Why did Spoestra take so much heat early on his career?

[Braincells]

I think he's one of the reasons an undermanned Miami team is beasting now. Making a case for COTY after Brad Stevens IMO. Gotta love Josh Richardson and Justice Winslow too.

[Papaya Petee]

:roll: you have probably watched a combined 10 Heat games in your life making statements like this. You literally have no idea what you're saying.

Spoelstra is a horrible coach. You switch Stevens and Spoelstra and Miami wins 60 games and Boston wins 25-30.

[Real14]

Miami heat is actually more talented than tha lucky celtics right now. Spolestra is not a good coach he's just lucky to have a talented roster. Brad Stevens on tha other hand is a good coach.

[Braincells]

:roll: you have probably watched a combined 10 Heat games in your life making statements like this. You literally have no idea what you're saying.

Spoelstra is a horrible coach. You switch Stevens and Spoelstra and Miami wins 60 games and Boston wins 25-30.

Fair enough. What makes him so bad though?

[BarberSchool]

Look at him bro.
Seriously, look at him.
He can barely hold Pat Riley's weed.

[Fire Colangelo]

I'd say Spo is average at best....

The Heat are talented as hell, they have a top 5-10 player at 3 different positions in Wade, Bosh and Whiteside + decent players in Dragic and Deng who were all star level players just a few seasons ago.

Now they've added Joe Johnson and he's JUST started to make it work in the past 10-12 games or so....

It took him a whole season to get Dragic and Deng going.


You look at Pop and LMA for example, it took him less than half a season to incorporate LMA into the system. Dude's been averaging 21/9/2 since AS break on career low minutes while being as efficient as ever.

Give Spo 10 more seasons and he'll be REALLY good, but as of now he's an average coach in the league.... not in the same sentence as guys like Pop, Carlisle, Stevens, or Kerr.

I'm not exactly sold on Stevens either until he gets to coach a championship caliber team.

[Mass Debator]

Spo experiments/plays around too much. He doesn't look at squad and be like "I know what to do" in the bigger picture and be successful within a couple of months. It's like he's rotating a puzzle piece for days or weeks at a time for a 10 piece puzzle game. He's not a good coach...at least not yet even after 2 rings. To me, the age/respect/Filipino factor does slow his progress in some ways.

It seems like they're peaking at the right time, but I can't give him much credit as Deng was pretty much forced to the PF spot with Bosh being injured, JJ was recruited by mainly Wade, and their backup point guards got injured to unleash Richardson.

I don't doubt that he could be a great great assistant right now for any team. Seems intelligent and like a great person too. He needs to be more influential to become a good coach and that could and probably will come with age.

[HiphopRelated]

He's "horrible" because people expected him to have a good offense with NO shooting.

He gets shooting and the team takes off. Yeah, blame the coach.

He's also lost Bosh midseason two years in a row

[WayOfWade]

I don't think he did early on, he's getting more now than ever. Early on he had the excuse as a new coach; in the Big 3 era he got a little criticism, but mainly received praise I'd say for the most part. Only now that he has no superstars on his roster are we seeing his flaws, mainly with substitutions within the flow of the game. The guy loves set rotations much more than realizing what needs to happen in a game and making the necessary adjustments

[HiphopRelated]

I'd say Spo is average at best....

The Heat are talented as hell, they have a top 5-10 player at 3 different positions in Wade, Bosh and Whiteside + decent players in Dragic and Deng who were all star level players just a few seasons ago.

Now they've added Joe Johnson and he's JUST started to make it work in the past 10-12 games or so....

It took him a whole season to get Dragic and Deng going.


You look at Pop and LMA for example, it took him less than half a season to incorporate LMA into the system. Dude's been averaging 21/9/2 since AS break on career low minutes while being as efficient as ever.

Give Spo 10 more seasons and he'll be REALLY good, but as of now he's an average coach in the league.... not in the same sentence as guys like Pop, Carlisle, Stevens, or Kerr.

I'm not exactly sold on Stevens either until he gets to coach a championship caliber team.
He's "horrible" because people expected him to have a good offense with NO shooting.

He gets shooting and the team takes off. Yeah, blame the coach.

He's also lost Bosh midseason two years in a row

It took Pop half a season to incorporate LMA and Spo 1 game to incorporate Joe Johnson

Also, guys like Stevens haven't had to deal with one of the biggest things a Champ level coach has to...ego management

[G-train]

Spoelstra is one of the finest coaches in the league.

1. Workaholic so his preparation is second to none.
2. Respected by players
3. Excellent defensive coach
4. Multiple championship winner.
5. Humble and willing to improve
6. Smoothly adjusts players to play their role

that's just off the top of my head.

He can make errors, but every coach does.
There are plenty of other examples in the league of bad coaches.

[G-train]

:roll: you have probably watched a combined 10 Heat games in your life making statements like this. You literally have no idea what you're saying.

Spoelstra is a horrible coach. You switch Stevens and Spoelstra and Miami wins 60 games and Boston wins 25-30.

Garbage.

[G-train]

Talk about short memories... the Heat have been severely undermanned throughout this season, not the right time to negatively judge a coach when he has led them to top 4 of the conference.

[G-train]

Gotta love Josh Richardson and Justice Winslow too.

Also developed Whiteside considerably. And Tyler Johnson.

[Mass Debator]

Also developed Whiteside considerably. And Tyler Johnson.
I forgot about Whiteside's free throws. I think it's been said that Spo played a huge part in that.

If Spo was on a young team, I bet he'd do great and stand out more.

[aj1987]

Talk about short memories... the Heat have been severely undermanned throughout this season, not the right time to negatively judge a coach when he has led them to top 4 of the conference.
Are you serious? Literally the only major piece who missed significant time is Bosh.

Spots rotations are retarded and he experiments too much.

[GrapeApe]

In Spo's first 2 seasons in 2009 and 2010 he was routinely praised as being a great young coach. I think having prime/peak Wade had as much do do with it as anything, but Spo was generally thought to be part of the reason those teams overachieved.

He didn't really start to get criticized until 2011 when the Heat were struggling early in the season. I think he's got some deficiencies but overall he's a solid coach. His rotations, lack if offensive ingenuity, and play calls out of timeouts are my biggest gripe. That and a bit of stubbornness. He's done a nice job this year though and has shown improvements in those areas. I think this season is his best coaching job yet.

[Papaya Petee]

Garbage.
Absolutely not.
The guy has 0 coaching intuition. His lineups are played robotic, versus by feel of the game. Can't even tell you how many times in the past 2 seasons the Heat are doing well until the end of the third, and beginning of the fourth, the teams made big runs and Spo REFUSED to insert Wade until Miami was already down 8-12 and the games were out of reach.

He very rarely rides the hot hand, or keeps a player that doesn't generally get a lot of minutes in the game even if they perform well.
His entire coaching career until 2015 included a prime Wade, prime LeBron or a combination of both which hid his lack of knowledge on the offensive end. Now that he doesn't have that, there is a reason we are on the bottom of the league in terms of scoring.

Miami always had a strong defensive philosophy, even when Pat Riley and SVG coached, so this isn't really Spoelstras doing 100% either.

Not to mention Spo experiments with retarded lineups and rotations, and is stubborn about playing certain players when they shouldn't play, and not playing those who need more playing time.

At best, he's a 4\10 coach who was lucky enough to have a prime Wade and prime LeBron in his first 7 seasons of his coaching career.

[HiphopRelated]

He's stubborn but experiments too much

lol, can't make this shit up

[Fire Colangelo]

He's "horrible" because people expected him to have a good offense with NO shooting.

He gets shooting and the team takes off. Yeah, blame the coach.

He's also lost Bosh midseason two years in a row

It took Pop half a season to incorporate LMA and Spo 1 game to incorporate Joe Johnson

Also, guys like Stevens haven't had to deal with one of the biggest things a Champ level coach has to...ego management

They have good shooters in Deng, Dragic and Bosh...

Are we acting like the Heat were a legit team with Bosh? They weren't, they were below 0.500 last year and 29-25 this year with Bosh.

Yes, let's compare incorporating a 1st/2nd option kind of guy to an offense to a role playe.

Hey, if Spolestra can get a bunch of no ego guys to the playoffs that's great: but unlike Stevens he needs guys with egos (Lebron/Wade) in order to win.... So whose problem is that?

I think he'll end up as a great coach when it's all said and done.... Dudes younger some of the pathetic people that post on this site and has a bright future ahead of him

[Dresta]

They have good shooters in Deng, Dragic and Bosh...

Are we acting like the Heat were a legit team with Bosh? They weren't, they were below 0.500 last year and 29-25 this year with Bosh.

Yes, let's compare incorporating a 1st/2nd option kind of guy to an offense to a role playe.

Hey, if Spolestra can get a bunch of no ego guys to the playoffs that's great: but unlike Stevens he needs guys with egos (Lebron/Wade) in order to win.... So whose problem is that?

I think he'll end up as a great coach when it's all said and done.... Dudes younger some of the pathetic people that post on this site and has a bright future ahead of him


:roll:

[Fire Colangelo]

:roll:

They're not knockdown shooters, but no where near bad

Dragic at one point hit 40% of his 3s in PHX.

[DoctorP]

The criticisms of him are true. He doesnt ride hot hands, can't even recognize them, seemingly. His subs can suck and his in game coaching ability and playcalling decisions can be suspect.

I think he's more of a "watch tape and adjust" guy.

That said, he somehow gets his teams to play hard for him and he seems to be respected by his players and he does transition his rosters well.

I just can't understand why he wanted Wade to shoot that 3 for the game winner.

I just can't understand why he didn't feature Beasley and stunted his confidence and growth.

I don't know why he doesn't play Whiteside more at times.

Spo does weird shit.

--------

The criticism started when we got Beasley and peaked when Bron first got here and resurfaces when the Heat struggle.

I also agree that he experiments too much and to his own detriment.

[GrapeApe]

Let's also not forget that Spo has had to make a big adjustment. For his first 6 years he had at least one top 3 player in the league. This is a guy who started his coaching career with prime Wade, then prime Wade and prime Lebron, then prime Lebron.

Last season was a bit of a throw away due to the injuries, but this season he's started to adapt and make adjustments to a different collection of talent. I do think Bosh's situation forced his hand to some degree, but he deserves some credit for sure. I still think his play calling is sub par and I question the logic behind some of his rotation patterns, but he's shown signs of getting better. He's also done a nice job with Whiteside and Richardson's development.

[livinglegend]

because he sucked and still sucks.

[theaussieguy]

i never understand how coaches can be so shit, like how is it us armchair analysts actually know more than a head coach? I am not doubting you guys, just saying, pathetic in this day and age.

[GrapeApe]

i never understand how coaches can be so shit, like how is it us armchair analysts actually know more than a head coach? I am not doubting you guys, just saying, pathetic in this day and age.

There's no doubt that even the worst NBA coaches have probably forgot more basketball than any of us know. Fans have been criticizing coaches for as long as there have been coaches. That's one of the reason being a head coach (in any sport) is such a stressful job. Everything you do is scrutinized.

[aquaadverse]

Absolutely not.
The guy has 0 coaching intuition. His lineups are played robotic, versus by feel of the game. Can't even tell you how many times in the past 2 seasons the Heat are doing well until the end of the third, and beginning of the fourth, the teams made big runs and Spo REFUSED to insert Wade until Miami was already down 8-12 and the games were out of reach.

He very rarely rides the hot hand, or keeps a player that doesn't generally get a lot of minutes in the game even if they perform well.
His entire coaching career until 2015 included a prime Wade, prime LeBron or a combination of both which hid his lack of knowledge on the offensive end. Now that he doesn't have that, there is a reason we are on the bottom of the league in terms of scoring.

Miami always had a strong defensive philosophy, even when Pat Riley and SVG coached, so this isn't really Spoelstras doing 100% either.

Not to mention Spo experiments with retarded lineups and rotations, and is stubborn about playing certain players when they shouldn't play, and not playing those who need more playing time.

At best, he's a 4\10 coach who was lucky enough to have a prime Wade and prime LeBron in his first 7 seasons of his coaching career.
And Phil Jackson had a prime MJ, Shaq and Kobe to hide his lack of knowledge.

[aj1987]

They're not knockdown shooters, but no where near bad

Dragic at one point hit 40% of his 3s in PHX.
You said they're good shooters. They're not.

[Prime_Shaq]

I think he does okay in analyzing the game, he just makes too much adjustments imo. Sometimes it comes off as he doesn't know how to utilize what he has. His worst attribute I think is he is unable to motivate players. Overall I would say he's below average to an average coach. Not anywhere near Brad Stevens or Terry Stotts.

[keep-itreal]

there's a reason why Lebron wanted Spoestra gone

[aquaadverse]

there's a reason why Lebron wanted Spoestra gone
Yeah. he didn't let him play coach and GM and run the franchise.

[DoctorP]

there's a reason why Lebron wanted Spoestra gone

Oh, for the love of...

[Fire Colangelo]

You said they're good shooters. They're not.

Maybe I should've used decent. But you guys do have on of the best stretch 4s in Bosh.

[aj1987]

Maybe I should've used decent. But you guys do have on of the best stretch 4s in Bosh.
Not anymore. Even when he was healthy, he was shooting ~35% on like 4 tries a game. Miami just didn't have shooters. There's a reason why Miami was among one of the worst 3pt shooting teams in the league.

[PsychoWorm]

Josh Richardson from deep in March (10 Games).

24-36 .667%

Joe Johnson

22-36 .611%

Luol Deng

16-40 .400%