The Miami Heat are used to getting subbed or shorted in award races. LeBron James was one vote away from the first unanimous MVP in 2013, Bam Adebayo still doesn't have a Defensive Player of the Year award, and Erik Spoelstra isn't a Coach of the Year winner.
That last one is hard to fathom because during the NBA's 75th anniversary season, Spo was named one of the top 15 coaches ever. You'd think he'd have hardware outside those glorious 2012 and 2013 rings to justify his ranking. This season could shake out to be a better late than never season for the legendary coach.
There's no doubt Spo should be in the race this season with how he's ringing out the most of this star-playmaker-less roster and keeping Miami near the top of the East. This might be the year Spo's COY drought finally gets some deserved showers.
The Coach of the Year narrative is getting on Erik Spoelstra's side early
Sometimes, NBA award voters get fixated on something in December and follow through with that pick for the rest of the season. Starting the Spo for COY campaign today would establish the foundation in some voters' minds. It will have them look up and realize one of the greatest coaches has never won this award. It's shameful and can be corrected with the right voices behind the campaign.
Kenny Beecham and Rachel Nichols (who had a vote last year) are prominent NBA voices who've used their platforms to uplift Spo. Both have referred to Spo as the COY favorite early in the season. That seed needs to be planted to blossom, despite Spo being great year after year.
The Heat's offensive shift was the driving force of Nichols' soliloquy, not the legacy vote, which it could seem like I'm proposing. Legacy and history matter to me, but the offensive jump and playstyle of this Heat group has plenty of COY merit, removing the historical portion of Spo's candidacy.
New Heat offense proves Erik Spoelstra is one of the greatest
Miami hasn't had the talent to be a heavy pick-and-roll (PnR) offense for a while now. In past years, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Adebayo were the drunk stirrers, and none of them are dynamic in the PnR enough to justify that being the base of the Heat offense.
Remove Butler, and the elite penetrators and creators list in Miami dried out even more. Spo decided enough was enough after the shellacking Miami took from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 playoffs (4-0 sweep, -122 point differential). It was time to reconstruct an offense that hadn't been working over the years.
Miami's new approach is centered around space and driving. The PnRs and dribble-hand-offs (DHO) have been replaced with isolations. Not your typical dribble for over half the shot clock isos, but isolations that stem from ball movement. Any time a team gives any Heat players a sliver of space, they're looking to attack that space and get the defense scrambling to find the open man.
This isn't revolutionary, seeing that the Memphis Grizzlies deployed a similar game plan last year, but it speaks to Spo's greatness that he was willing to change his offense to match his roster. Memphis wasn't going to maximize PnR mastero, Ja Morant, running fewer PNRs. Miami doesn't have a PnR creator like that, so their juices are flowing with anyone in the lineup capable of attacking moving defences.
The Heat's new offensive improvements (12th offense, 21st last year) and their standing in the East could will Spo to coaching supremacy. There are some heavy hitters out there, and Miami needs to keep climbing to ensure Spo stays in the race.
Other Coach of the Year candidates
Spo has the Heat sitting at 12-6, ranking third in the East. Not bad. This was definitely a surprise start for a team that was counted out after their 2025 playoff debacle. The problem with the surprise narrative is that the two teams above Miami in the East are bigger surprises.
It wasn't too long ago that the Detroit Pistons were the punching bag of the NBA. Fast-forward to the present day, and they've tied the franchise record for 13 wins in a row. JB Bickerstaff deserves major praise for this defensive revolution in Detroit. He's playing Jalen Duren and Iasiah Stewart a lot more together, and the Pistons move as a first defensively. So do the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto is second in the East, and Darko Rajaković has those boys playing some ball! Toronto has a top-flight defense and has the No. 2 half-court offense in basketball. They were terrible on that end last year. Brandon Ingram has made a major impact, but Rajaković maximizing Ingram, RJ Barrett, and Scottie Barnes simultaneously wasn't on many preseason prediction cards.
Spo has some stiff competition at this point, and Mark Daigneault hasn't even been mentioned. Spo can control what he can control, and that's keeping the Heat busy and solid. If Miami finishes with an elite offense and top seed, voters will be splitting hairs. His merit and legacy could form the perfect storm, allowing Erik Spoelstra to capture his first Coach of the Year award.