San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Kerr knew challenge was coming
You are Steve Kerr, and you are about to do some coaching.
At least that’s how some people see it, you know that. Some believe that you have had an easy go of it for the greater part of your nine seasons, and now you’re going to have to work up a sweat.
You’re OK with that kind of thinking. You know you’ve been coaching your shoes off since way before the first day of training camp back in 2014, when this all began. If some folks believe you were just rolling out the basketballs and collecting trophies until now, that’s fine.
Especially in the early days, when it all clicked and your Golden State Warriors were an unstoppable force of nature, you liked to tell people, “This isn’t the real world. This isn’t the real NBA.” You meant it, and you knew this day was coming, when every game would be a mountain to climb and every substitution you make would be bait for the howling wolves.
Back then, you didn’t know exactly what it would be like when the crud hit the fan, but you knew it would happen, and that was what you signed up for.
You crashed into a big hurdle last Tuesday, when your team blew a 24-point lead in Sacramento, and many critics justifiably zeroed in on one substitution. Late in the game you subbed out a red-hot Moses Moody, electing to bring in Andrew
Wiggins and keep Klay Thompson in the game.
You defended the substitution that night, saying, “Moses was awesome tonight. We needed to get Wiggs on the floor for defense against (De’Aaron) Fox. We decided to go with Klay and our vets. We thought about keeping (Moody) out there. But we made the move that we made.”
And in a radio interview on 95.7 The Game the next day, you broke it down. If the Warriors are going to compete for a championship, you said, the core guys, the stars and vets, will have to play at a high level, so they need to play, even when they’re struggling. The younger kids will have to earn playing time, and that will fluctuate. You are not going to launch a rebuilding program just because your core guys choked away an important game in dramatic fashion.
But that game Tuesday may have given you pause. Maybe it caused you to consider tweaking your philosophy to a more fluid system. To win a title, Stephen Curry and Thompson and Draymond Green will have to play at a high level, sure, but so will at least a couple of the kids.
When Chris Paul and Gary Payton II both limped off the court with injuries in that Tuesday game, it was even clearer that there will be no run for the title this season without solid help from two or more of the youngsters — Moody, Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The next game, Thursday against the Clippers, justified your basic philosophy and spotlighted the need for change. Thompson played his rear off, scoring 10 points in one 90-second flurry. Maybe leaving him in
at the end of Tuesday’s game gave him the jolt of confidence he needed. But Thursday you also gave big minutes to Moody, Kuminga and Podziemski, and they all responded beautifully.
Podziemski made the unsung play of the night. When Curry flipped out and went after a ref, the rookie hugged the superstar and pulled him away to safety. Tellingly, you had Podziemski on the finishing team that night.
You are up for this new coaching challenge, this chance to reconsider basic stuff. But you know you can’t do it alone, you’re going to need help. Your core guys, the ones who have been here from the beginning, will need to contribute more than points.
Green, you can talk to him, sure, but he’s going to have to decide whether he wants his legacy to be great team leader or the guy whose ego and impulsecontrol issues speeded the decline and fall of the Warriors empire. You know many fans are too quick to turn on Green, expecting him to angel up, but you also know he’s got to prove that he hasn’t outgrown the Warriors.
Thompson could help, too. You said a couple of years ago that you’re going to ride with Klay forever, a beautiful sentiment. He could help out now, assuring you that he’s OK if you take him out if he’s having a bad night.
You’ve always said that Thompson was “no-maintenance,” but you’ve seen him kick chairs in frustration, and you know that nobody is no-maintenance. Thompson, Wiggins, Kuminga — all are people who need to be peopled, and you know that’s a big part of your job.
Some critics think you favor your core guys because you’re afraid to hurt their feelings, reluctant to call them out privately or sub them out in crunch time. The critics don’t always consider what you’ve been through with that group and what they have given you. And you know the value of veteran poise and leadership when the heat gets turned up.
You understand that the experts and even many longtime adoring fans see this team as a fast-fading long shot, and many question whether you are doing enough, or the right things, to keep the dream alive.
That’s cool. You know this season is going to be a rollercoaster ride, and you didn’t come here for the cotton candy.