Kerr takes friendly jabs at mentor Popovich
Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich are good friends who have a huge amount of mutual respect for one another — and also greatly enjoy ribbing each other.
On Thursday, a day after the Warriors found out that they will play the San Antonio Spurs in the firstround of the playoffs, Kerr joked that he’s excited to see Popovich go down.
“I like to see him lose,” Kerr said. “He’s had way too much success already. I think sometimes Pop needs to be humbled a little bit. I’m looking to really rub it in and enjoy. If we’re able to beat them, it would just bring me great joy to see the anguish on his face.”
Kerr played under Popovich in two stints, from 1998-2001 and 20022003. They’ve remained very close over the years and often text and chat on the telephone. The truth is neither Popovich nor Kerr enjoy playing each other because neither of them wants to see the other guy lose.
“Remove the sarcasm, I want Pop to win against anybody else,” Kerr said. “We’re that close. He’s my mentor. He’s somebody I feel incredibly strongly about in terms of who he is and what he did for me in my life, and what he’s doing for my son right now.”
Kerr’s son, Nick, currently works for the Spurs as an assistant in the film room. And yes, that puts father and son in a pretty awkward position. But Kerr has a plan.
“We are recusing ourselves from any sort of communication and family interaction for the next couple of weeks,” Kerr said, before throwing in a little jab at the Spurs. “I think they already confiscated his phone.”
Kerr said that Popovich has impacted his coaching in many ways. But he said there’s one lesson in particular that stands out.
“You keep going no matter what,” Kerr said. “During my four seasons there, we won two titles. We lost in the first round. We lost in the conference finals. We had injuries, we had good health, we had everything in between. You just keep going. You take whatever is in front of you and you embrace it. You let everybody else — media, fans — write about it, talk about. One of the reasons we’re able to live these great lives is because what we do is really popular. We’re going to be criticized, we’re going to be judged, we’re going to be celebrated and everything in between.
“I think that was probably the best lesson I learned from Pop. The only thing that matters is just in our locker room. These are our circumstances. They are what they are. Let’s do our best, and if we lose or whatever, you just go and have a glass of wine and move on. And you try to get it next year.”
Popovich has led the Spurs to an unprecedented 21 consecutive playoff appearances, winning five NBA championships. But Kerr respects Popovich for much more than his accomplishments on the court.
“He’s just an incredibly sharp, compassionate, fearless human being,” Kerr said. “It shines through not only in his coaching but in the way he approaches life.”
Both coaches share similar political and social views. And they also have many similarities in the way they run their teams.
Their relationship has spanned two decades and Kerr said it will remain strong long past their coaching days.
• Kerr and his staff were at the Warriors’ practice facility until late Wednesday. They arrived at the facility in downtown Oakland not knowing whether they’d play Denver, San Antonio, New Orleans or Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs. At around 7:30 p. m., they found out the Spurs would be their opponent — and that’s when their work began. After they found out they were going to play the same team they swept in the Western Conference Finals last season, they then started game-planning.