Warriors GM confident Kerr will return to full health
Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers fully expects Steve Kerr to find a solution to his debilitating health issues and return to the bench without being forced out of coaching altogether because of complications from two back surgeries.
It just might not be right away.
“Look, what he’s facing is fixable,” Myers told The Associated Press. “It’s just finding the issue and solving it. So I think that’s how you have to differentiate what he’s going through with somebody else. Some things are not fixable in life. Some things that confront people don’t have solutions. There is a solution here. We just need to discover it, and we will. I’m confident we will.”
The 51-year-old Kerr plans to be examined at Stanford this week and is away from the team until he feels well enough to return. He didn’t coach the NBAbest Warriors in games 3 and 4 at Portland this past week while dealing with headaches, nausea and discomfort in his neck.
“It’s not easy, but it’s not insurmountable. This one, we will overcome it. And those aren’t just words, that’s the truth. I wouldn’t put a time on it but that’s how I feel,” Myers said. “Certain diagnoses you are forced to accept entirely and know that there isn’t a solution. There is a solution for this, we’ve just got to find it.”
The Warriors have been inundated with emails from strangers offering names of doctors, experts, ideas and advice on how to help Kerr, who is beloved as not only a coach but as an outspoken person committed to important and wideranging issues.
“We want him healthy for the rest of his life,” Kevin Durant said. “That’s what our main concern is.”
This is heart-wrenching for Myers. He and Kerr are close friends who talk every day, and not just about basketball. He supported Kerr when the reigning coach of the year had to miss the initial 43 games last season.
“It’s so hard to separate that part from the Warriors basketball team,” Myers said, “because in any other profession it’s private and there’s not everyone in the community asking about it and you’re just concerned about that individual specifically. In this case it takes on a different life when it’s public.”