What does LeBron James' arrival in Miami mean for head coach Erik Spoelstra?

After all the drama and theatrics, LeBron James finally decided that his days as a Cleveland Cavalier is history when he announced in not so cavalier fashion that he was leaving for the beautiful scenery of South Beach, Florida and join his buddies Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as a member of the Miami Heat.

With the move, the Heat instantly become favorites to win it all next season, and with that comes the burden of pressure from all the lofty expectations fans now have on this new look Heat 'dream team'.

There will definitely be a lot of pressure on the shoulders of James, Bosh and Wade to perform, but none of that compares to the kind of pressure Filipino-American Heat coach Erik Spoelstra now has on his.

One of the first questions James was asked after announcing his move to join the Heat is the status of his new head coach. James responded to ESPN when asked whether Heat GM Pat Riley indicated to him that the four-time NBA champion coach would return to the Heat bench by saying,

"No. Erik Spoelstra will be the coach. And Pat said that. And Erik is a great young coach. He has a great mentor in Pat. 

If you need something to bounce off of, he has a great person to go through, because Pat has been through everything, been through the highest level to the lowest level. He knows everything about it. But I respect Erik and I respect the coaching staff. I respect Coach Spoelstra and everything he's going to do to try to put us in the right position to win it all." 

It's fair to speculate the possibility of Riley taking over the Heat coaching job from Spoelstra especially since he's pulled a similar move in the past when he supplanted former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy after putting together a championship caliber team then leading it to the 2006 NBA championship. And if you want to talk about winners, unless your name is Phil Jackson or Greg Popovich, there isn't a more decorated coach out there right now than Riley.

Spoelstra on the other hand has proven that he is a very good coach. In two seasons as the Heat coach, the Illinois born son of Elisa Celino of San Pablo, Laguna and former NBA exec Jon Spoelstra, has amassed a 90-47 regular season record but has yet to win a playoff series in two tries. 

My feeling is that Spoelstra gets to drive this new Lamborghini of a squad for a year. But if the highlight reel dunks and plays fall short of the ultimate prize which is an NBA championship, don't be surprised if good old Pat steps back into the picture. Spoelstra will have his hands full and his shoulders mighty heavy this upcoming season. It's his job to lose as all coaches know, being the scapegoat is something 99% of coaches have to go through. 

On a different note, I find it fascinating that a Filipino is actually coaching a squad headlined by three superstars in the caliber of James, Wade and Bosh. I may not be a big fan of the move because of my old school mentality that real leaders should labor on to achieve their goals instead of taking the easier way out by joining a stronger squad, but hey, to each his own right? All I got to say though is, it must suck to be a Cavs fan tonight. Call the police! The suspect just murdered his witnesses. - DG