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Apr 20, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra speaks to his team during a timeout in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images David Richard-Imagn Images

What will be Erik Spoelstra's new Media Day message?

Originally posted on Miami Heat on SI | By Brady Hawk | Last updated Sep 28, 2025 7:00 PM ET

When it comes to Miami Heat media day this year compared to recent opening interviews, there's no doubt that things will be a lot calmer. No national headlines or wondering if Jimmy Butler will show up bald.

Just local headlines of Tyler Herro's injury, who will step up offensively, and the growth of Miami's young players.

But while many things will be a bit different, there is one thing that'll remain the same: Erik Spoelstra sending a message. In past seasons he's always had a clear topic point to get across, such as being "one of those teams," the East not being won on paper, or just trying to sell everybody on Butler's engagement when that was in question.

Erik Spoelstra came into media day with a message

This Heat team is “one of those teams”

Says the championship isn’t won on paper and with predictions

He thinks if they’re one of those teams in the playoff mix…yeah, they like their chances
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) October 2, 2023

So the question for this season is what will that updated message be? This is the first time he will be giving an opening press conference without Butler as the lead man on his roster since 2018. With that said, Coach Spoelstra is not one to put any specific pressure on certain players.

I wouldn't expect an exact projection of what Kel'el Ware or Nikola Jovic should look like by day one, but there should be a point made that these are core pieces of not only this team's future, but the present as well.

The next thinking point is a message about where the Heat may project in the East. Do you know what Spoelstra dislikes more than people projecting his team lower than they should be in the conference? (He definitely doesn't care about that.) People straight up disregarding the competition and calling the East "wide open."

He doesn't see it like that. The only way to sustain your competitive edge is making sure to prop up the opposition as much as possible to be prepared to take them down. So in all honesty, a potential statement about the evened out competition in this league with no bad teams may be a talking point.

Erik Spoelstra when asked about the East getting stronger. Talks about embracing the competition and how the Celtics took it last season.

“You sound scared. You have to be about it…” #HeatCulture pic.twitter.com/kJTfvgwepE
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) September 30, 2024

The final elephant in the room to address will be the offense. Things obviously become a whole lot more complicated with Herro being out for the first month or so of the season, but the overall announcement may consist of instilling confidence in the fan base that they've been at the offensive drawing board prior to training camp.

Predicting the next move of Erik Spoelstra is never easy, so we'll just have to find out early Monday morning at Kaseya center.

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This article first appeared on Miami Heat on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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