The Celtics would go on and win the NBA Championship though. Something that the Heat have not been able to do in the past, when they got the better of their Eastern Conference rivals, losing twice in the finals during the Butler era.

Erik Spoelstra has seen it all and done it all in Miami. He has been the head coach of the Heat since 2008. Before that, he was the assistant for over a decade.

Spoelstra has won two Championships as the head coach, and one as the assistant. Yet, he seems to be deriving motivation from the Celtics’ success last season.

According to , Spoelstra said on the “Tobin and Leroy” podcast: “We’ve been off since early May and losing to Boston and seeing them win, that offers a little bit of different motivation in the offseason.

“I think we were all able to get time away, understand that we’re going to have to come together and get to a higher level. That’s what happens when a team wins a championship. They force you to raise your level and that’s what we’re looking forward to out of our group.”

The aim for the Heat has to be winning a Championship. They might have a small window to reach that goal, with Butler’s long-term future in Miami up in the air.

At the same time, the Heat have not made any win-now moves this summer. That suggests that they might already be planning for life after Butler.

Bam Adebayo has been given a huge extension recently. They still have Tyler Herro, who will hopefully take the long-awaited next step in his development soon.

The franchise also has intriguing youngsters like Jaime Jaquez Jr and Nikola Jovic while Kel’el Ware is being considered a dark horse in the Rookie of the Year race.

Copyright 2024 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published October 3, 2024, 8:31 AM.