Big 3 Lessons David Blatt Can Learn from Erik Spoelstra

Sometimes, the smartest thing a person can do is admit they have a lot to learn.

Such is the case of Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt, who is undergoing a roller coaster of a rookie season in the NBA.

When given the opportunity to pick the brains of his colleagues this preseason at a meeting in Chicago, Blatt took full advantage.

"I got a chance to talk to the other 29 coaches in the league," Blatt told Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group in September. "I asked every one of them a question or two or three. That helps. These are guys that have been in the league or around the league for a long time. Every piece of information that I can pick up is valuable and worthwhile."

While every coach can offer beneficial tips, Blatt should have focused on one leading man in particular.

Erik Spoelstra, head coach of the Miami Heat, faced a very similar situation from 2010 to 2014. While leading a Big Three of talented players is a blessing, it presents its own challenges as well. Spoelstra successfully led the Heat to two championships in four years, but not without some bumps along the way.

Now with the Cavaliers and Heat set to face off yet again, here's what Blatt can take away from Spoelstra's time in the spotlight.

Handling the Critics, Media

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While Blatt is coming from a basketball-crazy environment coaching Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, dealing with the NBA media day in and day out is a totally different beast.

This is something that Spoelstra had to adapt to after LeBron James announced he would be joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami during the 2010 offseason. Spoelstra had already guided a Wade-led Heat team to 43 and 47 wins the two seasons prior, and he'd gotten a taste of the pressure a head coach faces. With a Big Three, however, this only multiplied.

Surely, a team with James, Wade and Bosh would be unstoppable, right? If not, it must be the coach's fault.

After the Heat lost the 2011 NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks, their first appearance, Spoelstra came under fire. Many hoped team president Pat Riley would return to the bench, a rumor he eventually shot down for good following Spoelstra's first season with the Big Three.

Following this public backing, the Heat locked in and won the next two titles while going to a fourth during their final year.

Throughout it all, Spoelstra did an excellent job handling the media, staying very "even-keeled" and refusing to make excuses, former Palm Beach Post and current Bleacher Report NBA senior writer Ethan Skolnick told me.

Blatt has done a nice job, for the most part, handling his new position. His latest mini-rant of, "You people like to talk about a lot of the things that are in my mind, less important. We win 12 games in a row and everybody is talking about Kev's five-point game. I mean really, who gives a damn?", was a bit out of character, but ultimately a fair point to make (via Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group).

The pressure doesn't just reside in the United States, either, as nearly all of Cleveland's games are broadcast live on Israeli sports channels.

Blatt, like Spoelstra, received public support from his superior when some were calling for his head.

Spoelstra withstood the media and critic storm by standing his ground, continuing to improve his team and ultimately winning. Blatt needs to do the same.

Establish a Pecking Order...

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Coaches have to decide roles for all of their players.

When catering to three superstars, this becomes a little trickier.

Both Miami and Cleveland revolved around James, who was never held to any shooting restrictions. It was Spoelstra's ability to handle Wade and Bosh as second and third scoring options that was key.

Somehow, Spoelstra managed to get his guys to play ball, even with a drastically different role for Bosh, notes ESPN.com's J.A. Adande:

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A coach is only as effective as his players' willingness to buy into him, and the Heat have willingly opened their checkbooks for Spoelstra. Just look at Bosh, who went from the featured player in Toronto to a guy who sets screens, chases rebounds and accepts the leftover shots in Miami -- and says he wants to sign up for some more.

"

Blatt has done an adequate job of assigning jobs to his players thus far.

He made it clear who should be looking to shoot first after a 1-2 start to the year, per Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal:

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David Blatt tried to establish the Cavs’ food chain during Wednesday’s film session and team meeting. According to a source with knowledge of the meeting, Blatt essentially told the players that LeBron James and Kevin Love eat first and that it’s Kyrie Irving’s job as point guard to feed them. Irving can then find his own rhythm after the first two guys get going.

"

Instead, it's been James (26.0 points on 18.6 shot attempts) and Irving (21.9 points on 16.8 shots) who have gotten their fill over Love (17.1 points on 13.1 shots).

Far too often, the Cavs get Love going early in the first quarter before allowing him to disappear later in the game. Blatt needs to do a better job of letting Love "eat" while hoping that all three of his star players continue to buy in.

...but Be Willing to Tinker with Roles

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What works in January doesn't always work in June.

Coaches have to be able to adapt on the fly, constantly trying to find rotations and player combinations that work best.

Nowhere was this more evident for Spoelstra than in the 2012 playoffs. Bosh missed nine games with an abdominal strain, forcing his head coach to shuffle his stars' positions. Miami, already thin up front, now needed James to take on the role of power forward.

ESPN.com's J.A. Adande notes the adjustments that Spoelstra was forced to make:

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And if you go back through this Heat team's first championship run in 2012, you'll see that Spoelstra changed his approach on the fly in the playoffs, orienting the offense around LeBron in the post, passing out to 3-point shooters. The Heat went from shooting 16 3-pointers per game during the regular season to shooting more than 20 per game in the playoffs, which culminated with a 14-for-26 3-point explosion in the title-clinching Game 5 of the Finals.

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The lesson?

While Blatt has begun to fine-tune his rotation following the trades for J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov and Iman Shumpert, he shouldn't carve it in stone just yet.

There could easily come a time when Blatt craves more scoring off the bench and elects to swap Smith for Shumpert in the starting lineup. Maybe a future free-agent signing (Ray Allen?) will force him to shake things up once again.

Maybe Blatt will move James to the reserves like the four-time MVP recently offered to do.

OK, maybe not.

Know It's Not All About You

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James has never let a head coach dictate where, or really how, he's going to play.

In fact, none of the four he's played under are considered Hall of Fame coaches like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan have enjoyed. At least, not yet.

Be it Paul Silas, Mike Brown, Spoelstra or now Blatt, James has never seemed to mind who coaches him, for better or worse, notes Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick:

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The relationship with the coach, at least at the NBA level, has always been of secondary relevance, regardless of who that coach has been. Good? Bad? It's marked more by indifference, which doesn't make his perspective much different from that of a lot of players. That indifference has sometimes been misconstrued as dissatisfaction, or even as insubordination, such as when James wouldn't publicly back Mike Brown, or didn't seem overly excited when Erik Spoelstra won a Coach of the Month award or when he repeatedly stated that David Blatt's hire had no impact on his decision to return to Northeast Ohio.

"

This isn't to say James and the rest of the Big Three won't show their support for Blatt from time to time, just that Blatt shouldn't expected constant glowing endorsements.

A nice early sign occurred in training camp when James publicly praised Blatt's offense, per the Northeast Ohio Media Group. That offense has resulted in 102 points per contest and a fifth-ranked 110.6 offensive rating.

Blatt put the principles in place, and he must do a lot of tweaking and monitoring from here on out.

On some nights, the best thing to do may just be staying out of the way.

Give It Time

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For all the differences that James, Love and Irving possess, they do share one common denominator: None have ever played for Blatt before.

Prior to the trade for Mozgov, none of the Cavaliers had. The only thing they could go off of were articles, YouTube videos and word of mouth. For some guys, that may be enough. For three established stars all thirsty to win right away, probably not.

Even with Wade having played under Spoelstra for two seasons, James was still hesitant to buy in, notes Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick:

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It took awhile—Heat insiders will say that it really took well into the 2011-12 season—but eventually James gained sufficient belief in Spoelstra not only to allow Riley's protege to completely coach him, but to start parroting some of Spoelstra's principles, from a leadership position, to the rest of the team. Building that sort of trust takes some time and work, as well as much trial and error, as James has continued to reiterate. 

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One advantage that Blatt has going for him is James' evolution as a leader. If anyone questions his actions or methods, James only needs to point to his two championship rings, something he couldn't do early on with the Heat.

Are the Cavaliers going to win a title this season? Maybe, but probably not.

The good news for Blatt and his Big Three is that all should be committed for the long haul. Irving is inked to a five-year contract extension that kicks in this summer. James and Love hold player options that they can pick up or opt out of to sign larger deals.

The bottom line? Cohesion may not happen right away, and that's OK.

As long as Blatt and his trio of stars are working together and on the same page, good things are sure to follow.

Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers for Bleacher Report since 2010.

All stats provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.