Erik Spoelstra is one of few tenured NBA head coaches remaining after a slew of high-profile firings.
Nick Nurse and Mike Budenholzer lost their jobs despite recently winning a championship for their former teams. The Phoenix Suns fired Monty Williams, who faced Budenholzer’s Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals, and the Philadelphia let go of Doc Rivers after another second-round exit.
Before leading the Miami Heat to a Game 1 win over the Boston Celtics, Spoelstra called the recent coaching activity “disturbing.”
“It just doesn’t make sense to me … To have proven veteran guys (fired), it’s just been stunning. It really has been disturbing,” Spoelstra said on Monday, per Five on The Floor’s Alex Toledo. “That is this coaching profession, I get it. And I’m so thankful and grateful every single day working for (the Heat organization)… particularly when things get tough. It’s a blessing to go through tough times.”
Erik Spoelstra was asked at practice about the significance of 2 of the remaining Playoff coaches being rookie coaches.
He spoke about how disturbing it is to see “proven, experienced coaches” lose their jobs. Said it’s been a blessing to have the team’s support all this time. pic.twitter.com/aoSOHBHIIr
— alex (@tropicalblanket) May 15, 2023
Spoelstra again called the firings disturbing on Wednesday, saying it’s “the nature of this beast” that good teams are going to get eliminated from the postseason.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks hearing the news of some really surprising firings,” Spoelstra said, per AfroSport.
Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat Head Coach speaks on Doc Rivers being fired pic.twitter.com/g4M4aEJZUR
— AfroSport (@AfroSportTV) May 17, 2023
Only Gregg Popovich has coached his current team longer than Spoelstra, who has won two championships since taking over as Miami’s head coach in 2008. One would think the 52-year-old has considerable job security after taking a No. 8 seed to the Eastern Conference Finals, but recent trends show loyalty doesn’t last long.
Spoelstra, Popovich, and Steve Kerr are now the only coaches who have a championship with their current team, and Mike Malone joins them as the lone other coach to hold his current position for more than five years.
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