Erik Spoelstra discussed a lot of things in his press conference this afternoon, as they get ready for the start of the season.

One of the first things that stood out was when he mentioned the veterans and youth heading into the season.

He started off talking about the veterans may need a bit more rest due to the quick turnaround, but the young guys are definitely ready. He said jokingly, “Our guys like Tyler, Duncan, K-Nunn were ready three months ago.”

He then threw Bam Adebayo into that discussion, mentioning that people need to remember how young Bam still is.

Bam Adebayo’s name seems to come up quite a lot in these zoom calls, but Coach Spoelstra elaborated on his extension a bit. He said, “I’m really happy for Bam and his family. He’s worked for this in the right way. He’s all about Heat culture and winning. In many ways, he’s like Jimmy…As I said a few years ago, my nickname for him is no ceiling.”

Coaches always seem to gas up their young players, especially ones who are the centerpiece of the team. But when Erik Spoelstra or anyone on the Heat team talk about Bam, it’s truly real and authentic. And that speaks volume.

This season will clearly be a unique one, which means a lot of things are up in the air. That includes Jimmy Butler’s exact minutes, since Spoelstra said “He’s not going to be playing the kind of minutes regardless, like he was in his early twenties.” Especially with the quick off-season, this will be the case, but ultimately it is Jimmy’s decision. And he’s going to push to be on the floor as much as possible.

And speaking of things being up in the air, the rotation is definitely an uncertainty right now. I’ve been saying that training camp will hold high value for the players to crack the rotation, but it’ll also be decision time for Erik Spoelstra and his coaching staff.

He said, “It can be different a week from now, two weeks from now, two months from now.” And Miami has the luxury of looking at it that way because of their depth.

One of Miami’s interesting depth pieces is rookie Precious Achiuwa. When Coach Spo was asked about him, he said “His athleticism, quickness, fluidity, ability to play multiple positions on defense all jumped off the screem.” He also mentioned that he texted Mike Miller about him, who was on Memphis’ coaching staff, and he told him Precious would translate perfectly.

Erik finished off the media session saying that the first team practice will be on Sunday, and it seems as if he’s ready to get the season going. He said, “Different group, same goal.”

That has been his motto entering every season.

Many coaches can say it. But only few truly mean it.