So there is a big chance that Miami will 3peat this year. Do you guys think Spoelstra is actually a decent coach or its all LeBron/Wade/Bosh? Do you guys think McHale would win a championship if he coached the Heat?
good coach. 8/10. he's always been a good defensive coach even before lebron came to miami and is getting better at offense. shown to be able to make some good adjustments when necessary. one of the best at calling plays out of a timeout. struggles getting players motivated at times but then again that's as much as the players fault. no, i don't think mchale would win a championship with the heat. the defense would probably be worse and the offense would probably be isolation heavy which would probably cause the heat to get exposed in later rounds.
He's surely no Popovich, but really no one else is either. He's surely not terrible and not even bad, but I feel that his play-calling did leave a lot to be desired early on. He rode the players' defensive abilities early on and used his scouting's stats to help him early on but seems to have developed according to his players' strengths, often putting them in a position to succeed. It's hard to say with certainty at this point, but I believe that we'll find him decent when these players are gone. I don't think that he'll ever be a championship coach again after this run, but he'll always be decent, I feel.
He's probably a top 5 current coach in the NBA. All time I have no idea but he runs a great defense and he got bosh, wade and Lebron to play within an offensive system.
he's a pretty good coach but also having lebron helps a lot too. but you have to give him credit for beinga bel to manage lebron and wade. a lot of times erik and lbj dont see eye to eye but they still respect each other a lot.
I love Pop and Erik Spoelstra. They are on the top 3 coaches now. Of course with LeBron and the Big 3, his job is much easier. Nevertheless, they have Mike Miller, Shane Battier, Chris Anderson ,Mario Chalmers and others as parts of their core. My bet is that it will be a 3'peater this year!
He isn't bad like Kevin McHale or scot brooks or Mike brown who are just getting by with good players. He isn't a top 5 coach either but he is between 5-15 IMO
Wow I don't agree with you that he is offensively mediocre. He was BAD the first year with the big 3 on offense, but since then I think he has done very well offensively designing schemes that use 3 perimeter players and no post players.
Pops? Yup best in NBA... the best I have seen in 30 years watching the game. Carlisle? Arguable, he did beat Spoelstra once already in the Finals. Thibs? Arguable too.. SVG? Nope, he was ran out of Miami by Riley and when crunch time comes, players don't trust SVG. Rivers? Nope
I am no expert in the nuances of game decisions, but I think the fairest judgement is whether a team plays better than their roster suggests it should. Spoelstra is fine but he has had far and away the best roster in the league the past 4 years. The only season you could argue that his team overachieved was the year before LBJ came, when the Heat went 47-35 with Wade and a bunch of very average players. Then again, it's the East. Thibs, SVG, and Rivers are worth a debate, but the three of them have had multiple successful seasons with highly flawed rosters.
the heat aren't a flawed roster? they don't have a point guard. they don't really have a low post scoring big man. they're probably the smallest team team in the league yet have still have schemed around and beaten teams with way more sized than them. of course they get away with it because the outrageous versatility of lebron james but spoelstra deserves a little credit for being able to put it all together. right after the big 3 got together alot of people said it wouldn't work because lebron and wade both need the ball in their hands to be effective. now they have a fluid offense where both lebron and wade are playing beautifully without the ball. spo deserves a little credit there as well. i don't think he's as great as announcers like jvg try to talk him up to being but e still is a solid head coach imo.
