Erik Spoelstra
Encyclopedia
Erik Spoelstra is an American professional basketball
coach and the current head coach
of the National Basketball Association
's Miami Heat
. He is the first Filipino-American head coach
in the NBA, as well as the first Filipino-American head coach of any North American professional sports team.
From 2001 to 2008, he served as assistant coach/director of scouting for the team. He coached the Heat to 148 wins and three playoff appearances in his first three years as coach.
-Irish
-American Jon Spoelstra, who was an NBA executive for the Portland Trail Blazers
, Denver Nuggets
, Buffalo Braves
and New Jersey Nets
, and the grandson of the late Watson Spoelstra, a sportswriter in the Detroit area. His mother, Elisa Celino, is from San Pablo
, Laguna in the Philippines
.
, where he graduated from Jesuit High School in 1988 and from the University of Portland
in 1992.
At the University of Portland, Spoelstra was the Pilots
' starting point guard
for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game, and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. He is a member of Portland's 1,000-point club.
After graduation from college, he spent two years as a player/coach for TuS Herten (later the Herten Ruhr Devils / Hertener Löwen), a German professional team.
(May 30, 2005) for honing star guard Dwyane Wade
’s "shooting balance and smoothing out his release after the Flash’s return from the Athens Olympics
."
Spoelstra was an assistant coach with the Miami Heat when they won the 2006 NBA Finals
by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, overcoming a 0-2 deficit.
In April 2008, Spoelstra was named successor to Pat Riley
as head coach of the Miami Heat
. In naming Spoelstra as head coach, Riley said: "This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative, and bring fresh new ideas. That's what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He's a man that was born to coach." Riley also noted: "A lot of players want the discipline; they will play [hard] for Spoelstra, because 'they respect him.'"
| style="text-align:left;"|MIA
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||43||39||.524|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Southeast||7||3||4||.429
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|MIA
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||47||35||.573|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Southeast||5||1||4||.200
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|MIA
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||58||24||.707|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Southeast||21||14||7||.667
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in NBA Finals
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"|Career
| ||246||148||98||.602|| ||33||18||15||.545
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach and the current head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
's Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
. He is the first Filipino-American head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
in the NBA, as well as the first Filipino-American head coach of any North American professional sports team.
From 2001 to 2008, he served as assistant coach/director of scouting for the team. He coached the Heat to 148 wins and three playoff appearances in his first three years as coach.
Personal life
He is the son of DutchDutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
-Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
-American Jon Spoelstra, who was an NBA executive for the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
, Denver Nuggets
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
, Buffalo Braves
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
and New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, and the grandson of the late Watson Spoelstra, a sportswriter in the Detroit area. His mother, Elisa Celino, is from San Pablo
San Pablo, Laguna
The City of San Pablo , a first class city in the province of Laguna, Philippines, is one of the country's oldest cities. The City of San Pablo lies in the southern portion of Laguna province...
, Laguna in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
Early life
Spoelstra grew up in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, where he graduated from Jesuit High School in 1988 and from the University of Portland
University of Portland
The University of Portland is a private Roman Catholic university located in Portland, Oregon. It is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross and is the sister school of the University of Notre Dame. Founded in 1901, UP has a student body of about 3,600 students...
in 1992.
At the University of Portland, Spoelstra was the Pilots
Portland Pilots (NCAA)
The Portland Pilots is the nickname for athletics at the University of Portland. The Pilots compete in the West Coast Conference at the NCAA's Division I level.-History:...
' starting point guard
Point guard
Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...
for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game, and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. He is a member of Portland's 1,000-point club.
After graduation from college, he spent two years as a player/coach for TuS Herten (later the Herten Ruhr Devils / Hertener Löwen), a German professional team.
Miami Heat
Spoelstra joined the Heat staff in 1995 as the team's video coordinator. After two years, he was named assistant coach/video coordinator, then promoted to assistant coach/advance scout in 1999. He became the assistant coach/director of scouting in 2001. He was cited by Sports IllustratedSports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
(May 30, 2005) for honing star guard Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. nicknamed Flash or D-Wade, is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat. Awarded 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, Wade has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league...
’s "shooting balance and smoothing out his release after the Flash’s return from the Athens Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
."
Spoelstra was an assistant coach with the Miami Heat when they won the 2006 NBA Finals
2006 NBA Finals
The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 National Basketball Association season. The Miami Heat won the championship in six games over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the final game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and becoming the third team to win a championship...
by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, overcoming a 0-2 deficit.
In April 2008, Spoelstra was named successor to Pat Riley
Pat Riley
Patrick James "Pat" Riley is an American professional basketball executive, and a retired coach and player in the NBA. Currently, he is team president of the Miami Heat. Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has served as the head coach of five championship teams...
as head coach of the Miami Heat
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
. In naming Spoelstra as head coach, Riley said: "This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative, and bring fresh new ideas. That's what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He's a man that was born to coach." Riley also noted: "A lot of players want the discipline; they will play [hard] for Spoelstra, because 'they respect him.'"
Head coaching record
|-| style="text-align:left;"|MIA
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami...
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||43||39||.524|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Southeast||7||3||4||.429
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
2009 NBA Playoffs
The 2009 NBA Playoffs was the postseason for the National Basketball Association's 2008–09 season. The playoffs started on April 18, 2009 with ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV broadcasting the games in the United States...
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|MIA
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||47||35||.573|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Southeast||5||1||4||.200
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
2010 NBA Playoffs
The 2010 NBA Playoffs was the postseason for the National Basketball Association's 2009–10 season. The playoffs started on April 17, 2010 with ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and NBA TV broadcasting the games in the United States...
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|MIA
| style="text-align:left;"|
|82||58||24||.707|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Southeast||21||14||7||.667
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in NBA Finals
2011 NBA Finals
The 2011 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2010–11 season of the National Basketball Association and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks defeated the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, 4–2, to win their first NBA title...
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"|Career
| ||246||148||98||.602|| ||33||18||15||.545