If you read that headline and wondered how a veteran NFL and college head coach, and now offensive coordinator of the Ohio State Buckeyes could possibly contribute to an NBA title, I was in the same boat after seeing a similar headline on X this weekend.
LeBron James and JJ Reddick recently started a podcast called "Mind the Game" where they treat listeners to "pure conversations about basketball" that go well beyond the hot-takes and debates that [unfortunately] dominate so much sports coverage lately.
During a recent episode, LeBron mentioned Chip Kelly playing a role in their run to the 2012 NBA championship.
To understand how that happened, we have to rewind a bit.
LeBron left the familiar confines of Cleveland in order to join forces with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami in what became known as "The Big Three" prior to their 2011 run to the title game.
The dynamic trio helped spark deep playoff run that first season, going 58-24 ending with a loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals in six games.
That off season, everything changed and it started with a visit to Eugene, Oregon.
"Ima tell you when it all changed," LeBron opens the clip by saying.
"Obviously my first year there, we played great basketball and got all the way to The Finals and lose in The Finals."
"Spo is a reason we were a better team and our team was assembled properly," James shares, talking about head coach Erik Spoelstra who was in just his third season as an NBA head coach when James arrived in Miami.
"That summer, he went to Oregon and hung out with Chip Kelly. When we lost to Dallas, he went to Oregon and learned the spread offense and tried to figure out if he could translate that to basketball."
"I don't know the conversations that he and Chip had, but I know when he came back to us, he knew that in order for us to reach our potential, 1 - I had to be 10-times better than I was in that previous June finals."
LeBron goes on to share that Bosh also had to go the 5 and work on his corner three in order to fully capitalize on the ideas that Spo brought back from Eugene. Bosh at center helped to pull the best shot blockers in the league out of the lane.
Guys like Bosh stretching the court helped to unlock strengths of LeBron and Wade like the "slot cut," in basketball terms.
LeBron also touches on "the Mack Truck lane," which went spanned from the block to the block of the lane, an area that was completely blocked off from their bigs running through from camp all the way through game one in an effort to really spread out NBA defenders.
Hear more from LeBron in the clip.
Lebron James says Coach Spo went to Oregon to study their spread offense after the 2011 finals loss
— Heat Culture (@HeatCulture13) April 2, 2024
“Spo is that damn good.” pic.twitter.com/XKMVZTRZRf