The Miami Heat's coach Erik Spoelstra needs to find a way to get production out of his role players for the Heat to have a chance at winning the 2012 NBA Finals

As much as fans, commentators, scouts and TV personalities want to talk about LeBron James vs Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade vs Russell Westbrook and Chris Bosh vs Serge Ibaka, the 2012 NBA Finals start and end with the battle of coaching staffs headed by the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Scott Brooks.

The Heat’s Spoelstra is beginning something young coaches usually only dream of — coaching in the NBA Finals for a second consecutive year.

Spoelstra, at 41-years-old, is one of the five youngest coaches in the league and has posted an impressive 194-118 record in his four seasons as the Miami Heat’s head coach. Four playoff appearances including two NBA Finals in four seasons isn’t bad at all. Of course we know who is on the team — three of the NBA’s top 20 players: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh — but it still takes coaching talent to reach one of the biggest stages in all of sports in consecutive seasons.

Miami’s game planner won a ring with the Heat in 2006 as an assistant coach behind now team president Pat Riley. Now it is time for him to prove he can bring a championship banner to the American Airlines Arena as the main man, not an aide.

One can only think Scott Brooks, Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City are going to ready for the battle.

On the other side of the finals sideline is 46-year-old Scott Brooks. He is one of the leagues ten youngest coaches and has been praised for his tutelage over a very young Oklahoma City Thunder team. Brooks won an NBA ring with the Houston Rockets in 1994 as a player, but hasn’t been to the finals as a coach, assistant or head. In his four seasons with OKC he has posted a 174-125 record and has been to the playoffs the last three years.

While Brooks has been praised, it is a well known fact Spoelstra has been questioned of his knowledge of the game and his ability, or lack there of, to take his superstars to the promised land and walk away victorious.

If Spoelstra wants his job and the satisfaction of silencing the haters who think he can’t win a ring even if he has three extremely talented players on his squad, he has to win this time around.

Last season was different. Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and Shawn Marion — all aging veterans who are in the twilight of their career or approaching it quickly — were hungry and wanted to prove to the world they were championship material. Timely shooting, bad decisions by Miami, a struggling James, a high impact low post defense anchored by Chandler and a well passing offense made their dreams come true.

This time around, the Heat are the veterans and the guys who should be hungry after losing in six games to the Dallas Mavericks.

It’s Spoelstra’s job to fuel the fire in these guys and make them play their A-game. I’m not talking about James, Wade and Bosh. It is routine for them to bring it, except for the above mentioned 2011 finals performance from James. I think the fourth quarter jokes about James are going to be replaced with other critiques of how he only scored 45 points instead of 63 like Michael Jordan.

This will be needed from Mario Chalmers against the Thunder.

James will always be crucified for everything he does whether it is positive or negative.

Back to my point, Spoelstra needs to install a short fuse under the guys who have to be productive in order to secure victories: Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller and Shane Battier. I call this group, the four best players on the Heat not named James, Wade or Bosh.

Let’s face it, the Heat’s big three are not going to win a seven game series with a deep, complete team such as the Thunder. They have scorers at every position, and more importantly, superb defenders.

Thabo Sefolosha is going to give fits to Wade and Miller when he is on them. Ibaka is a force in the paint such as Chandler was last year for the Mavericks, except the Thunder’s guy is more athletic and gets to spaces faster to block or disrupt shots.

Instead of one man isolation plays for his superstars, Spoelstra has to draw up plays where the Heat actually  have to pass the ball and find open looks. OKC has a strong defensive unit and can shut down the best of the best, ask the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Brooks is a technician when it comes to defensive sets and will make necessary changes whether they look good on paper or not.

In this case, Miami needs to come with more than just the three main options. Miller, broken knees and all, almost has to knock down some clutch three-pointers. We all know he can because he did it against the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Mike Miller has obviously been in pain throughout the playoffs, but his versatility on both ends of the floors is a key.

Every other ECF game for Haslem had either solid or ineffective numbers in the box score. In Game 1, he didn’t score a single bucket and had few rebounds. Game 2, he went for 13 and was impressive on the glass. The Heat are going against the most athletic defense and the fastest team they’ve played in the postseason.

Spoelstra has to change match ups to help his team out such as putting Wade on Westbrook because Chalmers can not guard the Thunder’s point guard. Also, start Bosh as the center to take Kendrick Perkins out of the middle and put James at the four to battle with Ibaka. With Perkins out of the lane, the Heat have more mobility around the basket and Ibaka will be confused because James can pass the ball with the best of them. If Ibaka is on him, he is not around the guy who receives James’ pass.

The Heat have the talent to win, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they have a chance to win the championship.

The questions rely on whether or not Spoelstra will draw up a winning game plan and if he can motivate his role players enough to make a difference. James and Wades’ shoulders can only carry so much wait for so long.

Can Spoelstra balance the weight?

In very non-surprising news, the Heat have three of the top twenty-five players. An argument could be made for Chris Bosh being ranked higher then number twenty-four, but I am not here to make that today. Instead today, I am going to take a look at ESPN’s top 10 rankings of the players, as well as give you analysis of what I think of the list.

Here’s a look at the top 10 with links to their ESPN page dedicated to the rankings:

10. Blake Griffin- 8.78

9. Deron Williams- 8.98

8. Derrick Rose- 9.27

7. Kobe Bryant- 9.40

6. Kevin Durant- 9.62

5. Dirk Nowitzki- 9.67

4. Chris Paul- 9.68

3. Dwyane Wade- 9.72

2. Dwight Howard- 9.82

1. LeBron James- 9.91

Let’s take a look at the list going from number 10 to number 1. First off, ESPN has way overrated Blake Griffin. I like the kid and think he has a very bright future in the NBA, but I don’t agree with him being a top-10 player after just one NBA season. Maybe after another season like last, I’d gladly put him up there. Instead, I’d give another big man some love at this spot, Pau Gasol. Sorry Knicks fans, love Melo, but he isn’t a top-10 player in my view.

Next two players are Deron Williams and Derrick Rose. Williams was ranked #9 and Rose #8. In my honest opinion, Williams is the better overall point guard. Rose is the better scorer of the two. I’d give Williams the edge over Rose.

Moving down to #7, this is a joke right? I know Kobe isn’t exactly the player he used to be, but I don’t see him as the seventh best player in the NBA. He’s still a top-5 talent in the NBA still if not just because he can still be very dominant on both ends of the court. Plus, I don’t think there’s anyone else in the NBA that I’d rather give a game-winning shot to. I’m moving Kobe up three spots to number 4.

I believe that ESPN got the order right for the next three on my list, but they were just misplaced, being put ahead of Kobe. I believe that Kevin Durant is the #7 player in the league. This may seem very low to many people, but I have a hard time placing him above Dirk, who I have as #6, after his incredible playoffs this past season. Durant is probably the best pure scorer in the NBA though. Dirk just seems more polished to me at this point.

At #5, I have Chris Paul. Apologizes to Deron Williams and Derrick Rose, but Paul remains to me the standard in point guard play right now. Last postseason, he had a pretty dominant run against the Lakers. It’s a shame he lost, otherwise he would have gotten more public love. I expect a big season from him in 2012, if there is a season.

I had already moved Kobe up three spots to #4, so next on to the top three. ESPN did a really good job here. This is exactly how I would rank the top three in the NBA right now.

Dwyane Wade is the third best player in the NBA and the second best player on the Heat. But it should not be forgotten, he is still the man on the Miami Heat. In the closing minutes, his teammates look at him as the closer. Wade had a dominant finals appearance last season in a losing effort, but I still expect him to be better in 2012.

Number two for me has to be the most dominant big man in the NBA right now. That’s Dwight Howard. The man was a monster on both ends of the court last season. Howard seems to be getting better and better on the offensive side of the ball every season. He’s already a dominant beast on the defensive side. If I were to start a franchise today, I’d take Superman over anyone.

That of course is no spite to Lebron James, who is the best player in the NBA, and I’m not even sure it’s close. Lebron James is so physically gifted, it’s not even funny. The man is so well built, yet can run as smooth as a point guard. He posterizes his opponents and leaves them scratching their heads. I don’t care that he hasn’t won an NBA championship yet, he still has lots of time to do that. And oh, did I mention that I am not a Lebron James fan at all. I don’t like him much but there’s no denying he’s the best player in the NBA.

So here’s a quick recap of what I believe the top-10 players in the NBA right now are:

10.Pau Gasol

9.Derrick Rose

8.Deron Williams

7.Kevin Durant

6.Dirk Nowitzk

5.Chris Paul

4.Kobe Bryant

3.Dwyane Wade

2.Dwight Howard

1.Lebron James

And for some humor, here’s a look at the top-5 lists that Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless actually believe in:

Skip Bayless:
1. Wade
2. KD
3. Kobe
4. Dirk
5. Melo

Stephen A Smith:
1. Wade
2. Kobe
3. Howard
4. Dirk
5. KD