Erik Spoelstra isn't inclined to speak out much on league matters.

But, over recent seasons, he has become one of the stronger voices in terms of coaches' job security. So even if it's somewhat treacherous water for him to comment about anything related to LeBron James, it wasn't a shock that Spoelstra said something about David Blatt's firing.

"It's very disturbing for the coaching profession," Spoelstra said. "Look, you have to be able to go through collective adversity and accountability together, for you to make strides, and have breakthroughs in this league. It's really a shame. He had an incredible run, a great record. It just doesn't make any sense to any of the coaches around the league, and hopefully it doesn't make sense to a lot of people in our league."

That wasn't as strident as Dallas' Rick Carlisle -- who is president of the NBA coaches' association and called the firing "embarrassing."

Or Sacramento's George Karl, who was actually critical of Blatt while an ESPN analyst, who called the firing a "tragedy."

Or Spoelstra's close friend, Detroit's Stan Van Gundy, who called the Cleveland front office "crazy," and wondered whether Blatt neglected to buy Cavaliers GM David Griffin a Christmas present.

But for Spoelstra, especially under the odd circumstances, it qualified as stepping out.