At times last season, there were questions about whether the feistiness was gone, amid a season dragged down by the Jimmy Butler circus as well injuries that prevented anything close to continuity.
After Erik Spoelstra guided — at least attempted to guide — the Heat through what turned into the most lopsided playoff-series rout in NBA history, no less than Heat President Pat Riley spoke of Spoelstra needing a break, time to get away.
The question was whether that would lead to rejuvenation or resignation.
No, not literal resignation, even as some wonder whether Spoelstra is heir apparent to Riley in the Heat management hierarchy, just as Brad Stevens made the shift from sideline to executive suite with the Boston Celtics.
After 17 seasons of leading the way, the league’s longest-tenured coach with a single team after health forced Gregg Popovich to step aside with the San Antonio Spurs, outside perspective was whether the finish line was approaching.
But by the time Spoelstra arrived at summer league in July, it was clear the job was not finished. His interview session after a summer-squad practice session in Las Vegas was one of invigoration, for the first time in three summers receiving an offseason break from his coaching duties with USA Basketball.
And then came this past week’s training camp at Florida Atlantic University, where Spoelstra made it clear that Season 18 would be one of ongoing passion and perseverance.
“I love coaching,” he said. “I love what I do. I’m extremely grateful.”
Even with nothing given about what is to follow after a 37-45 season and third consecutive trip to the treacherous play-in round, his roster arguably less talented than at this point a year ago.
“If you’re in this business long enough,” Spoelstra said, as the Heat turned their attention to Saturday night’s exhibition against the Orlando Magic in Puerto Rico, “you understand there’s going to be different chapters. There’s different challenges. It felt natural to turn the page.
“It’s a different team. It’s a new path, and that can be invigorating.”
Then there are the actions that detail the passion.
And, yes, that diligence and vigilance still very much is there, again challenging second-year center Kel’el Ware to be more, do more, show more.
“We’re pushing him,” Spoelstra said, “to be able to do it more consistently to access that talent that we all see.”
The comments were similar to those offered by Spoelstra in Las Vegas, after Ware meandered through his opening action of summer league.
So kinder, gentler? Perhaps in this 18th season in, but only to a degree.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and former Heat captain Udonis Haslem are seen during the opening day of training camp, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“I would say he’s re-written his own way of thinking,” said center Bam Adebayo, who is entering his ninth season under Spoelstra. “He’s re-wiring his thinking.”
Forward Nikola Jovic appreciates the professionalism demanded, having been where Ware now stands, having been very much challenged in his initial Heat years.
“My relationship with our head coach, it’s mainly professional and it should be that way,” Jovic said. “Of course, you know we can be good off the court, this and that, but I don’t think any coach should be really a friend with a player. Because at the end of the day, this is all work for us.
“And it’s great. I feel like he tells me what he wants me to do. And I tell them sometimes how I feel in certain ways. Like I said, it’s mainly professional and it’s easy to talk with one of the best ever.”
Precious Achiuwa, now in his second Heat go-round, also was a rookie recipient of Spoelstra ire, during his lone previous Heat season in 2020-21.
“From my point of view, I was a very young player, so it was a learning experience,” Achiuwa said, now back on a make-good contract. “I’ve learned a lot in the league, been around. But coming back here, I can see where my competitive spirit, my tenacity fits right in with what he is trying to do.”
Before the Heat reached this latest agreement, Spoelstra and Achiuwa spoke, with coach acknowledging to his once-and-again player that both have changed, grown.
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“We were able to laugh about it,” Spoelstra said of what previously had been tension with Achiuwa, “about how some of my mentorship with Kel’el and Niko over the years, that was Precious his rookie year. There were a lot of ups and downs with Precious and the head coach. We didn’t have the opportunity to take that next step.”
Now that next step is coming with a new group of developmental players, while also having grown with former such prospects who now are Heat veterans.
So, yes, still demanding.
But now also patient.
And, seemingly, at 54, rejuvenated.
“That drive,” Adebayo said, “has not changed. That is one thing I love about Spo. You know what you’re going to get every single day he steps on that court. You know you’re going to get somebody who’s going to coach you to death. You’re going to get somebody he wants to win.
“He still wants rings. He still wants that feeling of getting back to that mountaintop.”
IN THE LANE
NEW HORIZON: At the time Kevin Love was rerouted from Miami to Utah in the three-team July trade that delivered Norman Powell from the Clippers to the Heat, the thought was that Love would eventually be set free from the rebuilding Jazz. Instead, now wearing No. 42 for Utah, Love said he is at peace with the move, due $4.2 million this season on the final season of the two-year deal he signed in the 2024 offseason with the Heat. “Really, truly, it all started with my two young daughters,” Love told Salt Lake City’s Deseret News of his decision. “I have a two year old who’s going to preschool in Miami, and then an eight month old. … I think I was weighing the personal side of things, and moving away from my daughters, or am I going to take them with me? And just wanted to gather all the information that I could.” And, with that, the Loves are poised to relocate to Utah. For now, it appears Love, 37, is a keeper. “We need some depth in our locker room in terms of depth of experience, and somebody who’s seen the NBA from a lot of different angles,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said, “and so I think that he’s going to be a tremendous leader for our group.”
NEW VISTA: And then there’s former Heat guard Duncan Robinson, who for the first time in his eight-year NBA career finds himself in something other than a Heat jersey. “This has been a totally new transition for me,” Robinson, dealt by the Heat in the offseason to the Detroit Pistons for Simone Fontecchio, said according to the Detroit News. “A totally new locker room. A new staff, everything. I’ve only been at one place, so I am not necessarily used to transition in that sense.” Robinson said the transition has been eased with former Michigan teammate Caris LeVert also having joined the Pistons this summer. “Excited to reconnect and play with each other again,” Robinson said.
EVERYONE LOVES JIMMY: A year ago, it already was growing highly contentious with Jimmy Butler‘s desire for a Heat extension that led to an eventual midseason trade. Now, in his first preseason with the Golden State Warriors, reputation has been cleansed. “I think he gets kind of that Draymond (Green) persona, where if you’re not on his team, you really don’t know, it’s kind of murky,” third-year Warriors center Trayce Jackson-Davis told the Bay Arena Newsgroup. “But once he’s in your locker room, he’s connected and he’s doing what he does. He’s a great person to be around and he’s a great teammate.” Butler hosted teammates at his San Diego home for workouts ahead of training camp. “It’s all about having some fun and knowing this is a long year ahead. It’s not going to be all good but it’s damn sure not going to be all bad,” Butler said.
OFF TO RACES?: Yes, it very much is that time of the year when teams attempt to convince themselves they will move toward a running game. The Heat, ranked No. 27 in pace, have vowed it this preseason, as now are the Boston Celtics, who ranked No. 29 last season in pace. “I think we’re going to play faster, get out and run,” guard Derrick White told The Boston Globe. We’ve got a lot of guys that like to play fast and like to get out in transition, so try to get out and run.” But just as Heat coach Erik Spoelstra issued his warning, so has Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. “Playing fast, I think, is an overused term,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s more of a mindset and overall approach to the way you execute, the way you move the ball, the way also you defend.”
SIMILAR VIEW: Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was equally candid in his team’s camp about players pushing for a running game. “Everybody says they want to run, but it is hard to understand what it takes to be a running team in this league, truly. You have to balance because you want to be great defensively,” Bickerstaff said. “Most of those running teams just change ends of the floor because they don’t play defense. They are saving their energy to run. You have to figure out the balance of that.”
BACK AT IT: A funny thing happened to former Heat guard Kyle Guy amid his transition to coaching — he caught the playing bug again. With the Heat during the 2021-22 post-pandemic season, Guy spent last season coaching at Virginia and had accepted an assistant’s role under Steve Alford this season at Nevada. Instead, Guy, 28, this past week signed a tryout contract with the Indiana Pacers, to be moved on to the Pacers’ G League affiliate.
NUMBER
27. Where the Kaseya Center statue of Dwyane Wade ranked in a survey of American’s Ugliest Public Art by Rivers Art. That statue, unveiled on the steps of the Heat’s arena on Oct. 27, 2024, was ranked highest (lowest?) among sports-themed works in the survey, that also had a Chicago statue of famed broadcaster Harry Carey in Chicago ranked No. 49, the Marlins’ home run artwork at No. 50 and a Washington statue of famed pitcher Walter Johnson at No. 60.
