Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has noticed the difference in the way his franchise is perceived around the world following their acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

The moves were not warmly received by many people involved in the NBA, including some of Spoelstra's acquaintances.

"Every single franchise in this league, if they had the opportunity to sign three players the way we were able to, they would have without any hesitation," Spoelstra said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "So everything else that everybody is saying, at first it was hard for us to understand. But that's how this team is going to be viewed."