Former Miami Heat Player Ronny Turiaf Thinks They Can Still Contend For Title Because Of Erik Spoelstra

Turiaf says Spoelstra will have the team ready in time for the postseason

Ronny Turiaf only needed a 13-game stint in Miami to learn the value of "Heat Culture."

Turiaf briefly played for the Miami Heat in 2011-12, winning a championship during the LeBron James years. The experience was enough for him to say this year's team has every opportunity to compete for a championship this season. 

The main reason? Erik Spoelstra 

When I played for Miami, coach Spoelstra used the sentence, “weather the storm,"'Turiaf said in an interview with BasketballInsiders.com. "Miami, they call it the Miami Heat DNA, they never get really too high or too low. They focus on working, and just working, and working, and working, and working. I know exactly what’s going on in the locker room, they are just focusing on just doing whatever they can do on a daily basis and that’s really what they are focusing on. It doesn’t surprise me that they are turning things around."

Turiaf said the Heat have the pieces to contend. They just have to get healthy and remain that way during the playoffs. 

 "I think the Miami Heat can contend for the NBA title," Turiaf said. "They have the pieces around and we saw that they contended two years ago during the bubble. So, it’s just the matter of picking up the right steam around the right time. I think when it’s playoff time, when you have players like Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam [Adebayo], you have the pieces around that you feel confident in a seven game series, where you’re going to have to beat them four times. That’s not an easy task." 

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