Credit: USA Today Sports and Instagram
LeBron James and JJ Redick have released yet another episode of their viral podcast, Mind the Game. In this episode, James reflected on how then-Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra turned around the team’s offensive prowess after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. “Spo [Erik Spoelstra] was the reason why we were a better team,” James revealed. The 4x NBA champion also added how the Heat squad went down to Oregon in the summer to learn spread offense from football coach Chip Kelly.
At that time, Kelly was coaching the football team at the University of Oregon and his spread offense tactic comprised of emphasized speed, spacing, and simplicity, utilizing a no-huddle approach to keep defenses on their heels.
After incorporating this new style of play in basketball, LeBron James realized he had to be ten times better than he was during the 2011 NBA Finals. The Heat had specifically prepared a spacing for their centers, commonly called the Bosh Spacing. This unlocked ‘slot cuts’ for the team, allowing James and Dwyane Wade to thrive on the offense. The offensive five, mainly consisting of Chris Bosh or point guards Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole, were always behind the offense to back them up during such a push.
While describing the same thing on the podcast, James called Mario Chalmers by his last name, ‘Chalmers,’ which perhaps did not sit right with the former two-time NBA champion. Chalmers responded on the podcast’s Instagram clip of the incident and wrote in the comments, “Lol man, none of my teammates ever call me Chalmers….but Spo is a great basketball mind.”
A lot of fans were perplexed as to why Chalmers needed to point out that his teammates didn’t call him by his name. The two-time NBA Champion’s comment seems to indicate that there might be some underlying tension between him the Heat’s centerpiece at the time, LeBron James.
However, former Heat star Norris Cole also watched the podcast clip and agreed with how James described transitioning the 2011-12 Miami Heat team into an offensive powerhouse. Cole reacted with the “100” emoji in the comments, perhaps nodding to James’ description of Coach Spo as one of the ‘greatest minds in basketball.’
Nevertheless, the new spread offensive technique worked out in the long run for the Heat. LeBron James won his first championship with Miami in 2012 and consecutively won another one the following year. James’ time with the Heat is still regarded as the turning point of his career by basketball pundits.
Mario Chalmers claimed no player was afraid of LeBron James
While the GOAT conversation always draws comparisons between LeBron James and Michael Jordan, James’ former teammate, Mario Chalmers, once had some things to say about it.
Chalmers told Playmaker HQ, “Nobody fears Bron. Nobody’s like, ‘Damn, I gotta go play against Bron tonight.’ Nobody said that. I don’t know why, because I seen people be scared when they actually line up to him, but they’re not scared thinking about that matchup.”
While such a sentiment has been espoused by other players as well, it is pretty clear that Chalmers is not the biggest LeBron fan. His recent comment further reinforces that belief.
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