The Miami Heat conducted their exit interviews Friday afternoon as head coach Erik Spoelstra and selected players spoke to the media as it was an optional decision to do so. Spoelstra along with Heat stars Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin spoke about being eliminated from the NBA Playoffs and how it's jarring to be watching it from their couches earlier than expected.
One year removed from reaching the NBA Finals as the eighth seed, they are in the exact opposite end of the spectrum where they had the same seeding, but were knocked out in the first round by the Boston Celtics in five games. The past few seasons, the Heat have either reached the championship or the conference title series which is why the feeling is jarring as Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that “we don't even know what to right now.”
“It's frustrating and everybody felt it in the locker room. Our guys wanted to play well in front of our fans and for whatever reason this year, we weren't able to find consistency here at home. None of us wanted this to be over at the beginning of May. We don't even know what to do right now. So you're talking about like ‘you got to make vacation plans, get out of town,' it's like ‘what?'” Spoelstra said. “Your mind' not even wrapped around like that possibility, you're thinking you're going to have the next few weeks you're working in this, it's the best time of the year. You want to be in this competitive cauldron. You know if you're watching the playoff games, that's the environment, that's what you want to be a part of, not sitting on the sidelines. So that's the frustrating part.”
Adebayo talks about reflecting on this past Heat season
Miami was plagued throughout the season with injuries which led to the lack of continuity and success for the team, but if there was one constant, it would be the emergence of star Bam Adebayo who put together another solid season. Averaging 19.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while also being a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year, he told ClutchPoints that this summer will be a time to reflect on himself.
“Man, I got so much time, I don't even know what to do with it,” Adebayo said. “It sounds ridiculous because throughout the season, all we ask for is time. But this is a time where you really just reflect on the season and reflect on what happened. Reflect on yourself and how you can be better and what could have been different.”
Caleb Martin not used to being “done early”
Another player that has stood out the past few seasons for the Heat is Caleb Martin who is known in the organization, especially by Spoelstra, to be their “X Factor.” During his exit interview media availability, he said to ClutchPoints that “this is the first time we've been done early” since he's been on the team.
“Obviously since I've been here, this is the first time we've been done early,” Martin said. “So everybody wants to work until you get it, but you don't really realize the sacrifice you take when getting more time off and that means you're in early and not playing as long as you want to. I just think you take that and it hits everybody a little bit different. But I think if I approach the summer and approach next year in a way to where they want to get you to keep playing. It starts in the summer and it starts all throughout the regular season to put ourselves in a position to be able to find a way to play later so I think that'll be the approach all of us have moving forward.”
Spoelstra says there is light at the end of the tunnel for Miami
The Heat now head into an intriguing off-season where they are looking to bolster the roster and get back to their winning ways in the quest for a championship. Spoelstra said in times of pain and suffering like the team has gone through this season, it “can lead to the most growth.”
“Sometimes the greatest frustrations and disappointments can lead to the most growth and that's what I'm hoping for. The pain of this, the pain of you know how we played at home,” Spoelstra said. “You know, the inconsistencies, the pain of the handful of losses that we felt potentially could have been wins and that that could have change things in the postseason.
“You also don't know how that works with that sliding door,” Spoelstra continued. “But all of this can be something you can gain something from, once you get away from it and then you realize okay, there are there are always lessons. There's something you can take out of this. There's something that you can grow from and we'll look at everything from A to Z as you can imagine. We're not going to do that today or tomorrow. But we have a longer offseason than we anticipated so we have several weeks and months to figure this out.”
Miami finished 46-36 on the season which resulted in a first round elimination by Boston as they look to retool this summer heading into next season. However. there's no doubt fans wonder if there wasn't huge injuries to the likes of Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, what could have happened in this year's postseason.
Follow Us
Subscribe