Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stan Van Gundy talks up Erik Spoelstra
McGruder impresses; Waiters may return Monday
PHILADELPHIA — For being a two-time NBA champion, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has rarely received much credit.
He’s always been considered a coach who made four consecutive NBA Finals on the strength of four future Hall of Famers. One coach who has never overlooked Spoelstra, however, is Stan Van Gundy of the Detroit Pistons.
Van Gundy, who once had Spoelstra on his staff in Miami, said no coach has done a better job than Spoelstra this season.
“There’s not a better coach in the league than Erik,” Van Gundy told reporters in Detroit on Friday. “People discounted him because he had [LeBron James], [Dwyane] Wade and [Chris] Bosh. Gregg Popovich is one of the best ever. Phil Jackson best ever. Nobody goes to four straight Finals. Nobody. He did. OK?”
After turning around the Heat’s season, Spoelstra should be among the candidates for the league’s coach of the year award. He’s never won the honor, placing high as second after the 2011-12 season when the Heat won the first of back-to-back championships. After winning the second, Spoelstra did not receive a single coach of the year vote.
This year, Spoelstra is finally able to show his coaching ability. With Bosh, James and Wade all gone, he’s turned a team of D-League and inexperienced players into a playoff contender. this team are all guys who work very hard and take advantage of the opportunities.”
McGruder has far exceeded the expectations of NBDL offseason pickup. After being signed last July, he has started 37 of 50 games. He averaged 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds entering Saturday’s game at the Philadelphia 76ers.
His scrappy play in the D-League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce has translated to the next level.
“From what I’ve heard, he’s plays exactly the same [as he did in the DLeague],” guard Tyler
also a former Sioux Falls transplant. “He’s one of those guys you’ll go to battle with any day.”
Nothing was more indicative of that than his performance in Friday’s victory at Brooklyn. He finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, but numerous hustle plays made it feel like he impacted the game so much more.
“Rodney McGruder, again that stat line belies his impact on the game,” Spoelstra said. “It’s incredible looking at his stat line and say, ‘Really, that’s it?’ He had his fingerprints on every possession.”
He is the third NBDL player to have an impact in Miami, joining Johnson and center Hassan Whiteside. The Heat will likely continue to offer chances as long as it produces positive results.
“This is an incredible opportunity we all have to be in this profession, to do what we love to do to be able to compete at the highest level,” Spoelstra said. “That should not be exclusive to a D-League player coming up and getting his call. The very best players always maintain that approach of incredible gratitude and you express that gratitude by your level of effort and commitment and intensity and focus and competition.”