1. No Coach Did More With Less
The team with the longest winning streak of the 2016-17 NBA season was not one of the freakish “super teams” that take up the majority of screen time on ESPN’s SportsCenter every night. It wasn’t a team with multiple All-Stars and former MVPs on the roster like the Golden State Warriors, who won 73 games last season before adding Kevin Durant to the fold this year. It wasn’t the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, led by the game’s greatest player, either.
Rather, it was Miami and its All-Star-less lineup that tallied a league-best 13 straight victories at one point. It was also the Heat that finished tied for the best second-half record in the entire NBA, at 30-11. No team in history has ever achieved either of those feats without a single All-Star or All-NBA talent on the roster.
As if the odds weren’t already stacked high enough against the Heat, Miami also suffered through one of their most injury-plagued seasons ever. In fact, no team had to suffer through more missed games (328) by its players due to injuries or illnesses in 2016-17. It’s hard to win consistently, if at all, when a team’s lineup changes on an almost-nightly basis because of injury. Spoelstra and company simply had to work with what they had available — and what they had available was comprised largely of D-League alumni and a handful of veteran journeyman.
To say Miami was at a disadvantage as far as talent level and its constant injury-induced adversity would be an understatement.
Perhaps NBA legend and Hall-of-Famer Reggie Miller perhaps put it best:
Yes Brad Stevens, Mike D'Antoni and Quinn Snyder, strong candidates as well, but they are working with All Stars and potential MVP's..
— Reggie Miller (@ReggieMillerTNT) March 23, 2017
Regardless, the Heat fought their way to within a half-game of making the playoffs and were amongst the league- leaders in several categories. For instance, you won’t find any top-five Defensive Player of the Year candidates on Miami’s roster — yet it finished fifth in the NBA with a 104.1 defensive rating. Furthermore, this Heat team defiantly refused to let anyone outhustle them, as they allowed the fewest opposing fast-break points in the NBA in 2016-17.
All in all, the fact is that no coach accomplished more with less at his disposal. That’s what really makes Spoelstra so deserving of the COTY award. That’s what makes his unprecedented run in 2016-17 so special and worthy of recognition. Sure, coaches like Steve Kerr of the Warriors, Mike D’Antoni of the Houston Rockets or Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics finished with better records. But as far as the gap between a team’s initial expectations for the season and the eventual result — nobody overachieved the way Spo managed to.
There was no Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden or Isaiah Thomas to assist Spoelstra in stringing together one of the most impressive coaching performances in recent memory. Instead, he took a group of raw, unrefined players and lifted them to heights they’d never before reached.
To put it all into perspective, Spoelstra deserves to win COTY because he essentially finished the season-long NBA “race” with a respectable qualifying time, driving a Toyota Prius, while every other .500+ team’s designated vehicle was a Ferrari.
It’s akin to painting the Sistine Chapel without the use of a ladder, and only a couple cans of water-based finger paint to work with. And just like a piece of priceless art, Miami’s 2016-17 season was a masterpiece — particularly because it was entirely unique, we’ve never seen anything like it before and we may never anything like it in our lifetimes again.
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