The second LeBron James made it a national spectacle on his decision to go to the Miami Heat, we immediately knew that the media's always judging eye would be placed squarely in South Beach.
Sure enough, it was. The Heat couldn't make a move without ESPN playing the role of TMZ and having to make a comment on what immature thing LeBron James did here or what Chris Bosh did wrong there, it made for sensationalist journalism that subjected the team to constant speculation.
If the team was losing games, that meant someone was getting traded or the coach was to blame.
The Heat couldn't do anything right because that's what they were expected to do prior to the start of their tenure together.
They were expected and anticipated to do so much that anything less than a championship or a winning streak exceeding 10 games was considered a failure. Obviously, the media went into an uproar over the Heat coming two games short of winning a title.
Forget the fact that they played without a consistent player off the bench all year, three players should be able to get the job done.
In the crossfire of the media keeping a watchful eye on LeBron James, Chris Bosh and coach Erik Spoelstra also received a great deal of unwarranted attention from anyone who called themselves an NBA analyst.
Bosh was subjected to possibly even more criticism than James because of the fact that he was a finesse power forward that tended to play off of the traditional idea of being a large body in the middle.
Besides Bosh, coach Erik Spoelstra also received a great deal of attention. The young coach was dealt quite the hand in receiving LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade and he managed to hold his own after a rough 9-8 start that eventually transpired into a lengthy win streak that would include only one loss in the entire month of December.
He was criticized from every angle about every aspect of his game with his style of offense being in specific.
The fact that Spoelstra didn't have a true offensive system to work off of and rather allowed the team to work with what they had was heavily criticized as many debated as to whether 'Spo' had it in him to take a hold of these three egos and corral them into three teammates.
What many of his critics don't realize is that Spoelstra actually has one of the greatest defensive minds in the game when it comes to coaching and it shows when he instills players like Joel Anthony to play alongside the likes of Wade, James and Bosh.
The team continually has faith in a player like Joel because of his defensive prowess and his ability to defend opposing power forwards that play inside and outside.
His decision to place LeBron James on Derrick Rose? Genius. The Chicago Bulls were completely thrown for a loop off of that and they had no answer or response on how to score in the fourth quarter when Rose was being defended by a player that had a size advantage, while also possessing the quickness to keep up and hold his own with a point guard as speedy as Rose.
An even greater part of his game is his ability to make quick adjustments that benefit the future of his team and that includes his decision to instill James to defend Rose.
The opposition never saw it coming following their Game 1 dominance and it resulted in the team losing four consecutive games because their main scoring threat was completely held in check.
This is one of the youngest coaches in the league making a bold decision to place a small forward on a point guard. Watching it pay off only reaffirms the theory that Spoelstra actually knows what he's doing and is capable of leading a team with this caliber of talent to the NBA Finals and possibly further.
If Pat Riley didn't want Spoelstra in there, he would have given him the Stan Van Gundy treatment and tell him to resign for 'family issues'.
The last time I checked, a 58-24 record, a division title and a second seed in the Eastern Conference usually meant you were doing something right.
Sure enough, it almost resulted in the Heat winning a title if not for the inability of LeBron James to utilize mental toughness to his advantage as well as the team having two key players on the bench that couldn't contribute in the slightest.
With Erik Spoelstra signing a contract extension, it only means that the future is bright for the Heat as they have a young coach to guide a team that's composed of a young core.
A defensive-minded coach leading a defensive-minded team may be one of the greatest advantages that the Heat hold over each and every one of the foes that they take on throughout Spo's tenure with the team.
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