Dwyane Wade all praises for 'active Hall of Famer' Erik Spoelstra

MANILA, Philippines -- “Not afraid of the work.” 

Erik Spoelstra’s incredible work ethic is what makes him an “active Hall of Fame coach right now”, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade said. 

The Filipino-Am coach is widely regarded as one of the best head coaches in the NBA right now, having won two titles with Wade in Miami. 

Wade, during his visit in the country as part of his Tadhana: Make Your Own Way press tour, said that Spoelstra “keeps the main thing the main thing.” 

“He's a teacher. He's an educator. I always say, one thing I knew by going into a game with Spo as my coach is we were going to be prepared. You're going to be prepared for everything that that team is going to offer. Now you have to do the job, but he's going to have you prepared,” he said.

Wade said that he saw Spoelstra first as the video coordinator of the team, and eventually, became his “workout buddy”. 

This also gave the 55-year-old coach the edge, because the videos usually give the answers they need. 

A few years later, Spoelstra would call the shots for the team. 

“He's one of the greatest coaches. He didn’t start off as one of the greatest coaches. He worked and built himself to become one of the greatest coaches in this game. So once again, it's something that he wanted for himself. It's not to get coach of the year honors. It's to really put his imprint and his impact on players' lives,” he said. 

“He did it by the work that he was willing to put in… When you see somebody work that hard and he's not working that hard for his own success, he's working hard for your success, you would do anything for a guy like that.” 

Spoelstra was hired as the team’s video coordinator in 1995, and he was an assistant coach until 2008. 

That year, he was named as the team’s head coach and in 2012 and 2013, he won back-to-back titles with the Big Three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh in the forefront of the team.

“He put the work in and he was never afraid of the work. Some people are afraid of the work. I think that's the thing that we don't talk about. People are afraid of the work and when you get someone like Spo and other guys who are not afraid of the work, then you get to see obviously greatness coming from that,” he said. 

“That's why he's a Hall of Fame coach, active Hall of Fame coach right now because he was not afraid of the work and he’s still not afraid of the work even though he’s a multi-time champion.”