelstra said, to laughter. "But yeah, I love our speed, our quickness, our youthful exuberance. So it makes sense to try to take advantage of that. How much we will? Our play will let us know. But I'm intentional about trying to play to those strengths."

And then... he ran out of there.

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Ethan J. Skolnick
ETHAN J. SKOLNICK

Ethan has covered all major sports -- in South Florida and beyond -- since 1996 and is one of the longest-tenured fully credentialed members of the Miami Heat. He has covered, in total, more than 30 NBA Finals, Super Bowls, World Series and Stanley Cup Finals. After working full-time for the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Bleacher Report and several other outlets, he founded the Five Reasons Sports Network in 2019 and began hosting the Five on the Floor podcast as part of that network. The podcast is regularly among the most downloaded one-team focused NBA podcasts in the nation, and the network is the largest independent sports outlet in South Florida, by views, listens and social media reach. He has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. from Columbia University. TWITTER: @EthanJSkolnick and @5ReasonsSports EMAIL: fllscribe@gmail.com

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