Filipino-American coach Erik Spoelstra of NBA team Miami Heat has been voted as the Best Head Coach in the 2020-2021 NBA season.
Spoelstra, whose mother hails from San Pablo City, Laguna, grabbed the 3 top spots out of 6 categories for “coaches” in the 19th annual NBA.com General Managers (GM) Survey published on December 18, 2020, by John Schuhmann of NBA.com.
The 50-year-old coach was voted “Best Head Coach in the NBA” with a 46% rating, way ahead of Nick Nurse of Toronto Raptors and former best head coach Gregg Popovich of San Antonio Spurs who tied at 18%.
Erik Spoelstra, who became the first Filipino and first Asian to ever coach an NBA team, also earned the most votes for a head coach who is the “best manager/motivator of people,” garnering a 32% rating overtaking Popovich again who got 21% and Steve Kerr of Golden State Warriors with 18%.
The poll also revealed that the Fil-Am talent makes the best in-game adjustments by registering a 26% rating surpassing Rick Carlisle of Dallas Mavericks who got 19% and 3rd placers Nurse and Brad Stevens of Boston Celtics who both earned 15% ratings.
“The GMs responded to 33 different questions about the best teams, players, coaches, and offseason moves. General managers were not permitted to vote for their own team or personnel. Percentages are based on the pool of respondents to that particular question, rather than all 30 GMs,” wrote Schuhmann.
The Fil-Am tactician rallied a huge win for Miami Heat in previous years as he led his team to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2011 to 2014 which gave Heat back-to-back championship titles in 2012 to 2013 thanks to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.
Spoelstra also made his fifth appearance in the NBA Finals as head coach in 2020.
Another Filipino coach Mike Magpayo made a historic 1st win in the US NCAA basketball.
Filipinos’ Google searches for the year 2020 affirmed the Philippines as a basketball nation with NBA games taking top spots in the keyword rankings.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to Filipino-American Erik Spoelstra of Miami Heat for being voted the Best Head Coach in the 2020-2021 NBA season.
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