The Miami HEAT and Sioux Falls SKYFORCE coaching staff

JLop · Post #1 » by **JLop** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 5:39 pm

In this section we will be discussing all issues related to Erik Spoelstra (Heat's head coach), Phil Weber (head coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce) and all other members of the coaching staff. As well, we'll be making suggestions to improve the players performance. Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson are two of their latest projects. At the end of the day feel free to comment any possible way to maximize the talent on the Miami Heat. Personally, I think that Phil Weber has been doing a wonderful job. To start things up, I would like to wish Miami HEAT assistant coach Juwan Howard a happy birthday.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/564076136121237504[/tweet]

The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports), and consists of at least one assistant coach (usually two or more assistants), together with other members such as doctors, massage therapists, trainers, and equipment managers,fitness trainer, nutritionist, biomechanist, physiotherapist, e.t.c.

Miami Heat

Head coach:

Erik Spoelstra

Assistant coach(es):

Dan Craig
Keith Smart
Juwan Howard
David Fizdale (Associate head coach)
Chris Quinn (Player development)

Athletic trainer(s):

Jay Sabol

Strength and conditioning coach(es):

Bill Foran

Sioux Falls Skyforce

Head coach:

Phil Weber

Assistant coach(es):

Corey Belser
Chris Quinn

Athletic trainer(s):

Dustin Schramm

eddieheatfan · Post #2 » by **eddieheatfan** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 6:06 pm

JLop wrote:In this section we will be discussing all issues related to Erik Spoelstra (Heat's head coach), Phil Weber (head coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce) and all other members of the coaching staff. As well, we'll be making suggestions to improve the players performance. Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson are two of their latest projects. At the end of the day feel free to comment any possible way to maximize the talent on the Miami Heat. Personally, I think that Phil Weber has been doing a wonderful job. To start things up, I would like to wish Miami HEAT assistant coach Juwan Howard a happy birthday.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/564076136121237504[/tweet]

The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports), and consists of at least one assistant coach (usually two or more assistants), together with other members such as doctors, massage therapists, trainers, and equipment managers,fitness trainer, nutritionist, biomechanist, physiotherapist, e.t.c.

Miami Heat

Head coach:

Erik Spoelstra

Assistant coach(es):

Dan Craig
Keith Smart
Juwan Howard
David Fizdale (Associate head coach)
Chris Quinn (Player development)

Athletic trainer(s):

Jay Sabol

Strength and conditioning coach(es):

Bill Foran

Sioux Falls Skyforce

Head coach:

Phil Weber

Assistant coach(es):

Corey Belser
Chris Quinn

Athletic trainer(s):

Dustin Schramm

firespo.com

number1joker · Post #3 » by **number1joker** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 6:30 pm

i remember chris quinn. he was basically terrible. And he's in charge of player development????? ho boy........

Post #4 » by **MettaWorldPanda** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 7:32 pm

Dan Craig and Keith Smart are the worst. Please release them along with Cole

dancing2thabeet · Post #5 » by **dancing2thabeet** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 8:47 pm

It wouldn't hurt replacing Keith Smart with a offense specialist, to be honest.

RexBoyWonder · Post #6 » by **RexBoyWonder** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 8:56 pm

It's not really possible to critique the Skyforce coaching staff, since their real goal is not to win games or even make the players look good or have nice team chemistry.

Their only objective since we bought them is simple - Build players the Heat can use. If it means losing games but overplaying a prospect in a off night - they do it. If it means putting a player in areas he's less comfortable in order to improve a particular skillset - you do it.

I think they did a nice job with TJ asking him to play aggressive and they're building Birch and Jones to be future roation bigs focusing on the basics. So far so good.

Rock Hardy · Post #7 » by **Rock Hardy** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 9:06 pm

I'd like to see TJ running the point. He's been featured at SG so far. I think the first game he got extended minutes in, he got to run the point for a quarter, and did a great job. This was before teams got him scouted though. I don't think they respected his speed and quickness, and he was able to consistently get to his left. I'd like to see how he does if given more opportunities like that.

I also think he needs to be passed to more often as well. Only at the end of last game were guys feeding him the ball actively. In previous games, he's been open for jumpshots and not been given the ball. He's played well in his short stint. Hopefully the staff convinces Riley to keep him.

goodboy · Post #8 » by **goodboy** » Sat Feb 7, 2015 9:12 pm

I wish we can swap our D-league coaches with the Heat's coaching staff.

JLop · Post #9 » by **JLop** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 5:52 pm

Since this topic is all about the team's coaching staff and how to maximize the talent on the Miami Heat (improvements on the players performance) I would like to point out how Hassan Whiteside's emergence has affected Chris Bosh.

How Hassan Whiteside's emergence has affected Chris Bosh

Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Many have yet to really consider this when examining Bosh's entire NBA career, but he's hardly ever played with an even above-average center.

The emergence of center Hassan Whiteside has been well documented at this point. There are many pieces here at Hot Hot Hoops and elsewhere where you can catch up on his rather unprecedented story from NBA flameout to what now amounts to a lottery talent (heck, maybe number one overall pick talent) for the Miami Heat.

What's become a little lost in the shuffle, but at the same time lamented in recent losses to Minnesota and Dallas the play of Chris Bosh. On the surface, Bosh has had some shooting struggles and seems less engaged in general. Much of this is simply explained by the scores of double teams Bosh has had to deal with due to the absence of Dwyane Wade, but what many fail to consider is in both Toronto and Miami, Bosh has been, by far, the best big man on the floor for his team and for the first time in his career, he's flanked by a center who can truly affect a game on both ends of the floor.

For part one of this article, we're gonna go down memory lane and look at Chris Bosh's career and the teammates of his that would man the middle for him.

During his rookie year, the 19-year old Bosh was the designated center on the roster. They traded former All-Star Antonio Davis 15 games into the 2003 season and were left with a motley crew of Corey Blount, Lonny Baxter, and Robert Archibald. The next season, Bosh became the full-time power forward and was flanked by the duo of Rafael Araujo & Loren Woods. Bosh did play the nominal center spot in lineups featuring a then-unknown Matt Bonner, who had a nice rookie year. The 2005-2006 season was Chris Bosh's first of 10 All-Star selections, but his big men in arms were the exact same players putting up the exact same middling statistics.

The next season was the first time Chris Bosh had some semblance of reinforcements with Rasho Nesterovic, the underrated Jorge Garbajosa, and number one overall draft pick Andrea Bargnani giving Toronto some real size and skill. Still, all three of these big men were more perimeter oriented & Chris Bosh, in turn, averaged a career high 10.7 rebounds per game. Toronto won the Atlantic Division with a 47-35 record, more due to Bosh's improved play coupled with the acquisitions of TJ Ford & Anthony Parker than his help at center.

Toronto fell off a bit the next year at 41-41, but still made the playoffs. Bargnani started most of that season, but didn't make the leap fans were hoping for. Nesterovic was still there to make a midrange jumper, but Bosh was again shouldering the load and ended up the player who guarded Dwight Howard in crunch time during their first round series against the Orlando Magic. Bosh averaged 24.0 points, 9.0 rebounds & 3.6 assists, but lost in five games.

It took five seasons, but Toronto finally went and acquired a legitimate big man in Jermaine O'Neal to pair with Bosh. O'Neal and his massive contract were acquired in exchange for TJ Ford and spare parts (interestingly a 1st rounder that became Roy Hibbert as well). Sadly, the experiment was deemed a failure by GM Bryan Colangelo 55 games into the year and O'Neal, as many of you will remember, was sent here to Miami in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. Toronto limped to a 33-49 record despite another 20-10 season out of Bosh. He had just 41 games of Jermaine O'Neal and 27 games of Marion (who went on to join the Mavericks that offseason). Once O'Neal left, Bargnani regained his spot (Toronto also tried three big man lineups with Bosh, Bargnani and O'Neal together early in the season) and put up improved numbers (15.4 points, 5.3 rebounds), but still had a negative net rating (105 O, 110 D = -5) and 14.6 PER (15.0 is average).

The 2009-2010 season would feature a full-time pairing of Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani again had a negative net rating despite his counting stats and Bosh would have his best statistical season at 24.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Toronto would miss the playoffs at 40-42.

We're all aware of the next phase of Chris Bosh's career. I won't go on a season-by-season recap of each big man Miami had as the names speak for themselves: Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Erick Dampier, Jamaal Magloire, Ronny Turiaf, Dexter Pittman, Eddy Curry, Josh Harrellson and Greg Oden.

It's interesting to remember Miami's smallball dominance was birthed by accident, as Chris Bosh's injury in the Eastern Conference Semifinals forced Shane Battier to start and when Bosh returned, he was the center with a newfound three point stroke.

The only true gem among the bargain bin of centers at the time was Chris "Birdman" Andersen, who signed early in 2013. However he and Bosh didn't play much together until the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers and their big frontline, with Andersen usually backing up Bosh and giving Miami a different look on offense.

This past season, Bosh was again designated the center and was to be paired with Josh McRoberts, but nagging injuries before a season-ending meniscus injury stopped that in its path. His replacement, Shawne Williams, was a sweet shooter early on, but Miami's defense badly lagged with this permutation. The team eventually opted to go the traditional route, with Bosh at power forward, and Chris Andersen at center. Eventually Hassan Whiteside fell onto the team's lap and made the philosophy of a traditional starting five more tenable.

If you weren't interested in the history lesson on the mid-2000s Toronto Raptors, just know of all the big men I listed only Rasho Nesterovic, Jermaine O'Neal, and Andrea Bargnani posted a PER above 15.0 in a season. In Miami, only Chris Andersen. PER is far from a definitive rating to define a player's worth (it's generally much kinder to ball-dominating guards than big men), but I would challenge anyone to find a metric that support the aforementioned players.

The point is simply Chris Bosh has very little experience playing with a true big man who can do things in the post and in the paint and this adjustment may take time for him.

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Bosh is still adjusting to being the second biggest man on the floor for Miami. A deeper look at his numbers.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, let's step back and look at Bosh's numbers this season. 21.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. 46.2% from the field and 36.7% from three. While the field goal percentage seems quite low by Bosh's standards, when you remove the career high 3.8 attempts from three, his two point percentage of 49% is just in line with many of his all-star Toronto Raptors seasons.

So where does Whiteside fit into the picture? It's a little tricky to decide which point to start with, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll start in 2015, which started with a game against the Houston Rockets on January 3rd.

Numbers down slightly across the board, but nothing too glaring either. With that being the case, let's dig deeper.

Chris Bosh Shot Chart: Entire Season vs. 2015

We can see Bosh is getting fewer shots at the rim, while getting slightly more in the restricted area and midrange while the three point attempts have been stagnant. From every spot except the corner three and the rim, he's shot a tad worse. Still, the distribution isn't as drastic as one would assume.

The next element we'll utilize is player tracking.

Bosh Player Tracking: Entire 2014-2015 Season

So with this shoddily cobbled together set of screenshots, we can at least highlight a few things. About 40% of Bosh's shots are "catch-and-shoot," he takes nearly two-thirds of his shots without a dribble, he takes over half of his shots in the middle of the shot clock (15-7 seconds), and a third of his shots are open while another third are "tight." No matter how he is covered, his FG% is generally pretty consistent.

Bosh Player Tracking: January 1st-February 8th 2015

Jumping to the Whiteside era, again there's nothing that quite jumps out at you. Bosh is shooting a bit more of his attempts while covered "tightly," and taking fewer shots from less than 10 feet, but it's not a striking contrast.

So why is Bosh seemingly playing worse with Whiteside? It likely has less to do with Hassan and more to do with Dwyane Wade's absence and lack of creation and spacing that has plagued Miami lately. Still, Bosh is rebounding less and shooting from the perimeter just a bit more that it's worth keeping an eye out on. Bosh has a usage percentage of 28.9% and a rebound percentage of 25.5% on the year. From January on however, his usage percentage has risen to 29.4%, but his rebound percentage has plummeted to 19.0%. The rebound drop can be explained by Hassan grabbing Spaldings like they were gold coins.

It really is quite shocking that a power forward as talented as Chris Bosh has never had a good center to play with until now. In theory, Bosh being relieved of responsibilities defending the rim and guarding players larger than him should ease the wear-and-tear as he transitions into his 30s, but Bosh came into the year with the team built around him and now is faced with the reality that Whiteside is numerically Miami's most important individual player (still hard to type that but the on/off numbers speak for themselves). A better gauge of everyone's adjustment will occur once Dwyane Wade returns. As Grantland's Zach Lowe notes:

"Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Hassan Whiteside have played only 80 minutes together. The Heat have blitzed opponents by nearly 21 points per 100 possessions in those 80 minutes"

Miami is clinging on to an 8th seed they briefly lost before some favorable losses last night, but if their health breaks right, they are poised to have a big March, a month that has salvaged some notable Heat seasons in the past.

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Spoiler:

Heat_Fan_87 · Post #10 » by **Heat_Fan_87** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 5:57 pm

More spam?

JLop · Post #11 » by **JLop** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 6:00 pm

Heat_Fan_87 wrote:More spam?

Where is the spam? It's this how you make a first post on this topic?

RexBoyWonder · Post #12 » by **RexBoyWonder** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 6:17 pm

Our 3 best players only played 80 minutes together, that's the biggest takeaway.

delanka · Post #13 » by **delanka** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 9:26 pm

Heat_Fan_87 wrote:More spam?

He is posting interesting and Heat relevant news articles, so please give him some respect!

@JLop: good job! ... Keep up the good work!

Post #14 » by **heat4life** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 9:35 pm

number1joker wrote:i remember chris quinn. he was basically terrible. And he's in charge of player development????? ho boy........

So by your logic, Michael Jordan would be the greatest coach ever? Mike Krzyzewski was a baller back in his days, no? :noway:

HEYMANQueHoraEs · Post #15 » by **HEYMANQueHoraEs** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 10:24 pm

heat4life wrote:
number1joker wrote:i remember chris quinn. he was basically terrible. And he's in charge of player development????? ho boy........

So by your logic, Michael Jordan would be the greatest coach ever? Mike Krzyzewski was a baller back in his days, no?

It is kind of ironic though that a former pg is in charge of player development, yet we have the worst pg production in the league. Probably more so to do with the talent he is working with but its still pretty weird. Not gonna doubt his ability yet, because he seems like a pretty smart dude. Kinda has to be, going to Notre Dame and surviving in the league with his athletic ability.

Post #16 » by **heat4life** » Mon Feb 9, 2015 10:41 pm

TooManyClocks wrote:
heat4life wrote:
number1joker wrote:i remember chris quinn. he was basically terrible. And he's in charge of player development????? ho boy........

So by your logic, Michael Jordan would be the greatest coach ever? Mike Krzyzewski was a baller back in his days, no?

It is kind of ironic though that a former pg is in charge of player development, yet we have the worst pg production in the league. Probably more so to do with the talent he is working with but its still pretty weird. Not gonna doubt his ability yet, because he seems like a pretty smart dude. Kinda has to be, going to Notre Dame and surviving in the league with his athletic ability.

True. Bottom line is Quinn could be a crappy coach for all we know. I seriously doubt it since the franchise decided to give him a shot. I just question the logic that "coach x was a horrible player therefore he has no business coaching". Most consider Stan VanGundy and Jeff VanGundy great coaches. How many leagues they dominated as players?

number1joker · Post #17 » by **number1joker** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:07 am

heat4life wrote:
TooManyClocks wrote:
heat4life wrote:
So by your logic, Michael Jordan would be the greatest coach ever? Mike Krzyzewski was a baller back in his days, no?

It is kind of ironic though that a former pg is in charge of player development, yet we have the worst pg production in the league. Probably more so to do with the talent he is working with but its still pretty weird. Not gonna doubt his ability yet, because he seems like a pretty smart dude. Kinda has to be, going to Notre Dame and surviving in the league with his athletic ability.

True. Bottom line is Quinn could be a crappy coach for all we know. I seriously doubt it since the franchise decided to give him a shot. I just question the logic that "coach x was a horrible player therefore he has no business coaching". Most consider Stan VanGundy and Jeff VanGundy great coaches. How many leagues they dominated as players?

lol i was kidding

phil jackson was a TERRIBLE player but his coaching.......

Post #18 » by **IggieCC** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 4:11 am

dahell.. i'm so confused lol

eh.... sign lamar odom? no.. oh fire spo! trade cole. i dunno.

contract · Post #19 » by **contract** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:23 pm

The point is simply Chris Bosh has very little experience playing with a true big man who can do things in the post and in the paint and this adjustment may take time for him.

The excuses never end for this guy. :nonono: