MIAMI – Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelestra said he believes that his team can compete for a championship.
That was the message that Spoelstra delivered to the media Monday during an end-of-season news conference.
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Spoelstra, who just completed his ninth season at the helm of the Heat, said he thinks the 2016-17 team was constructed to compete with any team in the NBA, despite falling short of the playoffs.
The Heat finished 41-41 and missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, but Spoelstra said his players were "hard-wired" to believe that they could compete for a championship until the very end.
Spoelstra praised Miami fans for embracing the Heat, who got off to an 11-30 start and rallied for a 30-11 record in the remaining 41 games as they battled to finish .500. Along the way, the Heat won 13 consecutive games -- the longest winning streak in the NBA -- between Jan. 17 and Feb. 10.
Spoelstra said Dion Waiters would have been ready to play had the Heat made the playoffs. Waiters missed the final 13 games with an ankle injury.
In other injury news, Spoelstra said there are no lingering injuries and that everyone should be ready to go in time for summer workouts.
Spoelstra was also complimentary of Hassan Whiteside, saying he believes that the third-year center has the chance to be one of the greats in the NBA.
"Why put a ceiling on him?" Spoelstra said.
One of the most disappointing moments of the season, Spoelstra said, was not seeing guard Josh Richardson and forward Justice Winslow healthy. Richardson partially tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and was sidelined for several weeks, while Winslow was lost for the season in January after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.