Coach Kerr wants Warriors to reclaim No. 1 seed next season
BARELY a week after winning his third NBA championship as a coach, Golden State bench tactician Steve Kerr, this early, expressed his preference that his Warriors regain the top seeding comes the 2018-2019 season.
Kerr, who also had earlier claimed two NBA titles as a player with the Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs, guided the Warriors to the No. 1 seed three years in-a-row from 2015 but lost that ranking to the Houston Rockets the past season.
“I can guarantee you that trying to convince them (his players) that the No. 1 seed is important— that will be an utter failure,” Kerr said on KNBR 680 while laughing. “We just won a Game 7 on the road against last year’s No. 1 seed. Over the last 15 seasons, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference advanced to the NBA Finals only seven times:
The Los Angeles Lakers did the trick in 2008, 2009, 2010, while the Spurs duplicated the feat in 2014. The Warriors were the top team in 2015, 2016, 2017
“We’re gonna have to think outside the box,” Kerr said. “We’re gonna have to build in some ‘games within the game.’ We gotta try to build in more time off, more rest as best we can.
“We’re just starting to think about it already, and it’s actually kind of fun. It’s gonna be an incredible challenge.”
Earlier this week, Kerr was a guest on the Lowe Post Podcast and Lowe suggested that the Warriors have a beach volleyball tournament when they play in Los Angeles.
“That’s actually a great idea, Zach. Let me write that down.”
Other potential factors that could motivate the Warriors during the regular season—Klay Thompson is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and Draymond Green will become eligible for a “super max” contract if he wins Defensive Player of the Year or is named to an All-NBA team.
Steph Curry, who only played in 51 games last year due to recurring injuries, doesn’t want to make All-NBA Third-Team again. Jordan Bell is scheduled to become a restricted free agent next summer.
“I think there’s also a little bit of house money to use,” Kerr added. “You win three out of four—nobody can ever say anything negative about us if we don’t win it next year.
“We just won three out of four. It’s one of the great stretches. So maybe buy using a little house money, we’ll be a little looser. And maybe that will help us get through it.”
and we’ll lose. I don’t know, but we’ll have to get a feel for it, ” he suggested.
Kerr, at the same time, revealed receiving congratulatory text that stood out the most:
“Don’t want to be name dropper, but...”
Kerr, meanwhile, in a separate interview with Drew Shiller of NBC Sports BayArea that after the Warriors won the championship last Friday night in Cleveland, he eventually checked his cell phone.
He had many congratulatory messages, and as he began to respond to some of them, more kept pouring in.
“So which text stood out the most?” Damon Bruce’s question on 95.7 The Game asked.
“I don’t want to be a name dropper ... but the one that kind of stood out was Tiger Woods -- that was pretty cool. He and I connected last year over our back problems,” he retorted.
“So we kind of stayed in touch. That was cool getting a text from Tiger,” Kerr said.
Unfortunately for Tiger, he shot a 78 US Open on Thursday.
Kerr told Bruce though, he won’t be sending Tiger a congratulatory text.