LeBron James said Tuesday during his Mind the Game podcast with J.J. Redick that the reason the Miami Heat primarily went on to win two championships after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals came down to head coach Erik Spoelstra.
In particular, he mentioned a meeting between Spoelstra and then-Oregon football head coach Chip Kelly that helped the Heat institute more floor-spacing into their offense (50-second mark):
"Spo was the reason we were a better team, and why our team was assembled more properly. When we lost to Dallas, he went out to Oregon and hung out with Kelly and learned the spread offense and tried to figure out if he could translate that to basketball.