The fact is, Erik Spoelstra has arguably the most talented roster in the NBA currently. He also owns the last two league championships. Some call it luck. Anyone can win with LeBron James on his team. That's what they say. Well, tell that to Doug Collins. Or Mike D'Antoni. Or Mike Brown.

Each of those coaches had a team packed with talent, including superstars named Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and, oh, LeBron James respectively. (Okay, Brown's Cavaliers were not packed with talent, but still.) All of them remain ringless. Yet here stands Spoelstra, poised to take his third consecutive NBA crown.

It is not luck. And it is certainly no accident. Spoelstra can coach.

Consider Spoelstra's road to where he is now. His father, Jon, was an executive for four different professional teams; it appears high level basketball was in his DNA. After playing college basketball for the University of Portland, in his hometown, Coach Spo jumped directly into his chosen field, spending two overseas as a player/coach in a German professional league.

After an opportunity presented itself to join the Miami Heat organization, the Spoelstra acquired the nickname, "No Problem," for his willingness to do whatever needed to be done. Over the course of his 13-year rise in the Heat franchise, Spoelstra climbed the ladder from 25-year-old video coordinator in 1995, to assistant coach, to director of scouting, and finally to head coach in 2008. A tireless and innovative worker, Spoelstra was handed the keys to the Heat from team president Pat Riley.

"I believe Erik Spoelstra is one of the most talented young coaches to come around in a long time," Riley said of his hand-picked successor back in 2008. "This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative and bring fresh new ideas. That’s what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He's a man that was born to coach.”

 "Very early on in his career, we all knew he'd end up where he is," former Miami coach Stan Van Gundy says. "I don't think anyone is surprised that he's gone to that level. Erik might say he's surprised, but no one else in [the Heat] organization is."

Indeed, Riley's gamble on an unproven assistant coach has more than paid off. His overall resume is staggering - Spoelstra has two championships, three NBA Finals appearances, and four straight Eastern Conference Titles in just six years at the helm - but it is how he amassed those numbers that is the real story.

To look at just what Spoelstra has accomplished in South Beach, one need go no further than tradition. And then bust it apart.

Here is a slice of conventional basketball wisdom: big men are supposed to stay near the paint with their backs to the basket. Guards are supposed to roam the perimeter only to drive to the basket now and then. Each category of player is best served to remain in his own territory and stay out of the other's way.

However, after losing in the Finals to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, Erik Spoelstra took that line of thinking and turned it on its head. His own words, his Heat had become "too predicable."

"The more that we've tried to think conventionally in terms of guys playing just a specific position, it restricted us a little bit," Spoelstra said of his desire to implement a more dynamic style of play. "[Now] we can put pressure on teams to adjust to us."

Spoelstra ran his coaching staff through mock practices and scrimmages, all to have a better idea of what his players might see in any given situation. He grabbed Chris Bosh and turned him into a jump shooter. He also convinced LeBron James to develop a post game. He pushed his troops to learn the ins and outs of basketball - to become less predictable.

"I was a perimeter guy my whole life," James said when asked about the switch from all-time guard to all-around player. "I wouldn't say it's fun. It's never fun banging with big men. Nothing fun about it."

But James also noticed the post play success experienced by both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant who each became potent scorers from inside, as their careers advanced. What's more, LeBron finally bought in to what his coach was preaching.

However, the criticism boiled. Bosh was playing “soft” on the floor. As a big man he should be banging inside not hoisting 25-footers. James was just a flopper on defense (who isn't right now?) and the Heat is nothing more than a lucky team that won a title in a lockout shortened season and should have lost last year's Finals.

It seemed as though Spoelstra was read the riot act whether his team was playing poorly or whether it was in the midst of a 25-game winning streak. It did not matter. Instead of being a dynasty team that most everyone loved (Chicago Bulls, anyone?) the Heat kept drawing the ire of "haters" nationwide.

Then there was The Bump. During a particular rough stretch in the 2010 season, James was caught on tape bumping into Spoelstra's shoulder on his way to the bench for a timeout. News media went wild. James was not happy with his coach, sports pundits reported. Coach Spo's gotta go, was the cry both in and out of basketball circles. He is nothing more than a good looking guy in a sharp suit. And on and on.

Through it all, Miami kept winning games. And added conference titles. And appeared in the NBA Finals. While stories were written on the amazing coaching acumen of Gregg Popovich, and rightfully so, very little was mentioned about Erik Spoelstra and what he orchestrated in South Beach.

On Thursday, the San Antonio Spurs will host the Miami Heat in a rematch of last year's NBA Finals. The series is billed as the current Heat dynasty versus the sustained greatness of the Spurs. In the middle of it all will be Pop and Spo. Popovich, much like Spoelstra, was once maligned for not being able to "coach his way out of a wet paper bag." Neither coach adheres to conventional coaching wisdom, which quite possibly is the reason they are meeting once again for basketball's greatest prize.

However, entering the 2014 NBA Finals, Spoelstra essentially finds himself in a no-win situation. If he leads Miami to a third straight title, the so-called experts will claim it was because the team had LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. If Spo loses, he will be harpooned for being an inferior leader who is not traditional enough for the basketball purists out there. Either way, he will not get credit for being the outstanding coach that he truly is.

And such thinking is an extremely sad comment on the state of professional sports.