Miami Heat: Why Erik Spoelstra is still one of the top coaches in the NBA

Miami Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra is “just a guy” and barely a top 10 coach. These are completely wrong statements. He is a top 5 coach and here’s why.

During the Miami Heat versus the New Orleans Pelicans summer league game a commentator, Dan Dakich made some controversial statements. Among these statements were the following:

1. He is just a guy

2. Nate McMillian is ahead

3. His success is only due to LeBron James

4. Brad Stevens is better

5. He isn’t a top 10 coach

All five of these statements are blasphemous and any basketball fan, not even a Miami Heat fan will tell you the same thing.

Around the league, Spoelstra is a well-respected coach by the players and by all the other 29 coaches. In the 2016-17 season, the National Basketball Coaches Associations had their first official Coach of the Year award and without surprise, Spoelstra was the co-winner.

The consensus amongst the public is that Spoelstra is a top-five coach in the league but because of the success he had was with the big three, his ability to coach goes under the radar and has since then become underrated. But there are some people who like Spoelstra but don’t think he’s a great coach.

In his 11-year career, Erik Spoelstra has coached the Miami Heat for 886 games and winning 523 giving him a 59 percent winning record. This ranks him second in wins among the current coaches to Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. As for the playoffs, he is ranked 15th all-time in wins and 13th in winning percentage. Not only that, he is a two-time champion with four trips to the NBA Finals.

But it goes much further than that. There are many reasons why he is one of the best coaches right now and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he finally decides to hang up the clipboard.

Let’s start with reason number one, his defensive mentality.

Top defense

There is a reason the Miami Heat have been relatively successful especially in recent years where they lacked a star. Despite being below average on offense for the last couple of years, the Heat were always in the race for the playoffs.

Miami has always been one of the top defensive teams but with Spoelstra, they remained elite. Since the 2009-10 season: the Heat in points allowed ranked second twice (’19, ’10), ranked fourth twice (’12, ’18), ranked fifth four times (’17, ’16, ’14, ’13), and ranked sixth twice (’15, ’11).  As you can see, the team were in the top-five eight times.

Not only do they rank high in points allowed but also in opponent field goal percentage and defensive rating as they ranked top-10 in eight of the seasons in both categories.

The most common argument is how can you not be a top defensive team when you have a big three. Well, over the years, we have witnessed many players who weren’t known for their defensive ability in their career but excelled in Miami.

One of the most reliable statistics that can measure the defensive impact is the Defensive Player Impact Plus-Minus. Let’s have a look at some of the players who despite being a defensive liability, performed well.

In his career, Goran Dragic was always a below-average defender and his DPIPM shows it. Not once in his career has he had a positive impact on defense. Then, his first year in Miami, he jumped from -1.4 to +0.6.

Dion Waiters is another key example. A year before he joined the Heat, he was an abysmal -2.2. Although he wasn’t much of a defender in Miami, he turned that minus into a plus, which is still a massive upside.

However, one of the biggest surprises comes from Chris Bosh and Michael Beasley. Bosh made the biggest jumps out of anyone when joined Miami. Before Miami, he was a plus on defense four times with the highest being at +1.6 and was on the minus three times. In the first year, he was a whopping +3.4. That’s double what LeBron James had. Then, we have Beasley who always been a liability on defense except for his tenure with the Heat.

The sample isn’t small. There are countless players that have improved significantly in Miami and it is fair to say that none of those players are All-NBA defensive caliber players but they play like it in Miami.

You may think how does that translate to results?

Take one the best team in Milwaukee Bucks and the reigning most valuable player in Giannis Antetokounmpo and you will notice they play much worse when playing against the Heat.

Over the last three years, Antetokounmpo has averaged 20 points per game, nine rebounds per game and four rebounds per game. He plays the worst in comparison to any other teams.

This all goes back to the system that Spoelstra follows and is what makes Miami such an elite team on defense.

Egos and superstars

Everyone thinks that the coach’s job is easy if he has talent around him. True, it does make a life a lot easier for the coach but at the same time, it can be a ticking time bomb ready to explode. Having too many superstars can be great if everyone is on the same page. If not, the locker room will be quite entertaining.

When the Miami Heat had formed the famous “big three”, it had three top players in the league joining forces together.

James was coming off his second most valuable player in a row and a tough loss to the Boston Celtics in six games. Dwyane Wade was coming off the best seasons in his career as he made All-NBA first team, All-NBA defensive second team and earned his All-Star MVP. Bosh was coming off yet another All-Star seasons.

Both Wade and James ended the 2010 season as top-five players and having a lot to prove especially due to the outcome in the playoffs.

That is what Spoelstra had to deal with. Yet it worked out. It is true that a lot is due to Wade taking a seat back and letting James take control.

But superstars aren’t the only aspect he had to control. All of the minutes, lineups and rotations are the coaches responsibility. He had multiple pieces such as Ray Allen, Norris Cole, and Shane Battier to integrate into the system.

We just saw how a team with great talent fell apart in only two seasons when their expectations were as contenders.

MIAMI, FL – DECEMBER 28: Rodney McGruder #17 of the Miami Heat is high-fives by Justice Winslow #20 of the Miami Heat against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 28, 2018 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Oscar Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)

Adaptability

"“Charles Darwin said in On the Origin of the Species that it’s not the strongest or most intelligent of the species that survives but the one that’s most adaptable to change.” On the Origin of the Species"

I believe adaptability is a coach’s greatest strength. A coach needs to be able to realize where his weaknesses are and turn them into strengths. If a coach decides to stick to his system regardless of the outcome even when it isn’t working, then that is insanity.

This is what makes Spoelstra one of the smartest coaches. During the summer of 2012, Spoelstra decided to go small and it turned out to best decision during those years. The Miami Heat had zero size on the team, where the tallest player was Eddy Curry at 7-foot but he played limited minutes.

The only way to take advantage of this situation is to change the way Bosh plays. He turned from a typical power forward to a stretch-big. After that change, there was an increase in Bosh’s 3-point attempts, makes and his effective field goal percentage. In one season, Bosh jumped from a 49 percent effective field goal to 54 percent, all because of one change. Not only that but the team as a whole became one of the best 3-point shooting teams.

This led to another change that may have resulted in arguably one of the best seasons a player has ever had. Spoelstra has decided to have James start at the power forward position. Now, we all know what kind of season James had in 2013.

This wasn’t the last time that Spoelstra had to adapt and make a bold decision.

In the 2015 season, the entire Miami team went under reconstruction with James leaving, Bosh health issues rising and Dragic coming in. In the last five years, Miami saw many key changes to the team and even more to come. There were countless trades, acquisitions, and departures that really had shaken the team-up.

Spoelstra was yet again under the scope to see if he would be able to deal with all these changes and still somehow manage to come out on top… And not surprisingly he did. Recently, the type of talent that Spoelstra had to work with wasn’t exactly top-notch, yet still managed to will them into chasing the playoffs.

In the following season, we will again see his coaching ability at it’s finest with the additions of Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Meyers Leonard. As he tries to integrate them into the current system with some of the stars on the team.

Development

Did you know seven of the key contributors were outside of the top 10 when drafted? Let’s dissect that bit further:

• Justise Winslow – 10th pick
• Josh Richardson – 40th pick
• Derrick Jones Jr – Undrafted
• Rodney McGruder – Undrafted
• Hassan Whiteside – 33rd pick
• Tyler Johnson – Undrafted
• Duncan Robinson – Undrafted
• Bam Adebayo – 14th pick

None of those players were necessarily coming into the league with many expectations nor did they come in ready for the NBA. One of the best “projects” that worked extremely well due to Spoelstra’s system is Whiteside.

He was drafted in the second round, didn’t play in Sacramento, out of the league, and played in the G-League. Then, a couple of seasons under Spoelstra and everything changed. He became the league’s top shot-blocker one season, following season, he was the top rebounder. Not to mention this got him a huge paycheck.

The same goes to players like McGruder, Jones, Johnson who were undrafted but after a few years being developed under Spoelstra and they become regular key contributors to the team.

Winslow and Richardson are a different story. Each of these players has had a slow start to their career but now their production has increased tremendously. Winslow developed into the team’s starting point guard and Richardson developed into a top 3-and-D player that was used as the main trade asset.

Seven different players, many different positions but all have one thing in common.

Defense.

With the exception of Johnson and Robinson, all of the other players are average to above-average defenders and that is mainly due to Spoelstra’s defensive mindset.

With the departure of Whiteside and the addition of Herro, Spoelstra’s development will be tested.

Improved players

If you closely look at some of the players that are and have been on the roster, many of those players have been slowly on the decline or simply turned role players into quality starters. Some of the names include:

• Goran Dragic
• Dion Waiters
• James Johnson
• Luol Deng
• Joe Johnson

Four of those players were on the decline and even some were almost out of the league. Take Deng for example, almost entering his 30s and being traded to Cleveland the season prior had found a good place in Miami for two of the next seasons. He was one of the top contributors, especially in the playoffs.

This was the same with Johnson. He was taken in the buyout market after his tenure with the Brooklyn Nets and it was clear at age 34, he wasn’t the same Johnson. It didn’t matter for the Heat as for a limited time Iso-Joe came through when he was needed.

What four of these players have in common is well, they were on the verge off decline but the main positive aspect is the fact that they all increased their effective field goal percentage to a career-high.

That is what Spoelstra’s system does. It can turn any player regardless of their age, stage in their career, role, whatever. He will implement these players and most will be at their best.

This is something to look forward to next season with the addition of Butler and Leonard as they are both veterans in the league and well, Butler is a top 15 player in the league. We are going to see how he can elevate Butler’s game to the highest level.

In conclusion

All of the reasons discussed is why he is still a top coach in the league and should be mentioned in the same conversation as Gregg Popovich and Rick Carlisle. There are still many people who don’t view Spoelstra in the same way as the majority of people.

One of the counter arguments they try to make is the fact he obviously won when he had James and look at what he has done post-LeBron. Both arguments are stupid takes.

First of all, coaches do not play the game. They do not step on the court and have the ball in their hands. It is obvious that they need stars. Phil Jackson, Red, and Popovich are widely known as one of the top coaches in all of basketball. And who did they have? Oh, yes all-time legends. The coaches job is to do the rotations, fit all the pieces, and more.

As for the other argument. It isn’t like the Miami Heat were in the right place when James left.  Not trying to make excuses but here is what exactly happened post-LeBron:

• Wade had injury problems
• Bosh had blood clots that resulted in season and a career-ending injury
• Multiple trades
• Many new players coming in
• Players leaving
• Most of the players were late-round picks or aging

And despite all that, Spoelstra still managed to have an almost a 50 percent record. It isn’t a coaches job to get talent and make trades. A coach will work with what he gets and I can surely say that Eric Spoelstra worked to his best ability with the players he had.