Two long-time assistant coaches for the Heat will no longer be regular contributors to the day-to-day operations of the team.
Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo and coaching legend Ron Rothstein have been reassigned by the Heat, the Herald confirmed on Monday. McAdoo and Rothstein were both originally hired as assistants by Heat president Pat Riley. Yahoo Sports first reported the story.
With McAdoo and Rothstein likely off the bench, assistants David Fizdale, Dan Craig and Juwan Howard are expected to assume more prominent roles. Fizdale is considered one of the top assistants in the NBA and a likely future head coach in the league, Craig has a growing reputation as a talented skills coach and video researcher and Howard joined the Heat’s staff on a full-time basis last year.
This latest shake-up of the Heat’s bench is an extension of the team’s busy offseason. Riley and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra did well to salvage the team’s roster after LeBron James left the team for the Cleveland Cavaliers. When preseason training begins later this month, the camp will have many familiar faces, but a notably different collective personality.
Spoelstra, who began his career as a video coordinator for the Heat, inherited assistants McAdoo and Rothstein from Riley's coaching staff. With the exception of Howard, all of Spoelstra's assistants now started their careers with the team in the video room.
It’s unclear what roles McAdoo, 62, and Rothstein, 71, will have with the team. McAdoo was an assistant with the team for 19 seasons after a Hall of Fame career that began at the University of North Carolina and then spanned the NBA and Europe. Rothstein was equally beloved by longtime Heat fans. He was the Heat’s first head coach before his latest stint with the team.
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