re: 2012 Orlando Magic and Rent-a-Dwight
Spo's problem is that he lets the players treat him any type of way, to an extent that it's obvious to the fans.
He's really not the problem. Last year, LBJ was rude and unprofessional towards Spo, this year, it seems to be Wade.
Spo needs to grow a pair and bench anyone who comes off unprofessional. I see Wade leaving before Spo, but that's just me.
I actually disagree. Speolstra is literally a walking Riley clone, he yells and screams like Riley, he demeans people like Riley. He just looks goofier doing it and doesn't have the hardware to back it up.
The Heat are failing because of the guys on their roster. Riley wanted to re-create the Bulls from the 90's, and he came really damned close. Two core issues are what kept them from winning the title last year and (hopefully) this year as well.
The first is the big-man position and to a lesser extent point guard. Chalmers has shown to be at least serviceable, so PG is less of an issue. Miami's core of big-men is abysmal, as you are seeing right now especially with Bosh injured. While the Bulls did struggle against the best bigs in the game because they too had a weaker-than-normal front-court, they still had a tenacious Rodman who was always up for the moment, and before that they had Horace Grant. The thing about the Bulls is that they played in an era littered with quality and dominant big-men, while Miami is playing in an era where those kind of bigs are few and far between. If they had to go up against the front-courts that the Bulls went through, calling the Heat title contenders would be purely in jest. Luckily for them, that means the first issue is not as big of an issue as it seems on the surface,
The second issue, and the core of their problems, is that they have mis-cast their best players. They built the team like the Bulls at the top around their Michael and Scottie....but they are coaching them like they're Showtime and building the supporting cast like they're Showtime. I don't care how angry, inspiring, or intimidating you are....when everything is on the line the best coaches are the ones who get the hell out of the way. In order to do that and win, you need your Alpha Dog to be the crutch, the leader, the guy who holds the team together and who holds everyone accountable. To this point, LeBron has failed at that. It's not about being afraid to take every single last shot, it's more of his attitude. His cop-out from the pressure is "best basketball play, all the time, can't be faulted or criticized as long as I make the best basketball play". He's so afraid of fucking up that he spends too much energy on built-in excuses to truly succeed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7XCwLHIPLY
This is a piece on Kerr's game-winner in the 97 finals. With LeBron, there's not really a plan. He always will read the defense, make his move, and then base his reaction off of what they decide to do. This gives the defense control in any situation. In Jordan's case, he had a plan. He knew what was going to happen, and he wasn't afraid. Jordan's attitude was basically "Hey, I'm going to this spot. If they double off of you Steve, you're going to get a wide open shot. Get to your spot, and if I pass you the ball you better hit the shot or I will fucking drop 80 on you every day in practice for the rest of your career and then bang your wife, because if you fail, I fail, and I'm Michael fucking Jordan and I don't fail". In LeBron's case, if the defense collapses and he kicks to whichever corner observer is open his thought process is "oh well, I did everything I could do, got a great look, didn't go in. It's not just one play, one moment, it's a process and a way of thinking and carrying yourself as a teammate and as a leader.
Even then, ultimately none of that is as important as anyone wants to really believe. What is the real brain-scratcher is the enigma of LeBron. We have evidence of this guy "going Jordan", and willing his team to victory or near victory throughout the entirety of a series(Detroit 2007, Boston 2008). We also have evidence of him not competing in two of the most important games of his career(Game 5, Boston...Game 5, Dallas). The two players look about the same physically, sound the same, play the same style, but one is an all-time great and another is his positions modern-day Patrick Ewing. There's always been pressure, always been scrutiny, it's not the media or the coach or his supporting cast. It's LeBron James. Three time MVP. Best player in the league. They will go as far as he takes them, every team he is on will go as far as he takes them because that's how good he is. It's all about when he starts holding himself accountable, not for losing, but for WINNING. What is it going to take? Is it ever going to happen? Oddly enough, Wade has everything that I question from LeBron, the problem with Wade is that he's not as good, not as talented as LeBron or Jordan. LeBron can do a lot of impressive things that ultimately mean nothing, because he's always searching for the cop-out in-case things don't go according to plan. When Wade takes over, it looks more like Jordan or like 2007 LeBron than anything LeBron has done in the last two years. When Wade takes over, it energizes everyone else. It makes them feel like they better get stops and it makes them feel like they better hit their shots (Haslem in the fourth-anyone?).
Can Wade turn it on enough at this point? Because the team clearly responds to him. I'm not sure if he can do it enough to finish off Indiana (I think it's going 7...), to take on the Celtics(if they beat Philly), and to wipe out the surging Thunder or the Spurs whose greatness is on full display for the entire world.
Really quickly on the Spurs....WOW. Popovich is the fricken master. Since he has nobody individually talented enough to be his "Jordan" (like Duncan was for so many years) consistently, he's just simply groomed three guys who can take fricken turns(Duncan, Ginnobli, Parker) doing it, he's befriended crazy ass Stephen Jackson who will do anything on the court that Popovich tells him to, he's so good that nobody dare questions him and he's always the smartest guy in the building. It's funny really, LeBron was the scariest as an individual player under a Popovich disciple. LeBron's last "Jordan moments" came before he essentially lost faith in Mike Brown(not entirely unreasonable I guess), but, and maybe to a fault, Mike Brown understood LBJ better than anyone before and after. The only guy I've ever seen understand LeBron more than Mike Brown? Gregg Popovich(when he systematically annihilated LeBron in the 2007 finals). LeBron needs Popovich. Screw the "superteam".
TL;DR: LeBron's been a bitch for 3 years, he's the one to blame for Miami's failure and will be the one to blame if they fail again, LeBron needs Popovich. Erik Spoelstra is a goofy, shorter, less intimidating, brown version of Pat Riley. Jordan held himself and teammates accountable, never tried to pass responsibility or pressure off as non-existent.
