Why don’t Draymond Green, Warriors get respect?
As the Warriors have smashed records and made annual trips to the NBA Finals, other teams have become interested in following Golden State’s blueprint. The logic was simple: By taking a similar approach as the Warriors, perhaps they could enjoy similar success.
There is no better way to mimic a franchise’s culture than to bring in those who helped foster it, which is why Steve Kerr boasts probably the most impressive coaching tree in NBA history for someone in only his fourth season coaching at any level. Now, as Golden State enters Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Friday up 2-0 on the Pelicans, a couple of Kerr assistants hope another championship push could help them land head-coaching gigs.
Assistant coach Jarron Col-
“Jarron now, compared to four years ago, he’s really come out of his shell.”
Steve Kerr, on Jarron Collins
lins is in the running for the Hawks’ head job. Though he didn’t get the Knicks’ headcoaching position after interviewing for it this week, Warriors associate head coach Mike Brown is considered a viable candidate for several other openings.
“I have this long and storied career after several decades of coaching,” Kerr joked after practice Thursday. “I have grown these branches off my tree.”
To win two NBA titles in the past three years, the Warriors played an up-tempo, movement-heavy brand of basketball and built a locker-room ethos of joy. It didn’t take long for other teams to want in on some of Golden State’s mojo.
In May 2015, weeks before helping the Warriors to their first NBA title in 40 years, Alvin Gentry — Kerr’s top assistant in that staff ’s first season — agreed to become New Orleans’ head coach. It was a year later that Gentry’s successor, Luke Walton, parlayed a 39-4 start as Golden State’s acting head coach while Kerr recovered from back surgery into the Lakers’ head job.
And it’s not just coaches who have benefited from the Warriors’ success.
In July 2016, after four seasons as a complementary player to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes signed a four-year max contract worth $95 million with the Mavericks. Last May, Travis Schlenk — an assistant general manager with Golden State for five years — was hired as Atlanta’s GM. Chip Bowers was lured away in February from his position as the Warriors’ chief marketing officer to join the Miami Marlins as president of business operations.
“You talk about the leadership of the organization, it’s fantastic,” Brown said. “They back up what they say. … Naturally, other places are going to want to emulate that.”
Collins — a former journeyman NBA center in his fourth season on Kerr’s staff — fulfills the criteria front offices eye in a head coach: an ability to relate to players, high basketball IQ, experience under respected mentors and a dogged desire to improve. Those close to Collins figure it won’t be long before he is asked to replicate the Warriors’ winning ways for another franchise.
Collins works closely with Golden State’s frontcourt. When dictating a note hasn’t sufficed, he has planted his 6-foot-11, 248-pound frame in the key and banged with the likes of Festus Ezeli or Andrew Bogut.
Coaches credit Collins for former Warriors center Ezeli’s development from raw rookie to key rotation player. Golden State’s much-vaunted “small lineup” has thrived, in part, because Collins helped Draymond Green (6-foot-7) learn how to play much bigger than his measurements.
A Stanford grad, Collins also has a knack for offensive schemes and game plans. In recent years, as he has gotten more comfortable in his role, Collins — by nature, relatively introverted — has become more vocal.
“Jarron now, compared to four years ago, he’s really come out of his shell and emerged,” Kerr said. “I think he’s going to be a head coach in the league at some point.”
While Collins is an up-andcomer in the coaching profession, Brown is a former NBA head coach who has put himself back on the radar for top jobs since joining the Warriors as Kerr’s No. 2 before last season.
An exacting numbers whiz who takes comfort in colorcoded practice plans and 200page playbooks, Brown balances the laid-back Kerr. Brown, one of the key architects behind Golden State’s complex substitution pattern, sits to the left of Kerr in games with rotation sheet in hand. With Brown monitoring the times for players to check in, Kerr can focus on what he does best: relay his message to the team.
Brown’s deft handling of his interim role with Kerr away to deal with chronic pain — Golden State went 11-0 under Brown, sweeping the conference semifinals and finals — was an essential factor in the team’s championship run last spring. After stops in the top seat with the Cavaliers (200510, 2013-14) and Lakers (201112), Brown reckons that his time with the Warriors has made him more well-rounded should he get another shot at being a head coach.
Not that he is in any hurry to leave Kerr’s side, of course.
“I feel like I’m the luckiest human being on the planet being here and working for these guys,” Brown said. “This is Steve’s fourth year coaching, and I feel like I’ve learned a ton from him.”