Nice-guy demeanor belies Kerr’s steeliness
CLEVELAND — The outside world might be growing weary of hearing what a great guy Steve Kerr is, and how happy the Warriors are that he’s back on the bench with them, how much he means to the team.
It can get a bit sappy, all the support and even love expressed by the players for their head coach. Come on, there must be someone who doesn’t like Kerr.
“I think Draymond hates him, at least for 10 minutes a day,” general manager Bob Myers offered Thursday at the team’s shootaround.
Kerr and Draymond Green have had their clashes, most famously the halftime meltdown at Oklahoma City last season. Just then, Green walked past.
“You don’t like Steve, do you?” Myers asked Green.
“F— hate him,” snarled Green.
Yes, the Warriors were in good spirits as they prepared for Friday’s potential NBA championship-clinching game against Cleveland. They were still buzzing from the previous night’s dramatic comeback win.
They’re healthy, they’re fired up and they have their coach back. The last part might seem insignificant. When you win 15 playoff games in a row, 11 of them with your head coach relegated to couch-potato status, you have people believing you are the Auto-Pilot All-Stars.
At this point, do the Warriors really need Steve Kerr? What can he give them in Game 4 that they can’t get from the crackerjack staff of assistants and from their inner drive? As one staffer said Thursday, “This is not a rahrah team.”
“In my experience in coaching,” said assistant coach Ron Adams, who has been at it for 48 years, “Steve talks to his team better than any coach I’ve ever been around. He speaks with candor, he is succinct in using his voice, he doesn’t ramble, he doesn’t bore people . ... He just gives the state of the union, and it’s so helpful to our guys. From that standpoint alone, I know he was welcomed back by everyone.
“But more than that, he’s our leader. We want him on the bench. It’s been great to have him back.” It’s really that simple. Dancing Mom might be able to coach the Warriors home from here, with the assistance of Adams and Mike Brown and the staff. But without Kerr on the bench, yelling at Green and patting refs on the shoulder and busting clipboards, the Warriors aren’t the Warriors. He has made this his team by making it their team.
Early in Kerr’s first season, the players asked him if they could continue to break huddles with a team slogan “Just Us,” coined by the previous head coach, Mark Jackson.
“Of course,” Kerr said. “It’s your team.”
Kerr steadily built the players’ respect and trust, and that only increased when he was sidelined half of last season, and then again for 11 games in these playoffs. If there was a vote for Team Badass, Kerr would win.
Nick U’Ren, whose many duties include video breakdown and selecting music for practices, said Kerr’s pleasant demeanor, and his playing career — notable for his white-collar shooting off the bench — might cause some to miss Kerr’s edge.
“He’s got guts. He is really, really tough,” U’Ren said. “He’s made tough decisions as a coach. Coming in, sitting Andre Iguodala as his first move as a coach, that’s a tough thing to do. He’s tough, he’s not just this nice-guy exterior. To me, to battle through (the chronic pain) ... and still have a bit of a sense of humor, and still treat everyone with kindness is a sign of how tough his character is.”
Most coaches talk about how everyone is important, from the ballboy on up, but it’s just talk. Two years ago in the playoffs, Kerr took U’Ren’s advice and moved Iguodala into the starting lineup for Game 4 of the Finals, with spectacular results.
Kerr and his staff had kicked around the Iguodala idea for a couple of days before deciding against it. But U’Ren, then 28, pressed the issue in a 3 a.m. text the day of the game, and Kerr changed his mind.
“To me,” U’ren said, “the cooler part of that story is that long before (the Iguodala idea) ever happened, Steve had created an environment where anybody is comfortable making suggestions and sharing their observations.”
Now that the Warriors are one game away from running the table, the emphasis is on savoring the moment. I walked past a news-conference podium Thursday and Klay Thompson was talking about the importance of appreciating every second of this adventure.
That’s Kerr’s stamp. He’s a subtle preacher, but his Zen message has been absorbed. We are so lucky to be here, to do what we do, to have this chance. We must appreciate it, every second, as it is happening.
Now get out there and have fun. So not Knute Rockne.