CLEVELAND — As a coach, little matters as much as efficiency.
And yet with his team the latest in the crosshairs of the NBA’s COVID-testing policy, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wonders if the league hasn’t tilted the process too far on the side of caution.
Appreciating the pandemic still in play, Spoelstra offered his comments in the wake of Heat forward Caleb Martin feeling healthy, testing positive, and being placed in the league’s health-and-safety protocols. With that positive result, the Heat now enter a more stringent testing regimen.
“I think we all have to figure this out right now,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat on the road for their next four games, starting Monday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “Are players missing games because they’re symptomatic? Or are they asymptomatic? Has everybody gotten their shots and their boosters? Why would they be held out extensively longer than if they have the flu?
“I think there’s a contradiction there and if you just go hunting for, and add more testing and try to find things, you probably will.”
Spoelstra said he empathized with Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, who had seven players in protocols for Saturday night’s loss to the Heat at FTX Arena, despite players’ asymptomatic status.
Spoelstra said there was no consternation about playing Saturday night’s game.
“I did not have any trepidation,” he said. “We went through the testing. We’ve all been vaccinated. We’ve all gotten our boosters. All the examples of people that have gotten it, the symptoms seem to be extremely minor.
“And so we’ll just have to see where this goes from here. This is different than where it was last year. And I think we’ll all just have to work together and adapt and figure out what the best course of action will be going forward.”
Martin was coming off a career-high 28-point performance in Wednesday night’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Under current NBA guidelines, Martin either must quarantine for 10 days or produce consecutive negative coronavirus tests at least 24 hours apart. Such a process likely would sideline him for at least five games.
“He was frustrated,” Spoelstra said. “Come on, the guy came off the best game of his career as a professional athlete. He was preparing for [Saturday’s] game to play. And he felt like he could play. I understand his frustration. I feel for him. These are extraordinary times. They’re not like normal times from two years ago.
“But having asymptomatic players sitting out. I don’t know if that’s the answer or for losing extended periods of time, two weeks or 10 days, without any course of recourse to that.”
A year ago, players not only were placed in protocols after a positive test, but also were isolated due to contact tracing. With the vaccination process, the NBA no longer mandates contact tracing.
“I understand both sides of it,” Spoelstra said. “It is tough. There’s not like easy decisions by the league, by us, by the Players’ Association. These are tough decisions. We just have to continue to try to be vigilant as much as possible, be responsible, do what we can do and then see if this can take a different course than necessarily last year.”
Heat players were tested both before and after Saturday’s game. The team on Sunday did not report any additional players entering protocol.
“It’s wild,” center Dewayne Dedmon said. “It was kind of hectic before the game. Everybody had to get tested, make sure we were good. But I mean, with COVID, it just comes with the territory. It kind of reminds me a little bit of last year, seeing testing before and after the game.”
In the wake of Martin’s positive test, Heat guard Kyle Lowry went through pregame warmups wearing his mask.
“I’m trying to protect myself. I’m trying to protect my teammates,” he said. “I’m just trying to protect everyone I’m going to be around. Now we’re going to be testing more. So it’s just protection and trying to keep everyone around me safe, and just be safe myself.
“It’s kind of one of those things you take precautions as much as you possibly can, because you realize it can happen right away. And it can be a scare that you don’t want to have.”
