Filipino American coach Erik Spoelstra voted best head coach in the NBA

The Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra was recently recognized by NBA general managers as the basketball league’s best head coach.

The Filipino American coach, who guided his team to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last year with a win record of 53-29, acquired 52% of the managers’ total votes. Golden State’s Steve Kerr came in second with 22% of the vote, while San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Phoenix’s Monty Williams were tied for third with 7% each.

Spoelstra, 51, was honored with the same recognition the previous season. Highlights of his stellar career include the consecutive NBA championships he led his team to win in 2012 and 2013. At the time, the Heat had talents such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

He is reportedly the first Asian American head coach in the history of the four major sports leagues in North America and also the first Asian American head coach to win an NBA championship.

Spoelstra was elevated to his current position in 2008 and is now in his 12th season as head coach of the Heat. With Spoelstra leading the team, they have maintained the fifth-highest regular season winning percentage in the NBA and claimed the fourth-best postseason winning percentage. Spoelstra has an overall head coaching win record of 660-453.

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