For the ones who work hard to ensure their crew can always go the extra mile, and the ones who get in early, so everyone can go home on time. There's Granger, offering professional grade supplies back by product experts so you can quickly and easily find what you need. Plus, you can count on access to a committed team ready to go the extra mile for you. Call, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. [♪♪♪] At Independent Financial, we know you work hard for your business. That's why we work hard for you. Our local bankers are ready to jump in and support your next vision or venture, and we have the resources to make it happen. Ready to get down to business? Let's talk. Learn more at iFinancial.com. Independent Financial, banking for business, banking for life, member FDIC. Welcome to latest episode of 5 on the Floor and the Five Reasons Sports Network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app. If you're Android, it recommends Spotify or the Five Reasons YouTube channel. Make sure you hit like, subscribe, turn the notifications on. If you're Apple, we recommend Apple Podcasts. Also, check out Off the Floor. That's our new Discord server, yes, we put a lot of stuff on Twitter, but that's going to change here. We're going to be putting more and more of it on Off the Floor. Make sure that you go to the best, most active, most constant, heat community. Check it out, $2.99 per month. Link right here in the description on the YouTube channel and the podcast feed. Also check it out, our new sponsor, well, not a new sponsor, it's a sponsor that's been with us, but it's a great sponsor and they've got a new promotion. They've got all kinds of stuff for Mother's Day. Check it out. You go to shoptubculture.com, again, that shoptubculture.com. Use the code 5, you can turn percent off orders of $20 more, handcrafted bath and body care. That's what you can get there again, great for Mother's Day. There is still time to get your orders in, so check it out. There's unique stuff here. This is not that store that you see in the mall. These are great local people, big Miami Heat fans. Check them out at shoptubculture.com. I think tubculture.com goes there directly as well. Use the code 5, F-I-V-E. They've got a deal on there now, bath bombs now, three for 15 bucks, that's limited time. But again, you can get everything on the site for 10% off using that code 5 to spend 20 bucks, shoptubculture.com. And now, today's episode. Got a fish gang. Yay. Fish gang. Umm, fire on the floor, drive for my dogs. Way and here's the thing, you can check the score. Hustle hard, couple scars, rain, bubble frogs. Just like mother said, you're in trouble, y'all. Check the flow plan, got it all day. Y'all see the block, stop the one hand and pat the trust. It's probably have the guts, we feel to bring the heat, y'all can hang it up. Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnik, Greg Selvander and Alex Toledo, plus others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Alright, welcome back to Five on the Floor. We actually have a content day today. We like those. It was Exit Interview Day, today's floor plan. I've got Alex Toledo, you can follow him at Tropico Blanket, again, I'm Ethan Skolnik. You can follow me, Ethan J. Skolnik, and then Five Reason Sports, and I just want to clarify something here before we start, because the word Exit Interview, I think fans take it the wrong way and I saw that a lot on Twitter today. The actual exit interviews are between the players and the team, between the players and team officials, okay? That's the exit interview. The media availability is just an extension of the exit interview. That's not the actual exit interview, but I understand why fans get those things conflated a little bit. And that created some confusion today and I'll explain why. There are 18 players under contract in some way for the Miami Heat. Three of them are two-way players, that's Swider, Alondis, Williams, and Jamal Kane, okay? And then there's 15 contract players. Now all 18 of them, it's my understanding, did their exit interviews with the team, okay? They didn't all do media availability. Now most of them did. Now here's the ones that declined and a couple of these are interesting. And I will tell you that the first three of these actually I predicted with the beat riders when we sat down. Jimmy Butler did not speak to the media today. Tyler Hero did not speak to the media today. Terry Rosier did not speak to the media today and Kevin Love did not speak to the media today. All four of them declined interviews, okay? Now before I get to the others who didn't speak. In Kevin's case, I understand it, he's been talking about his future to me, to, he talked about it to Anthony, to others over the past few days, you know, we kind of know his situation. I think he can come back if he wants to come back. He's been extremely accessible with the media all year long, so pass, okay? That's where I'm at. Terry Rosier, it would have been nice to hear from him. Of course, he's been injured and there's a big cloud over what that injury is exactly. The team has been a little cryptic about it as they tend to be. It would have been nice to hear from Terry today. I don't get the sense he likes these kind of gatherings just since he's arrived. That's the sense that I've gotten. So again, not surprised. It would have been nice to hear from him, but okay. Tyler Hero. Now this is the one that got the most attention on Twitter and Alex, I'm going to say this as I bring you into it. I think that's because of how polarizing he is in general. So there was a perception that okay, Tyler doesn't want to stand up and take the punches. I heard some people say he's soft, et cetera, et cetera. And of course, this comes after Yudadis Haslam, who works for the team now, by the way, but is also a part-time podcaster and media guest. We'd love to have you back on here, UD, for your fourth appearance. He came on and said what a lot of heat fans have said for a long time and we've talked about on the show that the team is best off when Tyler is the sixth man. And so people thought maybe Tyler didn't want the smoke. Now where I'm going to interject on this is Tyler always stands up and talks to the media. Okay. So I'm going to defend him in this case, right? Like, would it have been nice to hear from him today? Yes. Anything that Tyler would have said would have been taken out of context, twisted, right? And driven by various agendas. Am I right on that, Alex? A thousand percent. That's a hundred percent what I think it is. He's been speaking this whole time, like throughout all these games, he's active. He's playing, he's getting asked hard questions before and after. I mean, not before, but after each game and during shooter rounds, like he's been available throughout all this. So I think he should, like I understand that people would like to hear a little bit more from him maybe to address the end of the season just like others, but he's been available throughout. I just think he's become the face of their problems and people just kind of have their takes that I honestly, I feel like there's a lot of confirmation bias going on with this playoff run. We get into that another time because, you know, it's obvious that Tyler is not a number one option against the great team. And I know that's going to sound like an excuse to people. People don't want to hear that. It doesn't mean I'm excusing his play like he made. I mean, he missed a ton of makeable shots in that last game, particularly and only had one good game. He had one great game, right, and the others were either mid or very bad. And so yeah, like I'm not excusing what he did. I just honestly, that my expectations were there. I didn't think he was going to have a good series versus that team. And, you know, I just feel, like you said, if he would have gone out there, it was going to be able to be regardless, like whether he spoke or not. And he's been available throughout this time. I would have, I was more interested to hear from Terry was more interested, of course, to hear from Jimmy, not that I had any expectation, but those were the guys. The guys who haven't spoken in a while and who have, like you said, kind of clouds over their situations, not that we need to know every detail, right, about their health or anything. But like, you know, that's kind of what we're there for is to kind of get an idea of what's going on. We're an extension of the fans and I'm going to get to the next guy in a second, okay. There's nothing Tyler could have said. He would have been asked about getting traded again. He would have asked how he was approaching this summer. He would have asked about the media noise and all that kind of stuff again. Would it have been nice to have him there? Sure. Okay. People just go back and watch the other ones from the past because he's going to say the same thing. He has said things and whenever he says things or he compares himself to this player or that player says he wants to start, he gets raked over the coals for it. And again, that is my experience with him. Okay. He sees everything I can tell when he's irritated by maybe stuff that we've said or he's heard that we've said I get it, but he has been stand up in that regard. We're going to focus the rest of this episode on Eric Spolstra and then we're going to talk about the players who did talk in the next episode. I'm going to get into that with Brady. But I'm going to say this. It's not acceptable for Jimmy Butler to blow it off today. I'm just going to say it flat out, okay, and I'm giving Tyler a pass. I'm not giving Jimmy a pass. I know, okay, that he's injured. I understand that and I'm not questioning his commitment to the organization. He is the face of this franchise still. He's the star. He's not the captain, but this stuff keeps getting dumped on the captain because he's accountable. I mean, BAM spoke all the way through after the last game, every game, every game and was there today. And to me, this is becoming somewhat symbolic of this entire situation. Everything gets dumped on BAM, okay? And we'll get to BAM's comments probably Brady and I will in the next episode. But I'm sorry, like I remember LeBron blew off one of these, okay? I think it was 2014, actually, and I've been at every one of these, okay? I think he blew off one and he got killed for it and people looked at it as a sign of something else. I think Jimmy Butler should have spoken today. And particularly with the swirl out there, whoever's creating that swirl, okay, whatever camp it is or whatever team it is, and maybe some of it's coming from Philadelphia because I will tell you this right now, okay, and we've talked about Jimmy's contract situation. I did it with Alex Dono on the Five Guys, which we posted on the feed because it is relevant, okay? And it's a reasonable conversation to have about whether or not you go all in with him and give him the extension, and I've tried to clarify it's really a one-year extension. It's like a couple million more on the player option here, but then it's basically giving him $58 million for what will be his year, I guess, 37, age 37 season, okay? I'm not totally against that, by the way, okay? If that's the direction they're going with this build, if you've decided you're going all in on him, okay, fine. I've simply said there need to be some stipulations here, and when we get into our exposure, we'll talk about this. Some stipulations here to make sure that he's more available during the regular season and setting a tone during the regular season, not just waiting for April, but I'm not totally against giving him an extension. I'm not anti-Jimmy, and Jimmy has exceeded my expectations since he came in, and I've said on various podcasts that, like, I don't get taken personally about the media shit anymore, okay? I really don't. I do think there are certain times that as the leader of the franchise, whether you're the captain or not, and particularly when you're seeking a two-year, $113 million extension, take the five minutes and answer some questions, and particularly at this time, I mean, all he really had to do was come out and say today, "I want to be with my meat." That's it. Like, that's really all people want to know right now, because now what ends up happening is reiterated in so many times, too, so it should be theoretically easy for him to say it again. It should be theoretically easy, but it doesn't mean he shouldn't do it. Those are two different things, and I think in the context of this, okay, what's going to happen now is there's a vacuum. This is the same vacuum that existed with LeBron. When the player doesn't speak, and the only time we've heard from Jimmy recently is when he decided to do a TNT interview, okay? As I've said, he didn't do a Bally's sports winter circle interview the entire season, declined it every single time, okay? Again, that's not me, okay? There are others who are doing those interviews. This isn't about me. It's not about five on the floor, it's not about five reasons for it. I'm just saying, like, today, with this swirl out there, to say that you're aligned with Eric Spolstra, which I believe he is, by the way. We'll get into that when we talk about SPO, or I'm aligned with this organization, or I want to build this way. I mean, the emo, Jimmy's stuff was cute at the beginning of the year, but now people are starting to read into everything, and when there's a vacuum because you don't hear his voice, that's what you started to get today on Twitter. So again, I don't know if he had rehab. I don't know what the situation was. All I see is his buddy, Ernie, posting IG things, and then playing the video tennis games. I'm just saying like-- Do you think you're around today? His story? I know. It was typical screenshots of music that he's listening to, and it was around the same time that we were there at the arena. It wouldn't even surprise me if that's intentional, and here's the thing about it. He hasn't gotten a bad run from the media down here. I mean, the media has glorified him. What would you say? Has there been any criticisms? I mean, a lot of the stuff I talked about with Donno about how the organization has given him a lot more leeway than they gave LeBron, which is just fact, okay? I'm not hating. It's just fact. I don't care for all of LeBron, and I kind of know what's gone on roughly, not as well as I did during the big three years, but I know roughly what's gone on here the past four or five years. That's not hating. That's just reality of it, and we really haven't called him out on it. The media hasn't really called him out on it. We just kind of like, okay, Jimmy being Jimmy, as long as he produces in the playoffs, nobody really cares. And again, nobody is saying he hasn't been a productive player, or he hasn't provided incredible moments for this organization. He has. Without moments, it's pretty much what, Dwayne LeBron and him, I mean, right? We talk about the greatest game. But I still think, and we will have to vote the second half of this episode to slow, because I'm going to start with how he talked about Jimmy today, I just think he should have spoken today. And again, I have every, I will say this, okay, last 24 hours. It's not just the David Aldrich record, which is, I think, and I like David, and David is not a clickbaiter, okay? And he's been a professional for a long time, but I think that's coming from somewhere else. I think that's Philadelphia or other teams trying to try to drum up a little bit of dissension here with Miami and Jimmy and kind of feeling it out. That's my perception of it. But I will tell you that of my media friends at ESPN, okay, I got a ton of texts over the last 24 hours, and I said this on playback yesterday, it's going to be an interesting summer for you and every time I say, well, yeah, I mean, they're probably going to move the third guy and they're like, no, look above that. Like the perception at ESPN, for whatever reason, wherever they're getting it, okay? These are the reporters on the ground is that there could be movement with Jimmy Butler this summer. I still think he's going to get his extension here and stay. That's my lean, but there's a lot of noise out there right now. And I just kind of feel like in his own way, and he's good at this stuff. He's smart. He knows what to say. He knows how to troll. I think he could have put a lot of it to bed today. If he simply came out there and said, I want to finish my career with Miami. And by the way, his people around him have always said that, but we've never had this level of smoke, okay, around him. And there is a real issue here, which is do you give him the additional year for an extension? So I'll let you have a final thought on that. And then on the other side of this, I do want to get to spoke. Honestly, it wasn't prepared for another final thought on that. I'm 100% with you on Jimmy. I wanted to hear him speak and it was weird. Like I was not expecting just like you to hear all this scuttle, but coming around the same time, like from literally just a bunch of ESPN guys, so it sounds like they're all hearing it from the same place. I mean, it's almost definitely not the heat, right? Like I think we can be pretty sure that it's probably not coming from the heat. But who knows, right? And it is weird. I still, I'm like you. I still feel like the heat essentially giving him an extra year on top of what he already has, and just kind of being done with, like, you know, we're going to talk about this, but, you know, in the other half, but Spaux is very much somebody who you guys have talked about has a lot of influence with the front office. And he was adamant today about them, you know, always being championship driven. And he's been saying that forever, but like it didn't sound like, you know, a press conference, you know, kind of commemorating the end of an era or anything like that. Like it sounded like, you know, we're going to get right back to it next year. I know we're about to talk about that, but as a result, that makes me feel even stronger that they're probably going to, you know, do everything they can to bring him back with that, you know, extra year. Yeah. And we'll get into that in more episodes, but we're going to pivot to Spaux. We'll start with Spaux's comments on Jimmy today in response to my question, because I think it's a good place to lead into this before we do. I want to mention another great sponsor of the Five Reasons Sports Network. Speaking of heat fans, probably would have liked to have heard from Butler Hero and Rosie today. Our friends over at Mobile Sea Arm Staffing Services, check them out at seed-armandstaffing.com. 561-891-9620, that's 561-891-9620. Here's the deal. If you work in a medical office, hospital, tell your people there about Mobile Sea Arm and Staffing Services. They bring the x-ray equipment and the staffing to you. Total professionals, just really good people and huge Miami heat fans. They'll walk you through the entire process. You can reach out on their website directly or again, call them at 561-891-9620. And ask for Nelson, you get a price estimate right away. For the ones who work hard to ensure their crew can always go the extra mile, and the ones who get in early, so everyone can go home on time. There's Granger, offering professional grade supplies backed by product experts, so you can quickly and easily find what you need. Plus, you can count on access to a committed team ready to go the extra mile for you. Call, click Granger.com or just stop by, Granger, for the ones who get it done. At Independent Financial, we know you work hard for your business. That's why we work hard for you. Our local bankers are ready to jump in and support your next vision or venture, and we have the resources to make it happen. Ready to get down to business? Let's talk. Learn more at iFinancial.com Independent Financial, banking for business, banking for life. Member FDIC. What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as vast as our nation, where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission? At U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders, from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities, CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe. Join U.S. Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself. Learn more at cbp.gov/careers. All right, so, Eric Spolstra, we're going to post this on our YouTube channel. Make sure you sub to five reasons, sports YouTube channel, got over 26,000 subscribers there. We appreciate you guys. And I asked Eric today about managing a star as he ages, and I did bring up Dwayne, you know, in his experience doing that. And Eric gave a two and a half minute answer on this, which again, I always appreciate him being thoughtful. And I will say this about Eric today, Alex, before we get into the specifics, I think more relaxed than we've seen him in a little while, a little bit more open. I'm not calling it relief, because he's certainly not relieved that they're done. He kept talking about this. He doesn't know what to do with himself. He was joking about how last year he had like three days to look at the draft before they had interrupted AKA has, and this year he's going to be completely annoying. And he knows people are going to be telling him to keep away, because he's got all this time, obviously before the Olympics start, and he doesn't really know what to do with himself. He's a junkie about this kind of stuff, and he's obviously going to dive into it. But I thought he was, I don't know, very comfortable in his own skin, but uncomfortable about what happened this season. That's kind of what it felt like to me. And the answer on Jimmy, let's start there, and then we're going to get into his comments about Tyler, his comments about clutch situations, his comments specifically I want to get to with you about the offense, and also about load management, in quotes. But his comment about Jimmy today, and again, I recommend people checking on the YouTube channel, he talked about this being their sixth season together. And how it's different then, that he remembered his first meeting with Jimmy, and that your relationship matures, and that he considers it a privilege and an honor to be with someone that long. And he did talk about it a bit in a Dwayne context, and about how they grew together. And look, I can speak to that first hand, I mean, there were definitely, I mean, there was the early relationship with Spo and Dwayne, where he was a shooting coach, as an assistant, then he was a head coach, and Dwayne, they both talked about it. It was clunky for a couple of years, with Dwayne as the lead star, with kind of an overmatched team, and then Spo having to assume the role of head coach, and instead of being his buddy, he was overseeing everything, but they weren't really partners on stuff. And then during the big three, there were rocky moments between the two of them. When LeBron came in, I mean, Dwayne tried to set the culture, but there's always the famous thing in Indiana, where there's a lot more that I've talked about that happened than people really know about, but, you know, Dwayne not running back on defense and going at Spo on the sideline, and then to see the growth in their relationship from there to then Dwayne's return, and how close they became by the end. So he talked about him and Jimmy, this is what I took away from it, as partners in this. And the one thing I want to say about that is, I've never heard a single bad thing uttered by Jimmy, or anybody close to Jimmy, specifically about Spo. Now, maybe I'm naive about this, but I kind of feel like Spo is Jimmy's favorite person at the organization. And I don't know that that's changed. And so I don't feel like if there is any tension specifically, it's between Jimmy and Spo. What did you take from Spo's comments on Jimmy today? Kind of like what I was saying before the break, just that it does, you know, like you said, he described him as a partner, and all of it just kind of reiterated and confirmed what I was already thinking that they're going to run this back. And I know that's going to trigger some people. I don't mean the entire roster, you know, I just mean, you know, Jimmy, because that does seem to be something that people are starting to get concerned about with the smoke that's been coming out there recently. So no, I do think they're all, they're both still on the same page. I think Jimmy, this is just, this is a business matter. I don't think it's anything to do with he, I mean, you know, the heat organization specifically. Of course, I'm not the one to be confirming that. It's just from what I can tell from the outside. And, you know, at one point, he also said, Spo did that, you know, he considers himself simpatico with a fan base, simpatico with Jimmy when it comes to kind of believing in the same things and, you know, being all about winning, all of it to me points to Jimmy's going to be back and maybe something, you know, part of what's been going out is part of, you know, the way that we get there, right, since the offseason just started, this is just the beginning of this saga. And maybe there will be some drama to it. Who knows how the heat feel when it comes to extending him? Me personally, I feel at this point, it's either you pay him and you extend him, given that extra year on top of the, you know, the race for the year he, he has already on his contract, right? So you're giving him one extra year and it's either you pay him that or you trade him. I don't think there's any point of haggling him on the number. There is this is in 2010 when, you know, you needed LeBron Dwayne and Chris Bosch all to take pay cuts just so that they can fit under a certain, I mean, so you could fit you donna sas on the Mike Miller into the cap. The heater are nowhere near cap room way over the cap, way over the tax. And they're pretty close to the second apron. So to me, there is no point in haggling Jimmy on the number on him taking a pay cut, give the man the, you know, kind of the standard, his, his max for what he can receive, which I believe there's a reason he can only ask for one year because that over 38 rule. And so he's just asking for a year. I think you give it to him and you go all in, which doesn't mean you sacrifice every single piece, every single pick, right? But you either go all in or you commit to a retooling. It doesn't have to be a full tank, but you commit to, you know, going young. And I think they're going to, to stick with Jimmy. And honestly, I think that's what they should do. I don't think they should end this right now. And you know, they should shake things up, but I don't think trading Jimmy right now is the move. Well, the counter that people are going to come up with there and we forget about many episodes to this, but the counter is, well, if you give Jimmy that money, you have less flexibility to do other things to actually go all in with him, but I don't know. No, but right. But I'm with, well, again, well, again, you have less flexibility under the second apron, which is, which is kind of, is there no cross line? But there's no avoiding that. I'm in agreement with them on that. Okay. But what I'm saying is kind of like I'm with you about the idea of he's not going to take less money than that. And there's no point. There's no point in a player that you'll be getting because he takes less money. That's right. And also, I can tell you that the players association would frown upon it. This is this fantasy that fans have about guys taking less, which is basically because Tim Duncan and Dirk Vitzky were comfortable where they were. I mean, those were the two guys. They did, but to a degree, I mean, that was always exaggerated. I mean, look, LeBron ended up getting all the money that he was supposed to get. They got sick LeBron and Dwayne is the one who made some sacrifices. Okay. I don't want to give it to you, D and Mike, because again, they're not stars. Okay. But, but everybody respects what you did, but we're talking about star level players here. Okay. And, you know, as far as Dwayne, yes, he was never the highest paid guy. There were a lot of circumstances that played into that. He did get screwed over by the timing of the white side contract, all kinds of things that I sided with Dwayne on. But I'm just saying like, it's a little bit exaggerated on how much less they all actually ultimately took. They made up for it with some endorsements, some other things that kind of came around and for a reason. And I don't think they did it for a reason, but they also, you know, Bosch and LeBron also one of those six year deals, which they both ended up opting out of after four and LeBron left and Bosch ended up getting even more money. So, and that forced the heat to give up first round picks that if they'd had those first round picks, they probably would able to supplement that team for longer. And part of this is the rules changed because Gilbert changed the rules on him and the NBA changed the rules on him. But again, the idea that guys take less money is just, it's antiquated. They're not, he's not going to take less. So I'm, and you cannot have him in a situation because of his past and his reputation and his general demeanor. You cannot have him in a situation where he's unhappy about his contract. That is a mess. And so I am, I think even the threat of that is concerning enough that I'm with you. It's either you're paying him and you're going all in with him, which I have some reservations about given his decline. There is a legitimate statistical decline. We've talked about it given his availability issues. But if you're doing it, you're doing it, okay? And if you're not doing it, you should trade him somewhere else and give him an opportunity to win there. And like you said, it's not a rebuild. You're not, they don't even have a pick that you're after this. It's not a rebuild. It's, it's your, you're, you're kind of reframing it, maybe taking a small step back around BAM. Yowvitch Hakez, whatever you probably get for hero and whatever you get for, for Jimmy, that's kind of what you're doing. Restocking draft assets, probably. Right. Restocking draft assets to then move for other stars, which is, is another option. And it doesn't have to be, well, you can go, right, you can draft, but I think more likely you're going after players in their mid to late 20s and you kind of go that way. But again, it's one of the other. I'm with you. Like it cannot be, we're just going to hold on to him and not extend him. This is going to be a complete mess. And if that's the case, and I think anybody reasonable knows that, but I do think the point on is, as we pivot back to Spose, I got the sense today, like it's very much in Spose head, we're moving forward. Like, I know he's not the one signing the checks, but it like him talking about that. And I love the answer he gave to me because I think it is revealing in the sense of, you know, he wants an opportunity to be with someone that he has this relationship because I think he believes he can reach Jimmy. I think that's a big part of this again, because they've been together so long. And until I hear somebody credible, tell me that Jimmy has an issue with Spose, I'm not going to believe it. That's the, I have heard the opposite for five years now. So I just, I just, I, I've heard that Jimmy would run through a wall for Spose and for Pat. And there's great respect for Andy too. So I don't think it's that. I think it's, I think there are other things that have gone on here that have become Jimmy has idiosyncrasies that I think have been frustrating and it only sort of works when he plays. If he plays and he's playing at a high level, you look past it. This year, his play was, he didn't play enough and his play was choppy. It's just the way it is. And we've talked about the rim metrics and other things like that. There is signs of a decline, which is natural for a guy who's going to be almost 35 years old and has that kind of, that kind of wear on his tires. Okay, let's get to, to number two here, because we pretty much devoted the whole episode to Jimmy so far. Number two I wanted to get to is the load management thing. I guess that does play into Jimmy. For somebody who says we have enough all the time, Spose was very open to the questioning today on it and very reasonable, I thought. He wasn't, he wasn't as, we have enough, like right before a game. He says they're not a load management team. I can tell you that for an office, people have told me the same thing. We are not a load management team. They talk about the Spurs kind of bringing this in, but that's not their way. And he kind of more talked about circumstances and luck and all this other kind of stuff. Only two guys played at least 70 games this year, Bam and Hakka's and Hakka's were down as a result of it. Duncan obviously had sort of a strange injury. He was on his way to over 70 games. What did you take from his answer about that? It seems to me like, he says, we're going to look at everything. We're going to investigate everything. We're going to try to figure it out. I don't know if that means changes on the training staff. I don't know if that means changes in practice approach. I don't know if that's trying to get guys back on the floor, but he, he did say one of the thing before I let you, he said this is a league thing. He did say that a couple times and so to me it's that, you know what that makes me think? It's what I've said, it's agents, it's other, it's just, it's the modern player to a certain degree that wants to be a hundred percent before he plays. And I don't know that that was the case 10 years ago or certainly not in the Timmy Zoo days under Pat where they all played 79 to 82 games. What did you take of his answer about load management? It was, yeah, it was interesting and that was just kind of how the whole media session started with Spaux and hearing him talk about, you know, he just went out and, and directly called it off based, think that, you know, they don't take the regular season seriously. And I appreciate that and I agree with that. I don't think Spaux is the one that people are thinking, is it taking the regular season seriously? So, you know, I didn't think that part was hard for him to say, right? Like they, of course they take the season seriously, that doesn't, you know, both things can be true. They can take the season seriously. And also it does feel like over the years, correct me if I'm wrong, the NBA regular season has just been de-emphasized as time has gone by and it's more, and it doesn't mean you're not trying. It doesn't mean you don't, it's a joke. It just means that, you know, you're kind of inverting the priority because it's like, it's all about getting to the playoffs, especially with a team like the Heat where there's older guys. You know, like you said, it's guys and their agents and them being like, okay, we're not going to play when we're 100%. And I'm sure at other times it's the Heat saying, okay, we're not going to rush you back. Like they, and I think the best way to put it is just how he said it is, you know, we're not a load management team. He says that he could see why people would point to that because of the misgames. But ultimately, there are things that happened and sometimes you can't control that. And I think that was what I took away most of it. It's like, no, it's not that we didn't try. You know, we had all these starting lineups because things happened. You know, we had, there was bad injury luck. Like Jimmy had his things, Tyler had his thing, you know, bamice, little portion there. But Terry's mysterious thing, Duncan's thing. My goodness, man, like everybody is not including other role players as well. And it's just constantly in and out in and out. There's no consistency offensively or defensively. We're going to get into the other stuff that, you know, that he mentioned about that. But yeah, like that's, that's where we're at. Well, I'm glad we were going to get into the offense part next because this plays into that. But it's interesting that three guys who did talk today, two of them were directly asked about trying to push through too much, which are Caleb and Duncan. And, you know, Duncan said he didn't regret trying to come back, but we all know that he was nowhere near 100%. And Caleb, you know, tried to keep playing and it's been said to me by some of the organization that the two guys that will try to push through anything are Caleb and bam. And it was bam, they had to shut down with a hip if you remember on that New York trip because he wanted to keep playing. So there is a little bit of a balance here between guys who want to play and the organization has to tell them no and others who seem to not want to play until they're 100%. And I don't know that there's total alignment among everybody about it. I think some of it is generational about how much a guy should be pushed to play or should be encouraged to play when they're playing with something that is bothering them. But it's clear that the players need to be more available. And the one thing I will say about Spous saying we do value the regular season is that there is a perception also that Spous holds certain things back for the playoffs. And that's even been sort of thrown out there by players on podcasts and other places. And so I think all of this is coming together where I do think the organization needs to look at this and say, all right, how important is seating? Maybe it's not important to be the one seed, like it was in the big three era, and they got to the finals twice not being the one seed. But it's certainly more important than it's looked the past couple of years. I mean, there is a difference between gunning for the one seed or can we try to get home court in the first round, even if we suck it home? Can we get out of the play-in, which by the way, we did say he said our goal is not to fight for the player every year. Right. That was actually his best quote. I don't know why I didn't tweet that one out. It's not the fight. I mean, it is. He talked about seating more this year than he ever has. And yet they still didn't get themselves out of a play-in situation. All right. Let's pivot to the next one here, the offense. The players are going to get more into the players with Brady, but they talked about the lack of continuity being a problem on offense. BAM even talked about when I asked him what, when I wasn't me, that wasn't my question. It was someone I asked. I think it was Coop. What is biggest improvement needed to be this offseason? And he said it was being able to direct players more on offense, being more vocal. But they talked about continuity. That is about player lack of availability. They all kind of got into this a little bit today. And again, someone who wasn't available a lot, two of them who weren't available a lot, Tyler and Jimmy were not there to speak. They weren't available today, but they weren't available on the court that much this season. But Spose said we had three different offenses this year, and then that was repeated by Duncan. What do you think he meant by that? Yeah, that was honestly the one that stood out the most to me, other than him just kind of again, fighting really hard back at the idea that they don't take the season seriously. Because that's something that he doesn't really do when it comes to, like he mentioned the exact quote, "We weren't able to find consistency with our three different offensive philosophies." I have not heard him say that before all season long, and you will, right? Like he's not going to give away any sort of outline of what he's doing. I'm even surprised he said it today, even though the season is over, because I'm sure like, you know, they're probably going to go back to some of this stuff. I'm sure they're not going to throw out every single portion of their offense, right? So I was definitely surprised to hear that. I guess if we're trying to figure out what those three offensive philosophies are, it's tough to put it into three, and you're right, Duncan did say that they play different styles throughout the season, and I think a lot of it, of course, has to do with guys being in and out. But if you remember earlier in the season, and also early last season, too, in the first half of both of these past two seasons, there's more bam, ISO, more bam, post-up. I don't know if that identity of their offense is one of them where, you know, because that's not really something that they went to with bam for those first few years of this Jimmy Arrow. Like this, you know, the past couple of seasons where they've relied on him more to score and getting that midi and getting, you know, developing all the different counters. So I think that really slow paced, almost more like kind of modern traditional, right? It's like a modernized version of the old traditional game where like you're still getting these post-ups, but you're doing it face up as well. It's like this hybrid four or five game. I think that's one of it. I think the other one is probably, you know, the one where they play faster pace and move the ball more. And it's the one that they go to when Jimmy's not on the floor, right? It's what I see when he's gone and it's, you know, more dunking and bam, two-man game, a lot more movement. The ball is popping and we're all like, oh, you know, they can win regular season games and play offense without Jimmy. And I think that's another one. And my other guess would be the Jimmy offense. It's kind of Tyler too, not that they play the same way, of course, but, you know, back to the slow paced stuff, but it's in a different way. Like the Jimmy offense, we already know the bread and butter to get him the guard's green to get, you know, a guard switched on to him or any sort of action like that where it's him involved, barreling to the rim. And the Tyler thing has always has usually been slow paced throughout this era, but I think even that's changed, you know, over the past season or so. I think he's, you know, he fits into the faster version. And of course, we've seen his game with bam, but it is kind of three different styles. And I do think it's part of what we were talking about throughout the season. It's like earlier in the season with the Tyler and bam game, right? And a lot of people wanted dunking to start so they could have a higher, a better ball movement offense and things like that. Like, I think them having these different identities on the offensive side of the floor and how often guys are coming in and out, messed with that consistency for sure. And, you know, as was mentioned today, the most starting lineups or franchise history, like that's not easy. That's not easy to play through, especially like when Spill says you're just kind of switching up the way you play, depending on who's in or out, not to mention everything they already do and switch up and mix up on the defensive end. So yeah, that was definitely interesting to hear. And I honestly, after that, I wanted to ask Spill, I wanted to ask Spill a follow up about that, but he actually went on for the longest out of everybody I spoke today. Yeah, it seemed like he wanted to get some things off his chest in a more relaxed setting this time. You know, the single biggest thing like I think he said was we don't intend to be a play in team and that I just think the level of disappointment for where they were this season are. We went down a little bit longer on this one than we intended. And actually, as we're recording this, I need to do a playback episode. Make sure you guys are all checking out playback playback dot TV backslash five RSN playback dot TV backslash five RSN. We will be following other NBA games on there, but also continuing to do episodes on the heat. We're going to be introducing some Panther episodes there and some Dolphin episodes as we go forward. I'll just close with this before I've got to run over to that playback here, which was I thought that he spoke for Tyler Hero a little bit today in Tyler's absence with the one thing he said, and we'll get into this more in another episode, but he basically said that this was a time where Tyler had to deal with a team scheming for him. And I think that that's not an excuse, but it is an explanation and that's something as we talk about Tyler more going forward. And as Pat Riley inevitably speaks, which I would expect that to be soon, I'm sure he's going to be asked a lot of questions about that and people will read in to what he says there. But Eric Smolter at least sort of outlined what I think the Heat's case is going to be either for keeping Tyler or to another team for trying to acquire Tyler, which is, look, he hadn't experienced this before. He was in the playoffs and he was the focus of the game plan. And I think that that is a little bit different than where he's been before. I want to thank our sponsors, c-armstepping.com and also Tub Culture. Use that code 5FIVE, get your Mother's Day stuff now, get in there, Brady and I will be back to go through what BAM, Hakkez, Caleb, Haywood, some of the other players said at the last one. And of course Duncan, who we've touched on a little bit today. I'm good one everybody. Thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the Fivers and Sports Network. After all, someone needs to listen to my dad. Want to get smarter about investing? Then tune in to the Capital Ideas podcast from Capital Group, Home of American Funds Distributors, Inc. One of the world's leading asset managers. Work for portfolio managers with decades of experience by listening to the Capital Ideas podcast today. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers, where you'll find over 30,000 mouth-watering choices that excite your inner foodie. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week. You can also save up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with fuel points. More savings and more inspiring flavors make shopping king supers worth it every time. King supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as vast as our nation, where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission? At U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders, from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities, CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe, join U.S. Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself. Learn more at cbp.gov/careers. At Independent Financial, we know you work hard for your business. That's why we work hard for you. Our local bankers are ready to jump in and support your next vision or venture, and we have the resources to make it happen. Ready to get down to business? Let's talk. Learn more at iFinancial.com Independent Financial, banking for business, banking for life. Member FDIC. (upbeat music)
