Spoelstra contract extended

Erik Spoelstra has been with the Miami Heat for nearly two decades, and their relationship won't be ending anytime soon.

Spoelstra has signed a multi-year extension to remain as coach of the two-time defending NBA champion Heat, the team said Sunday afternoon. The move comes one day after the Heat announced several other front-office moves, including promoting Andy Elisburg to general manager and hiring Juwan Howard as an assistant coach.

A person familiar with the talks between the sides, speaking on condition of anonymity earlier Sunday because the deal had not been announced, told Associated Press the Heat has never had any intention of letting Spoelstra go. He had one season remaining on his existing contract, a deal that the sides agreed to in 2011.

"I want ['Spo' here for a long, long time," Heat president Pat Riley said last season.

Spoelstra is 260-134 in his first five seasons with Miami, going to the playoffs in each of those years, the NBA Finals in each of the past three and winning the title in 2012 and 2013. His resume suggests that he's already well on a Hall of Fame path: Only 12 other men in NBA history have multiple championships as a coach, and only seven others have collected rings in back-to-back years.

He's won while helping Le-Bron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh not only figure out ways to play with one another, and also by having each of those stars change their games to make everything fit within the Heat system.

Last season may have been Spoelstra's best coaching job.

He was a scout, an assistant coach, a key part of Stan van Gundy's staff in Miami and then started becoming considered Riley's protege not long after van Gundy stepped down 21 games into what became a championship season for the Heat in 2005-06.

(China Daily 10/01/2013 page11)