Erik Jon Spoelstra is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association.
28 Facts About Erik Spoelstra
2.
Erik Spoelstra has won two NBA championships as the head coach of the Heat.
3.
Erik Spoelstra played college basketball with the Portland Pilots before playing professionally and coaching in Germany.
4.
Erik Spoelstra served as assistant coach and director of scouting for the Heat from 2001 to 2008, during which time the team won the 2006 NBA Finals.
5.
Erik Spoelstra made his fifth appearance in the NBA Finals as a head coach in 2020.
6.
Erik Spoelstra was born in Evanston, Illinois, to Jon Erik Spoelstra and Elisa Celino.
7.
Erik Spoelstra is the grandson of Watson Erik Spoelstra, a long-time sportswriter for The Detroit News.
8.
Erik Spoelstra spent his childhood in Buffalo, New York, before moving to Portland, Oregon by the late 1970s.
9.
Erik Spoelstra wore number 30 during high school and college in honor of then-Trail Blazer Terry Porter, one of his favorite NBA players.
10.
Erik Spoelstra received basketball scholarship offers, and eventually accepted one from the University of Portland in his hometown.
11.
Erik Spoelstra was the Pilots' starting point guard for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game.
12.
Erik Spoelstra is a member of the school's 1,000-point club, and is among the Pilots' career leaders in several statistical categories.
13.
Erik Spoelstra graduated from the University of Portland in 1992 with a degree in communications.
14.
Erik Spoelstra began having back problems after the end of his second year with the team, and contemplated having surgery.
15.
In 1995, Erik Spoelstra was offered another two-year contract with the club, but the NBA's Miami Heat offered him a position.
16.
Erik Spoelstra was hired as the Heat's video coordinator in 1995, although at first he was not promised the position past the summer of that year.
17.
Many of Erik Spoelstra's colleagues attribute his ascent in the Heat coaching ranks to his strong work ethic.
18.
Erik Spoelstra won his first NBA championship as an assistant coach when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals.
19.
Erik Spoelstra led the Heat to an appearance in the 2011 NBA Finals, but lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.
20.
Erik Spoelstra's Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to win the NBA championship.
21.
Erik Spoelstra became the first Asian-American head coach to win an NBA championship, and the second Heat head coach to win the title.
22.
Erik Spoelstra became the only Miami Heat head coach to take the team to the NBA Finals multiple times.
23.
Erik Spoelstra later coached the Heat to a 27-game winning streak.
24.
Erik Spoelstra became the eighth coach to lead his team to two straight championships.
25.
Details were not released, but Erik Spoelstra was expected to receive a pay raise and a bigger role in the front office.
26.
Erik Spoelstra led the Heat to the 2014 NBA Finals, becoming the third coach to lead his team to four straight Finals.
27.
On February 6,2022, Erik Spoelstra was named as the Eastern Conference head coach for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.
28.
On September 17,2015, Erik Spoelstra announced his engagement to former Miami Heat cheerleader, Nikki Sapp.