Coaching with Golden State a family affair for Kerrs
Nicholas Kerr is focused and serious as he paces the sidelines in front of the scorer's table near his team bench.
“Get back! Get back! Get back! Get back!” he shouts, urging the Santa Cruz Warriors to hustle down and play defence.
Then there's a moment Kerr finally lets his guard down a little, cracks a smile and starts chatting to people keeping statistics and working the game. Each day, the young coach strives to find a balance between fun and fire while leading Golden State's development G League team, which has none of the big stars — like Stephen Curry — that his famous father gets to coach every day just a couple of hours away.
Nicholas Kerr isn't sure he ever wants to coach at the highest level like dad, Steve. For now, it's just about figuring out the best ways to help develop players and put them in position to be successful. “I love coaching basketball, and whatever that leads me to, we'll see. I'm ambitious, but I don't know. I just like doing fun jobs in the NBA or G League,” he said. “I feel like at this point next year I'll be better at finding that balance in development versus coaching and strategy.”
Even back in middle school basketball, Kerr never imagined he could match his father's successful path from playing in the pros to the NBA bench. He didn't even feel he had to try. His parents always encouraged him to just be himself, and Nicholas played collegiately first at San Diego before finishing with a season at California.
Before landing in Santa Cruz, Nicholas spent time with his dad's friend and mentor, Gregg Popovich, and the staff at the San Antonio Spurs. People kept urging him to coach in the G League to learn.
Steve Kerr is thrilled for his son and had a chance to watch him earlier in the Santa Cruz season. “It wasn't so much nerves, it was more just pride, it was just a great visual sitting there watching him on the sidelines and I yelled at the refs a couple times,” he said. “I felt like a good dad.”