Did Erik Spoelstra go too far with “crying” comments?
After the Heat’s 87-86 loss to the Bulls on Sunday, which marks their fourth straight defeat, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported the following:
In case you’re thinking that Spoelstra was misquoted, here’s the video of his post game presser.
On the surface, it appears that Spoelstra revealed that a couple of players were crying to illustrate his point that “it’s not a matter of want,” but there is some speculation that he was trying to call out his team for not being tough enough mentally.
I doubt he’s that nefarious. I suspect that he was trying to relay that his team is emotionally engaged and went too far with his words. In the video, you can see him pause before he mentioned the crying, almost wondering whether or not he should reveal that little tidbit.
So did he go too far? I’d say he did. A coach should have the trust of his players and vice versa. The locker room should be like Las Vegas — whatever happens there, stays there. He didn’t name names, but that might just make matters worse as every player on that roster might be guilty.
Guilty of what? It’s human to cry, right? Well, not so much. I cried once during my college basketball career and that was after my final game as a senior when we (surprisingly) lost a tournament game at home. The weight of the moment — that my days of competitive basketball player were over — reduced me to a blubbering idiot. I stuffed my face in a towel until I could get a hold of my emotions. It was an end of an era, my era, not some regular season loss. The Heat players shouldn’t be crying right now. They should be angry, and they should channel that anger into making sure that this four-game losing streak ends on Tuesday.
Maybe that was Spoelstra’s point. Or maybe he just lost whatever trust was left in that locker room.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.
Big mistake by Spoelstra, particularly as it relates to LeBron and all the talk now that he’s not a clutch player. The pressure is building on these guys, and after having watched LeBron wilt in Cleveland under the pressure, this isn’t going to help at all. I’m still stunned that he said it.
The Heat are cooked! LeBum will be searching for a new team that can carry him withing a few years just as he is wearing down from the beat downs from the Celtics, Knicks and Bulls. They are’nt good enough to take beatings from Kobe and Co. because they won’t make it to the finals.
[…] the Miami Heat’s loss to the Bulls on Sunday, head coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned that there were “a couple of guys crying there in the locker room.” Whether or not […]
The coach threw his players under the bus in a public forum. That’s like telling a good friend something in confidence only to have them blurt it out to everyone first chance they get. Miami is far from the top of my favorites list but id be pretty pissed if that was my coach.