Erik Spoelstra reveals he hates to call for a challenge

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

We finally reveal the truth about Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra! An article based on the NBA's Coach's challenge reveals Spo hate's to call for a challenge. Does Spo find it "Soft?"

Transcript

00:00So we were talking about this, uh, a couple of days ago, Leroy,

00:04um, very confused as to why Eric Spolstra, you know, you had an

00:10entire break to eat Gushers.

00:13No, this is good.

00:14We're getting to the good stuff.

00:15It's like popcorn with the movie.

00:16Unbelievable.

00:17Um, Eric Spolstra won't challenge.

00:22It's incredible.

00:23He won't, he doesn't, he gets mad as hell, but he won't challenge.

00:26He won't challenge.

00:28And so there's actually a, an article out here, breaking it down from

00:35Steven, no, from the sporting news.

00:37And he spoke to Eric Spolstra about the challenges.

00:42Now we were joking a couple of days ago and we're like, he

00:47must just think it's soft.

00:49Like there's no explanation for some of the reason he never challenges.

00:53And even when it's blatantly obvious, like you had the Milwaukee

00:56bucks out there flopping, like fish definitely could have gotten

01:01some calls overturned at some point.

01:03Meanwhile, doc rivers is out here.

01:05He's challenging.

01:06Everybody's challenging a little bit spoke.

01:09He never does it never.

01:13It just, it seems like he's almost against it.

01:17Well, Steven from the sporting news, Steven though, did a breakdown of this.

01:23And he has a chart of all the teams and all their challenges.

01:29Eric Spolstra by far, the least has only challenged 10 times this season, 10 times.

01:40And he told Steven quote, I know our numbers are lower than other teams.

01:48Every call is like, he starts twirling his finger to mimic a challenge.

01:53I understand the competition committee adding this, but I, I think it

01:57also just looks ridiculous.

01:58Every single play, the players are looking to the bench.

02:01It's distracting.

02:04So he's just against the challenge.

02:07He's against the challenge as a means of principle.

02:11He won't do it unless like backed into a corner.

02:15It seems like he hates it.

02:18Hates it, dude.

02:20We have our answer.

02:22He thinks it's soft.

02:25You have other teams out here challenging willy nilly.

02:30Do you know not to pull Leroy and ask you a question?

02:33You may not have the answer to.

02:34Yes.

02:35Do you know who the next person is?

02:38We have 10 as the lowest.

02:40It looks to me like the next lowest is the wizards at 18.

02:47And it's like, what do they have to challenge for?

02:51But by contrast, like the OKC thunder best team in the NBA, they have

02:57challenged 57 times this year, 57.

03:01I mean, can I just say this?

03:04If he doesn't challenge a call that almost looks blatant and they end the

03:10game and he has timeouts left, that's grounds for a fight, right?

03:17I mean, like, I get it if you don't want to use up a timeout, but if you

03:21in the game with those timeouts, it means you could have challenged.

03:26He doesn't believe in it.

03:27He doesn't believe in it.

03:29He thinks it's soft.

03:32That's crazy.

03:33I mean, it's, it's believable.

03:34Like if you asked me like why I think he doesn't do it, my number one thing,

03:39my, my number one thing would be, oh, because he thinks it's soft.

03:43That is correct.

03:43I don't know.

03:45I don't know.

03:45The way, the way you explain, the way you explain how he feels about

03:52challenging, you're going to take the next step and say he's covertly tank.

03:58Well, here's the thing though.

03:59Here's the thing with that.

04:02I've just noticed different behavior in his answers this year.

04:06He's almost been more accepting of things.

04:08He's been more accepting of things.

04:11He's almost been more accepting of things.

04:14Oh, if we don't have Tyler out there, oh, you know, we didn't have Tyler.

04:17I'm like, that's not Eric's full strength.

04:20I understand.

04:20You gotta be a little more patient.

04:22That's finally right.

04:23But I've also seen this dude basically go with like Rodney Magruder, Luke

04:27Babbitt, Henry Walker, and Hassan Whiteside and win more crunch games than this.

04:32Like I've seen this guy do it with nothing.

04:35He doesn't have nothing.

04:36And he, he's in, he basically loses to everybody.

04:40Who's not like the worst in the league and they need a lot to beat those teams.

04:44Well, does that, is that more of an indication of how good you are or more

04:48of an indication of how he's coaching?

04:50I don't know, but I'm just telling you, I've seen him do more with

04:54less than he has right now.

04:58Yeah.

04:59Cause whatever you think he's got three all-stars out there, three guys

05:02who have been to the all-star game.

05:03Yep.

05:04And they look like every fourth quarter is just like probably going to blow it.

05:11I mean, to me, and I've said this before, at some point as a leader of the team

05:19or a guy who handles the ball, you have to be the one that changes that around.

05:24Right.

05:25And get better shots and, and, and kind of understand where you are in the

05:31game and kind of do things accordingly.

05:34Right.

05:35It can't just be on spoke, like spoken, drop the craziest play.

05:39If you don't make a layup, cause you're batting it around, around the rim,

05:43you can't do nothing about that.

05:47Unless he's like, Oh, and then like, when he looks at Tyler, he goes,

05:55so now he's acting, he's putting on, I mean, how are you going to

06:00actively tank scoring 40?

06:03He's just cause it, cause you just know, he's like, Hey, Hey, Hey,

06:05let off the gas here.

06:06You know?

06:07Yeah.

06:07You got your little all-star number.

06:09So the guy, the guy who doesn't challenge, you're suggesting he's saying that.

06:16Well, the challenge, he just seems to say is, is a waste of time.

06:19He wants people to stop being babies, you know, but he is ultimately a

06:24competitor and he probably looks around and he goes, this ain't competing.

06:27We need to go get ourselves a unicorn.

06:28I look out of my farm right now.

06:30I see a lot of horses, but I don't see none with no horns.

06:33See, my thing is, is I put it more on the players.

06:37You on the court, you got to understand what kind of game you're playing and what

06:41your situation is and be aware of what you need to do.

06:46I think they start going in a tailspin and the team goes on a 14, 15 to 200.

06:54And it's like, instead of saying, okay, I'm going to get a free throw or I'm

06:59going to try to get an easy bucket or whatever it is like, they don't, they're

07:04not very aware of what's going on.

07:08Dekey soul says, I don't think the rest really respects, but all

07:11that crying on the sidelines.

07:13Yeah.

07:13But here's the thing.

07:15He doesn't go to computers to challenge their calls.

07:17All he does is he goes to the computer and he's like, I'm going to

07:20pay attention, pay attention, concentrate all valid, all valid criticisms of my job.

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