NBA-MIAMI HEAT: Where Spoelstra succeeded, Blatt and Lue failed

Did you know that the now Los Angeles Lakers’ spiritual leader LeBron James, right in his very first year in Miami, wanted the Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra fired? And that had Miami Heat president Pat Riley followed James wish, the Philippines’ could not have prided itself the honor of having a first Filipino-American head coach to win an NBA championship? Or Asia for that matter, of having a first Asian-American to earn that distinction?

Prior to the 2010–11 season, you see, Riley assembled a superstar trio of free agents – James and Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade in the Heat lineup with Spoelstra, whose mother is a Filipina, as head coach. Spo, by that time and up to this present time, has been the Heat’s head coach since April 2008 as Riley’s handpicked successor.

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Expectations of the team’s success soared significantly after the free agent acquisitions of James and Bosh in the summer of 2010. Despite this attempt to strengthen the team, the Heat started off the 2010–11 season with an unexpected 9–8 record, resulting in some players, heeded by James, “frustrated” with Spoelstra, and questioned if he should remain their head coach.

In the Heat’s elimination round loss to the Dallas Mavericks that brought their win-loss card to 9-8, LeBron was caught by video that went viral bumping into Spoelstra on his way to the bench during a timeout. These two issues put Spoelstra on the coaching hot seat.

Miami bounced-back, though, and made the playoffs while posting the second best record in the Eastern Conference. Spoelstra led the Heat to an appearance in the 2011 NBA Finals, but lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games. After Spoelstra failed to win a championship during his first season as head coach of the “big three,” Riley was asked if he would consider returning to coach the team

Riley scoffed off the idea in support of Spoelstra as the head coach going forward. Why, the Fil-Am mentor even received a $6 million contract extension in December 2011, which lasted through the 2013–14 NBA season.

The Heat made four consecutive finals appearances including trips to the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 NBA Finals, winning the championship in both 2012 and 2013, thus, gifting James his first two NBA championships.

James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Heat in 2010 free agency, before returning to Cleveland in free agency in 2014, where he earned his third title. What happened to Spoelstra at Miami, happened too, to David Blatt and Tyrone Lue at Cleveland.

The only difference is LeBron succeeded in having both Blatt and Lue fired. Now it is present Lakers coach Luke Walton’s turn to block LeBron’s fourth attempt to get rid of his coach.

Spoelstra was born November 1, 1970 of Filipino descent from his mother’s side, he is the first Asian-American head coach in the history of the four major North American sports leagues.

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In naming Spoelstra as head coach kin 2008, Riley said: “This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative, and bring fresh new ideas. That’s what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He’s a man that was born to coach.”

Spoelstra became the first ever Fil-Am NBA head coach. He led the Heat to the NBA Playoffs in his first year as head coach, despite the team’s league worst record of 15-67 the previous season. The Heat, however, were defeated in seven games by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. Spoelstra’s team once again reached the postseason the following season, but again lost in the first round to the Boston Celtics in five games.

During the 2012–13 season, Spoelstra was selected as head coach of the 2013 Eastern Conference All-Stars in the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, with the Heat holding the best record in the Eastern Conference at the time of selection.

Spo is the only son and the younger of two children of Jon Spoelstra and Elisa Celino. Jon is Dutch-Irish-American and a former NBA executive of the Buffalo Braves, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, and New Jersey Nets. Elisa, is a native of San Pablo City in Laguna. He is also the grandson of Watson Spoelstra, a long-time sportswriter for The Detroit News

On July 22, 2016, Spoelstra married former Miami Heat cheerleader, Nikki Sapp.

BY EDDIE G. ALINEA

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