KERR TAKES A BIGPICTURE APPROACH
Steve Kerr still talks to Phil Jackson occasionally “to check in.” But the subject of Kerr turning down the Knicks head coaching job that Jackson offered in May 2014 never arises.
“I obviously made the right choice for many reasons,” Kerr said. “I’m (a) Californian. My family is here. It’s a better situation.”
Who knows if Jackson would still be running the Knicks basketball operations if Kerr would’ve accepted. Neither man is prone to such speculative revisionism anyway.
What’s certain is this: Jackson’s ability as a coach to live in the moment but keep the big picture in mind created a calming environment as the Bulls won six titles in eight seasons, including three with Kerr as a critical role player from 1996 to ‘98.
And as Kerr guides his Warriors on Wednesday at the United Center, where he sank one of the most famous shots in Bulls history, such lessons have stayed with him.
“Huge,” Kerr answered when asked how experiencing a three-peat as a player has helped him as a coach. “It’s keeping me from being too upset when I see the lapses because I understand how hard it is emotionally and physically to be ready night in and night out with teams coming after you.
“We’re every team’s biggest game. We get everybody’s best shot. It’s November. Our guys are sitting here like, ‘Man, this doesn’t even happen until May.’ I went through that whole thing.”
Kerr indeed said that in November, sitting down for an interview inside the Warriors practice facility on the day they later stomped the Bulls by 49 points. And, no, the Tribune wasn’t motivated by Jackson’s and Kerr’s bigpicture approach to wait to run Kerr’s words.
But holding the interview until now — in light of the third-worst loss in franchise history that Nov. 24 night, not to mention Jordan Bell rubbing the Bulls’ faces in it — does seem fitting. Not only do Kerr’s words still apply, but they resonate even stronger in the dog days of January.
To wit: Stephen Curry sat out Friday night’s 108-94 victory over the Bucks with an ankle injury he would be playing through if it were May.
“I think the hardest thing for people to understand from the outside — fans and media — is just how difficult it is to get physically, spiritually and emotionally up four straight years when you’re playing over 100 games and you’re everybody’s biggest game,” Kerr said. “It’s brutal. And it affects execution and concentration.
“You’ve got to try to stay the course without losing your patience and your temper. We’ve had some nights this season that were just disasters, but I’m not going to grind them because of what we’ve been through. There are just going to be some nights like that.”
To be clear, Kerr isn’t complaining or making excuses. After Wednesday’s 19-point home loss to the Clippers, he cut right to the chase in remarks to reporters in Oakland: “They came in and just kicked our ass.”
Kerr, who also won two titles playing for the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich, another staunch proponent of the big picture, just knows what the grind does.
The Bulls’ first three-peat featured 58 playoff games. The second one, during which Kerr sank a foul-line jumper to win the clinching Game 6 of the 1997 Finals, again featured 58 games.
And these games aren’t typical affairs. They’re more defensive-oriented, half-court, physical matchups with a premium on execution. They’re draining both physically and mentally.
The 1997-98 Bulls opened Jackson’s selfdubbed “Last Dance” at 8-7 before taking flight. Think Kerr might’ve mentioned that to this season’s Warriors? “Once or twice,” he said, laughing. The games are one thing. On this five-game trip alone, the Warriors also face the Raptors, Cavaliers and Rockets, all gearing up for the intensity inherent in facing the defending NBA champions.
There also are the off-the-court demands. Kerr watched Michael Jordan get besieged as the planet’s biggest star during the Bulls’ heyday. And while Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson don’t rival that, their popularity is immense in a socialmedia era that Jordan didn’t have to endure.
“It was chaotic then and it’s chaotic now,” Kerr said. “Everywhere we go, the media throng is big and so are the fans. And we’re pretty open as an organization.
“I have to put some checks in this year a little bit more than in the past because it seems like things are getting more chaotic. And it’s harder to focus when there are a million people tugging at your shirt all day.”
Again, Kerr isn’t complaining. The alternative is he could have taken the Knicks job and possibly been out of work already. He certainly would not be winning as much.
It’s just that his Warriors are vying to join the Celtics — who did it twice, including 10 straight from 1957 to ‘66 — Lakers and Heat as the only franchises to appear in four straight NBA Finals. And they’ve played 62 playoff games over the last three seasons. That’s a lot of demand. The Warriors have yet to repeat in this championship window that included the 201516 club winning 73 games to break the 1995-96 Bulls’ NBA record of 72. Kerr played on the latter and coached the former. He admittedly didn’t embrace the chase of history until late in the season. And although he kept his starters’ minutes similar to the previous season, the pursuit featured a heightened emotional investment and intensity.
The Warriors lost the 2016 Finals to the Cavaliers, keeping them from having already three-peated. But Kerr isn’t chasing even a repeat. He simply wants to win the next Finals in front of him and his franchise.
“I don’t care about historical perspective _ I just want to win,” Kerr said. “We know how this league works. We’re in a sweet spot right now where we have a chance. It’s our time.
“At some point in the next few years — we’ll see how long — our window is going to close as far as this current iteration of the team. The idea is to be the Spurs and be great for 20 years and keep having a chance every year. That’s very hard to do.
“We’re in a really good position right now to go for it. And we have to take advantage of that but understand how to navigate that opportunity.”